- Dalton
Wash Geocache
- Just
west of Zion National Park, Southwest
Utah
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- Exploring
Zion National Park
- We love
Zion National Park. Most people see the
park from the bottom of the canyon and
look up at the mountains and cliffs.
However there are many other interesting
places where you can view the beauty of
Zion.
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- One of
the best views is from the top of a mesa
on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land
just west of the park. The photo on the
left is a view from our cache.
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From this mesa you can see mountains in all
directions. The photo below shows the view to the
northeast. -
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- We decided to set two
caches in this area. One on Smith Mesa and the other
on Dalton Wash. The picture below was taken from the
Dalton Wash cache site looking west. The red triangle
marks the Smith Mesa Geocache area (The two caches are
about 4.29 miles apart "as the crow
flies").
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- Exploring
Dalton Wash Road
- Begin
your adventure just east of Virgin, Utah
on Highway 9. Between Mile Marker 19 and
20 look for an unmarked gravel road to the
north. This intersection is at (N 37 11
870 W 113 09 890). After 1.8 miles on a
gravel-dirt road, you'll reach the lower
plateau and a Y intersection. Take the
road to the left heading north. After
another couple of miles you'll start up a
narrow, steep road toward the top of the
mesa (see photo to right). After a total
of 4.2 miles from Highway 9, you'll be on
top of a large mesa (N 37 13 631 W 113 06
902).
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- Mesa
Top
- If it's
very muddy, you may want to park here and
walk along the edge of the mesa rim to the
cache. If it's dry and you have a high
clearance vehicle, continue to the right
and take the first dirt road to the right.
You'll be able to park about 1/10th mile
from the cache. You can park at N 37 13
469 W 113 06 987.
Examine the
sandstone mesa rim here. You can see shiny
and colorful agates, lots of petrified wood,
lichen, many interesting catch pools, and
wonderful views in all directions. You might
kick up a jackrabbit or catch a glimpse of
mule deer. Take along a picnic lunch, relax,
and enjoy this beautiful hiking
area.
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- Placing
the Geocache
- We found
a great location where you can view
mountains, cliffs, and mesas on all sides!
Crater Hill is nearby to the east, inside
the boundary of Zion National Park. We got
out our GPS device and checked our
location. The cache is at N 37 13 508 W
113 07 090.
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- The tan
ammo box cache contains a log book,
trashbags, and a camera, bookmarks, and a
traveling "Where's
George"
dollar. The treasures include painted
rocks and lots of other
goodies.
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- Don't
read the following section if you don't
want to learn the cache location
hints. We
placed the cache close to a great
viewpoint. It is located at the base of a
pine tree near a rock overlook (photo
right and below). In the picture on the
right, you can see that the cache is
covered with rocks and
branches.
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- In the
photo below, you can see the tall pine
tree where the cache is located (red
triangle). Annette is the small red dot
below the red arrow.
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- Exploring
the Geocache
- We have a few
suggestions if you want to visit the geocache.
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- 1) Once you get done
exploring the cache, there are lots of dirt roads to
explore on the mesa top. There's also a hike into the
east side of the National Park.
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- 2) The hike would be
best in the Fall or Spring. The road is impassible in
wet or snowy winter weather and it's hot in the
summer.
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- 3) Be careful of the
cryptobiotic
soil crust.
This is the dark crust that covers the delicate sandy
soil. Please walk on the rocks, not on this
soil.
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- 4) Spend time to
enjoy the lizards,
cacti
and other
plant life on
the mesa top. However watch out for rattlesnakes in
the summer. Also, watch for sharp bushes and spiny
cacti.
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- We hope you enjoy our
fifth geocache! :-)
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- Go to the
Dalton
Wash page at
geocaching.com for additional details and
logs.
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- Geocache
Update
- As we were hiking on
the top of Gooseberry Mesa, we could see the
Zion
River RV Resort
(red arrow) and the Dalton Wash geocache location (red
triangle). The photo below shows the view from
Gooseberry Mesa, north toward Zion.
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Created by Annette
Lamb
and
Larry Johnson,
4/03.
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