Trees at the bottom conceal the river rushing below but we can hear the powerful water reverberating up the rock walls. The road ends in a loop overlooking a deep gorge.
Boondocking in missouri series#
The 350-foot trail from its start at FR 031 to its cliffside conclusion has spread out into a series of campsites. While labeled a “forest road”, FR 4059 is little more than a large group campsite. But the little loop site we discover on the short offshoot of Forest Road 4059 (FR 4059) is sublime.
We wind up driving 5 miles down the red, muddy roads of Dixie National Forest, 3.5 miles of which are along FR 031, before finding an open camping site. Like FR 032, campsites are few, and many are claimed. Unlike Forest Road 032, Forest Road 031 (FR 031) is long and winding. We reach the end of the road and loop around to backtrack to a fork in the road where Forest Road 031 continues. Where we are headed next will not be so accessible. But the turns are wide enough that we see a few midsized rigs in campsites. We drive the length of Forest Road 032 and find all the viable campsites taken by early afternoon.Ī likely reason why there seems to be so much documentation on Forest Road 032 is that this is a relatively accessible road. And while the road does eventually dip into a more level section, this heavily forested region only has a few small pullouts for boondockers. Signage from the Forest Service is pretty clear that vehicles must only camp in established sites. And one particularly wide blind turn had me getting out and walking ahead to check for any oncoming vehicles.ĭespite the enthusiastic reviews on other websites, campsites are few and far between along Forest Road 032. Pullouts are not as common as one might hope. But this shelf trail has very little extra space between the rock wall on one side and the cliff on the other. The road is a red dirt trail that can comfortably fit one vehicle. Everything I read features glowing reports of Forest Road 032. You see, I did my research when picking a place to boondocks outside of Red Cliff State Park in Utah. But we start by exploring Forest Road 032. It makes for a fun afternoon of learning and outdoor exploration. Visitors can swing by the old Wells Fargo building for guided historic tours, artifacts, and maps for a self-guided tour around the old town. But today, despite a few operating businesses and homes, Silver Reef is considered a ghost town.
Silver Reef even enjoyed a third life in 1948 when uranium was discovered in the area. The area enjoyed a short revival in 1916 when the remaining mines were organized under the Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company. That’s not to say the town completely shuttered before the turn of the century. Veins play out, however, and by 1884 most of the mines had closed. Yet, by 1879, Silver Reed was a bustling hub with 2,000 residents, a mile-long main street, and a Wells Fargo office. The discovery was a surprise, as silver isn’t usually found in sandstone. It was established after a Nevada prospector, John Kemple, uncovered a silver vein in 1866.
George preserves many old tools and structures from its boom days. This historic mining town 15 miles northeast of St. Silver Reef is the last town we drive through to access Dixie National Forest and Forest Road 031. Forest Road 031 is a nailbiter of a trail with limited passing options and equally sparse camping sites, but a few miles deep into the forest, we find some real gems. Unlike the relatively flat terrain outside of Bryce Canyon National Park, the Dixie National Forest we traverse today is rife with sheer cliffs, rock walls, and tight, dirt switchbacks. George, Utah, to 11,322 feet on Boulder Mountain. Elevation varies from 2,800 feet near St. Dixie Forest is a huge and diverse landscape covering 2 million acres of southern Utah. Because we just did it again, and the experience is completely different. Do you remember when we boondocked in Dixie National Forest a couple of years ago? Yeah, I was silly enough to think that that would be a sufficiently singular experience that boondocking in DIxie Forrest could be summed up in one writeup.
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