San Rafael Swell

---

---

San Rafael Swell, UT Located in South-Centeral Utah, the San Rafael Swell is a 75 by 40 mile giant dome made of sandstone, shale and limestone -- one of the most spectacular displays of geology in the country. The Swell is surrounded by canyons, gorges, mesas and buttes and is home to eight rare plant species, desert big horns, coyotes, bobcats, cottontail rabbits, badgers, gray and kit fox, and the golden eagle. Visitors to the area can find ancient Indian rock art and explore a landscape with geographic features resembling those found on Mars."

East of the Fishlake Mountains, I-70 cuts across one of the emptiest and least developed regions of Utah - a wide plateau crossed by two entrenched river systems and surrounded by a ring of upturned strata. This is the San Rafael Swell - arid, little vegetated yet often very scenic, with mesas, cliffs, buttes, springs and especially canyons; these are sometimes wide with stepped sides but often narrow and slot-like. Most is owned by the BLM and could well be a future national monument; for now though the land is open and access is unrestricted.


Various exits now allow easy entrance to the middle section and link with the old tracks, most of which are good for regular vehicles and quite well signposted. Hiking and exploring are the main reasons to visit nowadays - there are trails to mountains, historic sites, old mines and the numerous canyons

---