Between The Swell

Spotted Wolf Canyon rest area on Interstate 70 in Utah, about 30 miles west of Green River.

The interstate bisects the San Rafael Swell, dividing it into north and south sections.

The plaque at the rest area reads as follows:

"They call it the San Rafael Reef, a 30-mile long stone barrier, a sawtooth ridge at the eastern edge of nowhere.  For centuries, only the most intrepid travelers found their way through its narrow slot canyons and on to the Green River crossing.  The early Spanish explorers detoured 20 miles north to avoid the forbidding wall. 

In 1883 the Denver and Rio Grand Railroad also avoided breaching the Reef, laying track just east of its sheer walls, north to Salt Lake City.  In 1957 the decision was made to increase the nation’s interstate highway system and I-70 was engineered to bisect the San Rafael Swell. 

Here, at Spotted Wolf Canyon, workers would stand and touch both walls of the canyon before construction began in October 1967.  Engineers and surveyors used body harnesses and ropes to work as high as 400 feet above the canyon floor.  Crews excavated 3.5 million cubic yards of rock from the area at a cost of $4.5 million for eight miles of road. 

On November 5, 1970, the Utah Department of Transportation opened the 70-mile section from Fremont Junction to Green River for two-lane traffic.  Two more lanes were added in the mid-1980s."



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2017: Don't Monkey With The Meat
2016: The Image Character Of Poop
2015: Buckeye Affluence
2014: Snaking Through Idaho
2013: Fun Funky Freaky Friday The 13th
2012: Scooting Around Town
2011: Eureka! Sand For The Golden State
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