Recreation opportunities abundant in Castle Valley
Another year is before us and we welcome all our new and veteran students to the College of Eastern Utah.
This archived article was written by: Caitlin Wright
Another year is before us and we welcome all our new and veteran students to the College of Eastern Utah.
One of the major questions that new students may have, when coming to a school in Southeastern Utah, is what is there to do? With the little bit of free time that students have, what can they do to get away from all the stress and worries that come automatically with school? This is one of the greatest things about the area that we live in. It’s prime for all types of entertainment: city, mountain and desert. We are only two hours from the Salt Lake area, an hour from the mountains and 30 minutes from the desert.
Obviously there are plenty of things to do in the city, but most of that will cost money. However, the desert is free and absolutely fantastic. There are innumerable things that college students can do for little or no money.
The desert has a myriad of entertainment opportunities. For instance, if you are interested in hiking, there are several canyons surrounding the area. There is Nine-Mile Canyon, Goblin Valley, Capital Reef and the Canyonlands. These are great for Saturday outings, dates or just to get away for a while.
Several interesting sights include the San Rafael Swell. If you drive the 40 miles to see Buckhorn Panel you can see many different rock walls covered with pictographs and Native American writings.
One of the sights that is becoming more popular is the hot pots in Diamond Fork Canyon. They are a grouping of several underground springs that boil up and create pools. It is accessible by trail and is fun to go during either the day or night.
If you don’t want to drive far and only have time to go for a few hours, the desert is one of the best places to be. Some of the types of things that students have been really getting into is bouldering. Also, there is four-wheeling, camping, fishing, rafting and kayaking.
If your interest are in boating of any sort, there are rivers and lakes all over the area. Ferron Canyon has Ferron Reservoir, Willow Lake and Wrigley Lake. Huntington Canyon has Cleveland Reservoir, Electric Lake, Mammoth Lake, Miller’s Flat, and to the south of that is Potter’s Ponds.
Many people in the area enjoy mountain biking and they have great access to trails in the surrounding hills. A Castle Country mountain biking festival that goes on from September 25- 27 and its coming right up. There is a schedule planned out with some meals and a time each day to go on the bike ride. The registration fee is $35, which includes the meals, and you can get registered at the CEU Prehistoric Museum. For any questions, look online at carbonrec.com or call 435-636-3702.
In Huntington Canyon, there is an area known as “The Run”, and it is just a long slope where people can go sledding, skiing and snowboarding. It is free, but it is necessary to find someone that will drive you from the bottom of the slope back up to the top, as there are no lifts.
As people continue to attend CEU, I hope that you will find that this area is ripe with culture and exciting and interesting things to do. You just have to be willing to go out and look for it.
