Lava Tubes and Rocks

Just recently I went to an amazing area of land called Snow Canyon State Park. The park is full of some of the most unique, ancient formations you can find in Utah. I would almost call it a miniature Zion National park. Inside of its many thousands of acres you can see soil that dinosaurs walked on, enormous frozen sand dunes, extensive lava flows and cinder cones left from volcanic activity an estimated 10,000 to 1.2 million years ago. It sits in three different geographical zones including The Colorado Plateau, The Mojave Desert, and The Great Basin Valley. The park has spent many millions of years developing into what you see today. The bottom and oldest layer you can see is called Kayenta formation which is found at the south end of the park, it was once a really wet, sandy, muddy, ferny area with dinosaurs roaming around. In the next 10 million years the climate changed drastically with winds of hundreds of miles per hour. This wind blew sand into the area creating 2,500 foot deep piles of sand and formed the worlds largest desert, "The Sea of Sand" covering many southwestern states. After many millions of years the sand at the bottom of the pile was cemented into what is now the red and white Navajo Sandstone. The final formation in the park is the most recent lava flow. The lava and erosion in the the park have caused the park to move to the west and continue to this day. The lava also created one of the most interesting formations you can find, lava tubes. If you hike out from the lava flow overlook parking, you can explore a very large lava tube opening and look into another very large opening. If you want to see Snow Canyon there are many maps you can find online that direct you from St. George, Utah north on Bluff St. and then follow the signs that direct you Ivans, shortly after this you will see signs for Snow Canyon.

Southern Utah is a great place to to find petrified wood. While exploring for specific rocks and minerals I have unexpectedly found both small and large chunks of petrified wood. Some of the pieces have crystals growing all over them and others are agatized which mean they are durning into a translucent agate type of stone. Petrified wood is formed in water when the wood cells are replaced by minerals in the water that form the new stone. A few of the places that I have been able to find petrified wood around Southern Utah are on many of the plateaus just south of Kanab, on top of Hurricane Mesa which is on your left just before Virgin, Utah, as you head toward Zion. The road for this is on your left just before you get to the souvenir shop on the west end of Virgin. Also if you are lucky you can find some white pieces all around Silver Reef and Leeds, Utah. The last place i have found some really large pieces of the petrified wood is in the hills surrounding Parowan Gap just west of Parowan. If you search for any petrified wood, make sure it is not on private property. You are permitted to collect 25 pounds per day with a maximum of 250 pounds per year on BLM land and State Land as long as you are not in a park. Check in next time for another place to find some amazing rocks and minerals.

The Snow Crystals

As the winter seams to come to a close it turns around and dumps a new pile of snow. Although it looks amazing, like a pile of sparkly crystals, it's at the same time a drag that I can't get out and enjoy the countryside hidden beneath the snow. All the dirt roads are either covered in snow or too muddy to go down. While thinking of all the places to go explore and start up rock hounding again, one of my favorite spots comes to mind. The spot is on a hillside near the tiny town of Minersville and next to many large mine shafts. After researching the area, I found that it was loaded with lead which was mined, then sent up to the Salt Lake area and processed to make bullets. One of the mines there named the Lincoln Mine, was also stated to be possibly the oldest mine in Utah. Later, it was found that some of the metal they mined was silver and assumed to be melted into some of the only ever silver bullets. The last time I was there, I was so drawn into those massive mines but held myself at about fifteen feet in after seeing that they have collapsed quite a bit about fifty feet past the point where I stood. From the entrance there is a very refreshing cool breeze that blows at you from the heart of the shafts and make it even harder to stay at the entrance. While walking around near the shafts numerous dump sites you can find many interesting rocks and minerals. Some that I was able to find were, really nice pyrite crystals, fluorite which is a square shaped crystal and had a very shiny finish, as well as malachite. I know if you spend much time there you will find a much greater variety than I did and really enjoy your time doing so. To find the spot you need to find minersville which is west of highway beaver on highway 21 or north from cedar city on the minersville highway. Once you get to minersville the 21 turns north and you need to continue going north from the town around three mile. Look to you right and you should be able to see the mines on the hillside continue until you find a road headed up that way and take it. This is a really amazing spot for finding collectible rocks. The mines look very inviting and in most cases I would go in and find the end but these mines are not in solid rock and very unstable. Any wrong move will leave you trapped in the mine or under a pile of dirt so please use my advice and stay out. The rocks you can collect are scattered all around the outside of the mines in the dump piles not inside. Hope you enjoy this and check back to find out about another great place to search.