Low & Broad Benchmarks

Our friend, Mike, who was visiting from Germany, asked if he could make our garage a base camp while he spent some time in the area.  He is trying to "nail down" a job and find a place for his family to live as they make plans to relocate back to the St. George area.

We were showing him our blog and telling him of how our friend Tom's passion for locating benchmarks had rubbed off on us.  It didn't take Mike long before he became interested in the history and the "why" behind where surveyors placed them.  Since we didn't have much going on, for Saturday, we quickly located a few along the Utah/Arizona border and made plans to go recover them.  I guess it was a successful day because Mike now has the "benchmark bug"!

We're south of St. George . . . just across the border in Arizona  

The little bump on the left is where we are headed

Mike and Kent standing at the benchmark . . . Kent is explaining how
the GPS coordinates help us locate the Benchmarks, Reference Marks and Azimuths

Low Benchmark was placed here in 1953

Remnants of the wooden tripod used by the surveyors

This is one of the two Reference Marks we located
The azimuth is supposed to be near the curve in the road . . . we're off to find it next!

How 'low' can you go! If you know Kent, he isn't very flexible . . . neither was the fence!

The Mt. Trumbull Road probably wasn't much more than a jeep trail in the 1950's . . .
We located the azimuth witness post (click on picture for better view), just off the west side of the road . . .
The azimuth was supposedly 21ft east of the post . . . that would put it almost in the center of the road
Guess this one's been "gone" for many years!

Next, we drove to the Black Rock exit to locate a 1921 marker, using GPS coordinates 

It's almost hard to believe that it is still here 102 years later!
(Guess that $250 fine scared some people!)

 

Off to our west we noticed pink ribbons hanging on some creosote bushes, so we decide to check it out . . .       We were surprised to see it was another benchmark! Broad was placed here in 1960

A little to the south we found Reference Mark #1 which meant there should be a #2 . . .
Or so we thought, but we couldn't locate it . . .
We later learned that the 1921 mark was used as Reference Mark #2

If you're interested in seeing Low Benchmark for yourself, follow River Road until it turns from pavement to dirt at the HWY 7 overpass.  Reset your odometer and travel south for six miles (Mt. Trumbull Road).  Park your vehicle and head west up a small knoll for .3 of a mile.

For the Broad Benchmark and the 1921 marker, take the Black Rock turnoff from I-15 and head east until it dog legs a hard right and turns south.  At the dog leg continue east on a different road for approximately .3 of a mile to were three roads converge coming in from the north.  Take the center road for .1 mile.

Dark Benchmark

Finally, we made it out for a hike!  Between the weather and an unexpectedly busy season of life, we just haven't been able to fit in an adventure. (Okay, we haven't tried "super hard" to do so!) So, when we saw the skies were going to be clear and the temperature around 60­­°, we quickly searched for a hike that was close to home.

Lately, it's become common practice to open the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Data Explorer and look for local benchmarks that we haven't recovered.  They're getting fewer and farther between, but we were able to locate Dark BM south of St. George.  It looked like we could reach it without slogging through muddy roads and so off we went on a Friday morning whim!

We are headed for the "pointy" butte . . . Dark BM is on top
We could have driven to the base of the butte, but decided to park the truck and walk the last mile . . .
Afterall, we're out here to get some exercise!

We quickly located the Azimuth Mark using the surveyors directions (see the black arrow)
Hard to believe their "witness post" is still in place after 70 years

1953 seems like recent history!  It must mean we're getting old to be thinking this way! 

Continuing down the road . . . we were so thankful it wasn't muddy . . . we've had a lot of rain this winter! 

Leaving the road, we hiked up through black lava rock . . . some coated with desert varnish

 This Cholla Cactus Skeleton stood out amongst the creosote bushes 

Finding the surveyors tripod in shambles made locating Dark BM very easy (yellow arrow)

We found the Dark Triangulation Station, or BM, in good condition, along with both reference markers

Heading back down . . .
The yellow arrow points back to the Azimuth Mark, near where we started

We made a detour, to the west, so we could check out a dry waterfall
 in a small canyon next to the road (see picture above) . . .
It turned out that the waterfall was "unremarkable". . . 
But, hiking to it provided us with a way to extend our short outing

A "family" of barrel cacti were growing on a ledge 

Almost back to the truck . . . Man, it felt good to get outside and do some exploring!

While this hike ended up being only about two-miles round trip (you could make it longer or shorter depending on where you decide to park), it provides a relatively remote feeling for a hike so close to town.  If you're interested in finding Dark BM, for yourself, just take the Black Rock exit south of St. George and head towards the Gypsum Mine.  Reset your odometer, at the mine, and proceed another 1.5 miles (just past a cattle guard) and take the side road that heads west for another 1.5 miles.

Peak 4416

Peak 4416 first caught our attention, a few weeks ago, when we hiked to Wash Benchmark.  The pyramid-like summit looked intriguing and so we began making plans for hiking to this pointy peak.  After spending some time researching our route, we decided to follow Spanish Wash to the base of the peak and then catch a narrow ridge that Peakbagger, Otto DeGroff, had used to make his final ascent of 4416.  This ended up being a more challenging hike than we expected, but the rewards and sense of accomplishment,  once we reached the summit, more than made up for any doubts we experienced along the route.

Our hike began as we exited the culvert that spans underneath I-15 near Coral Canyon
(If you use this as your access point, make sure to bring a flashlight as this is a long dark tunnel)

 Nathan and Kent are figuring out the best way to reach Peak 4416 . . . it's farther away than it looks!

We followed Spanish Wash for about two-miles . . . Peak 4416 is visible off to the left

Walking through the deep sand wasn't fun . . . but there were so many cool rocks . . . like this rose!  

We hiked up, over and around bands of slickrock 

We are now making our way out of the wash and working towards the ridge . . .
This cross-bedded sandstone impressed us with it's unique striations that were caused by either water or wind

Nathan noticed this millipede crawling up from the grass

It was fun traversing across the "dinosaur like skin" sandstone . . . Peak 4416 straight ahead!

When we reached this ridgeline, Peak 4416 looked doable, albeit more formidable than we were expecting . . .
As usual, Kent had his doubts (What's new, right?)

Finally . . . heading up the last section . . . it wasn't too bad, after all!

It took us 2 1/2 hours to reach the top 

This is the second hike Nathan has done with us . . .
He brought along his drone and was planning on using it to shoot a video for our blog . . .
But the winds were too gusty to safely maneuver it

Although it was cloudy, the temperatures were very comfortable . . .
That is until we took our lunch break and our bodies began to cool down . . .
Then it was time to put on the down jackets to protect from the cool winds!

The views were amazing . . .
This picture provides you with a good idea of some of the obstacles we faced as we were going up the ridge

The ridgeline appeared longer on the way back . . .
The "dinosaur like skin" that was pictured earlier can be seen ahead of us on the ridgeline . . .
This is where we came up and where we will make our descent

We were surprised to find this old rusty can as we descend off the ridgeline

Redstem filaree was in bloom

Down off the ridge . . . soon we'll drop back into the canyon where Spanish Wash begins 

We came across this interesting design in the sandstone

There were several patches of moss in the shaded areas of the wash

Just some of the many interesting geologic formations that can be seen along Spanish Wash 

This was the last of the slickrock

Now it's time to drop back into the main channel of Spanish Wash and make our back to the Interstate

This hike ended up being just a little over 7.5 miles in length (with 1,500 ft of ascent) and took us about five hours to complete.  Be prepared for lots of sand . . . especially over the first (and last) two-miles of the hike.  It certainly gets annoying, but the effort is rewarded with a great hike along a challenging ridge to the summit of Peak 4416.  For a topo map and GPS tracks you can click on Otto DeGroff's name in the introduction and it will direct you to his Peakbagger.com post for the ridge section of our route.

Leeds Benchmark

We were looking for a short morning hike, close to home, so that we could spend the afternoon pruning trees in our orchard.  Tom had done this hike four years ago and said it was a good one if you didn't mind going around rocks, getting stuck by cactus, or being poked by manzanita . . . all of which were true.  Even with his ominous forecast we decided to take the challenge and go for the Leeds Benchmark.  We found it to be a quite enjoyable hike that provided great views on a beautiful February morning!

Kent leads the way using the GPS coordinates that we borrowed from our friend Tom

There was definitely more snow on the north facing slopes than we were expecting

There were a lot of cacti . . . both exposed and snow-covered 

Heading for the next bump
(Once on the ridgeline there are a lot of ups and downs as you make your way for the highpoint)

Pine Valley Mountains look pretty showcased against the sunny blue skies!

We had nice views of Kolob Canyons 

After signing the summit register, on the high point of the Cottonwood Wilderness area,
we learned that the benchmark was located on the next peak to our south

Leeds Benchmark was placed here in 1954
Thankfully, it was positioned on the ridge where the sun was able to keep it free of snow

The benchmark is located in the rocks directly in front of Kent . . .
We had a little trouble finding this one and had to text Tom to get directions

Time to head back
Kent's not going over the edge . . . just working towards the rim where there was less snow

The snow and moist sand made it pretty easy to follow our tracks back along the rim

We came across this small frozen waterfall on our final descent

When we got home, and looked at our pictures, we realized we didn't have one showing where the benchmark was located . . .  So, Allison took a drive to Leeds the following day to get this shot . . .
Thus the cloudy skies!

As the "crow flies" this hike is only about two miles round-trip, however, with all the diversions around rocks, cactus, and manzanita it turned out to be about three miles and had 700 ft of total elevation gain.  If you're interested in knowing specifics about this hike you can click here for a link to Tom's Peakbagger.com posting . . . it will give you a topo map and GPS tracks.  Make sure to do this hike in the cooler months, otherwise it could be brutal and not very enjoyable.