Cedar City, Utah

Road trip #45

Getting off to a rough start

As we pulled into the Maverik for diesel all our bells and whistles started going off.  Our air pressure was too low.  The motorhome has air suspension and air brakes and if it gets too low it will lock up.  We pulled over along the no parking red curb and shut it down.  It's late on Friday afternoon.  We had to make a dozen calls before we found a mobile mechanic that would come out.  He came from Saint George about 50 miles away. CJ was able to diagnose that we had a bad air dryer.  He was able to temporary bypass the air dryer so we could drive it to the RV park.  We made arrangements that he would gets the parts next week and we would back track to Saint George for him to install them.

Cedar Canyon

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Hiked out to the Ancient Bristlecones

Dinosaur Tracks

These tracks are kinda hard to pick out so it was helpful that they had steel dinosaur track on a post that pointed out where to look.

Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

The Gap was frequently traveled by the ancient Fremont Cultures and the ancestors of the Southern Paiute and Hopi People. During their journeys some stopped and spent time pecking and chiseling images into the rock.

Can you see the Old Man in the rock?

The Cone is a cone shaped formation which has 3 routes on it. The climbs are a short 50 feet and popular with beginners.

Lion's Mouth Cave

Historic Page Ranch House

Page Ranch was homesteaded by Mormon pioneer Robert Ritchie in 1858, who passed it to his grandson Dan Page in 1890.  Dan and his wife Sophia commissioned the building of the ranch house in 1898 and it was completed in December of 1900.  

The brick for the home was manufactured on-site by the builders using clay located on the property. They hand-packed the clay into molds to shape it into bricks, let them dry, then fired them in a kiln they built at the site. The house was designed by the Pages in a double cross-wing style that was uncommon in Utah at the time.

Hamblin is now a ghost town.  All that remains is the Cemetery.

1988 was a rough year for the Canfield family

Jefferson Hunt Marker, near Newcastle, Utah

This site marks one of the most controversial events in the history of the California Gold Rush of 1849.

Near here, a large group of 49ers deserted wagon train leader, Jefferson Hunt, and headed west toward

present day Enterprise, Utah. Their subsequent trek is part of the epic story of the Death Valley 49ers.

Iron City aka Old Iron Town

Old Iron Town tells the incredible story of Southern Utah’s historic mining industry. During the 1850s, Mormon pioneer leader Brigham Young sent several families to the Cedar City area to establish an iron works. Iron City (Old Iron Town) was established as Iron County’s second attempt at mining iron; the establishment had a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, a foundry and charcoal kiln. While Iron City seemed prosperous at the time, it only operated for seven years, closing due to the lack of sufficient transportation for the iron ore and the money panic of 1874.