Sego Canyon
Sego Canyon (Thompson Springs, UT)
Sego Canyon is as easy scenic drive that starts out of Thompson Springs north of Moab, and heads into the Book Cliffs before it dead ends at a gate at the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. While the scenery along the trail is great, there are a few highlights near the beginning of Sego Canyon that are a short trip from Interstate 70 that make for a great short side trip.
The first of these highlights is the rock art located near the head of the canyon. There are a few petroglyph and pictograph panels just off the road that depict a few different styles of rock art including Barrier Style, Fremont Style and Historic Ute. After checking out the rock art, you will continue up the canyon about a mile and a half before coming to the ghost town of Sego. Sego was a coal mining town and left are the remains of two large structures. One is the old wooden saloon/boarding house and the other is a large stone building that was the general store.
If you are in a hurry, you can turn around here and head back to the highway. However, if you like exploring new places and checking out great scenery you can still continue up Sego Canyon for another 10 miles. At the start, you are following the bottom of the wash, and near the end of the trail you will climb out of the canyon on some easy switchbacks. Before reaching the gate at the end of the road, you will pass some areas that would make good campsites. Once at the end, you will have to return the way that you came, because you cannot enter the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.
Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Sego Canyon below.
Sego Canyon KML Track
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Open file above in Google Earth.
