July 10, 2007
Time of departure: 6:10 A.M.
Temperature: 68 degrees
Elevation: 4079 feet
Total Mileage: 160
What happens in Sevier County...........you can share with your friends.
on Billboard when entering Sevier County, Utah
Do you think we’re in Mormon Country? I do. We happened to see the billboard while driving a frontage road to Interstate 70. It had the above statement below pictures of the most white bread people you’ve ever seen, all engaged in good, wholesome fun. We’d entered another country.
But before we got to that point, 
we’d traveled 100 miles since leaving Green River, UT. In order to avoid the heat of the day, we decided to leave at 6 A.M. After paralleling I-70 for several miles, we turned onto a Bureau of Land Management Road. Within a mile we had entered Black Dragon Canyon--from a distance it does look like a dark beast’s back undulating across the desert.
Black Dragon Canyon is a slick rock canyon with very steep walls. The road deteriorates quickly to a wash, with rocks sticking their heads up, waiting for motorcyclists to come along.
In a mile we came to the Black Dragon Pictograph Panel. The 1000 year old pictographs
are very good, probably Fremont culture, and done in reds and blacks. Several are almost life size, and one scene depicts what looks to be a hunter and his kill.
We stayed a few more minutes. But the sun was rising fast, and the trail was a difficult one. So, on we moved.
The canyon climbed and the road remained sand and rocks. Many times, it was hard to find the trail.
We rode for maybe five miles and finally came to a graded road. We moved west and the land flattened a bit. Instead of slick rock canyons, we now entered coun
try covered by red dirt and volcanic rock, cut by small creeks. Many of the creekbeds were dried and white, and gave a bitter odor.
Soon the landscape changed again to scrub pine with low mountains.
We paralleled Interstate 70, following the frontage road, a frontage road that has two tunnels and a set of switchbacks. It was interesting to be next to the interstate, but seem like we were on a back road somewhere.
Soon, we had crossed another ridge of mountains and were in the valley of our destination of Richland, UT. We kept expecting to see signs of forest fire, but none ever showed. We’re still trying to decide how the fire will affect our route tomorrow. Only time will tell.
See y’all down the trail.
Ron and Meredith
