Camping trip to Southern UT. What to do??

[Hunter101]

Hey guys!
Finally got wife to let me go camping/treasure hunting on my own without her and the one year old. I'll be heading to southern Utah. I would say you guys plan my trip but I know most probably are not familiar with Utah. I would like to visit some ghosty towns, Indian sites, lakes, etc. anyone have any ideas? Anything pretty much goes and I have plenty of time to try many ideas since I'm going from Thursday to Sunday. I am hitting up the Anasazi Caves so there is one idea.

 

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[hvacker]

If by Anasazi caves you mean the cliff dwellings there is a large BLM area called Grand Gulch in SE Utah. I haven't been there since about 81 but was very impressed. It might be more populated today but hiking in for a few hours then looking up and seeing the dwellings is amazing. There was a corn storage vessel and the corn cobs were still there 600 years later.

Canyon Lands, not far from Grand Gulch is another excellent adventure. I would avoid a place there called The Maze if alone. It's very remote although more populated sense Moab became a bicycle destination.
A guy I knew in the 70's ventured into the Maze alone. He apparently broke his leg and perished. Wasn't found for two years.
Take more water than you think you can drink.

The best read about S Utah for me is Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. I found my copy at Arches visitor center.

 

[austin]

I'd go hunt around Hoover Dam. Only a little SE. OH, is that Las Vegas? Well I declare...
Probably why I'm single and it's just me and the cat...

 

[RGINN]

Be like Chuck Berry with no particular place to go. I go down there a lot and mainly wander around looking at Indian petroglyphs. Lots of industrial tourism there but if nothing else just park along the side of the road and walk off into the desert. Mother Nature can kill you anywhere but I never thought it was that dangerous down there, as long as you paid attention to your surroundings. Thank you for mentioning ED, hvacker. They didn't always acknowledge him in that visitor center.

 

[hvacker]

Be like Chuck Berry with no particular place to go. I go down there a lot and mainly wander around looking at Indian petroglyphs. Lots of industrial tourism there but if nothing else just park along the side of the road and walk off into the desert. Mother Nature can kill you anywhere but I never thought it was that dangerous down there, as long as you paid attention to your surroundings. Thank you for mentioning ED, hvacker. They didn't always acknowledge him in that visitor center.

Ed Abbey is my favorite author and rascal hands down. Along with Desert Solitaire there in The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey's Road and others.
In the 70's the good people of Utah wanted to build tourist attractions and hotels in Canyon Lands. Lucky for America it didn't happen.