We live near the freeway now and can, theoretically, be atop the Sevier Plateau east of Richfield in about two hours. From there, it is just a matter of picking an exit on the way down and finding oneself in the San Rafeal Swell. Unfortunately, the Chev won't tow the camper three or four thousand feet uphill at freeway speed, and the pavement ends at the bottom of every one of the Swell's exit ramps. All of which is to say that it took us about six hours of driving to make it from Parowan to the Red's Canyon overlook on Link Flat.It was time to camp. And what a camp it was. One of the best places I have ever camped in my life, which is saying something. We were too far off the beaten path for any other campers, there were no cows, and we could see all the way to Mt. Ellen. Aside from two parties of drive-bys and one BLM guy, we didn't see anyone else the whole weekend. The silence was golden.
On Sunday my plan was to leave Link Flat headed east and follow the "main" road up to the Copper Globe Mine and Justensen Flat. I wanted to see if we could tow the camper out that way. In addition, I thought we could look around the Mine and maybe hike down Devil's Canyon. Unfortunately, the road leaving Link Flat goes up and over a couple of hogsbacks. It is very ledgy and I finally quit on one I wasn't sure the Chev could clear. A guy in a nice jeep came by and struggled a little with it while I was standing there. That was enough for me. We turned around and went back the other way.
On Monday we went down Cat Canyon and Kimball Draw to the freeway. Ellen slept after we got to Richfield. We were back in Parowan by 3p, dusty and worn, but glad we'd made the effort.
