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!
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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! |
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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 |
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| 1953 seems like recent history! It must mean we're getting old to be thinking this way! |
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| Continuing down the road . . . we were so thankful it wasn't muddy . . . we've had a lot of rain this winter! |
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| Leaving the road, we hiked up through black lava rock . . . some coated with desert varnish |
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| This Cholla Cactus Skeleton stood out amongst the creosote bushes |
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| Finding the surveyors tripod in shambles made locating Dark BM very easy (yellow arrow) |
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| We found the Dark Triangulation Station, or BM, in good condition, along with both reference markers |
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Heading back down . . .
The yellow arrow points back to the Azimuth Mark, near where we started |
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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 |
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| A "family" of barrel cacti were growing on a ledge |
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| 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.
