Travel: Hidden Gems in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – July 20, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — Most of Utah’s gems are well-known all over the world — our stunning National Parks and popular attractions are visited by millions every year. However, these six gems are often overlooked and very much worthy of a visit.
1. Gilgal Sculpture Garden
Living in Utah, you probably have seen a photo of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, right? Well, have you ever seen his head on a sphinx body? That is only one of the 12 original sculptures and over 70 stones engraved with scriptures, poems, and literary texts which Thomas Battersby Child Jr. created.
According to the Gilgal Sculpture Garden website, Child sought out stones weighing up to 62 tons for his sculptures. Higgs taught well-known Utah sculptor Maurice Brooks to sculpt with the torch. Following Child’s careful instructions, Brooks carved features on several of Child’s works, including The Sphinx, The Monument to the Trade, Daniel II, Malachi, and The Last Chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
You can see the sculptures and engravings at 749 E. 500 South in Salt Lake City. There is no admission charge. Walking tour brochures are available at the garden. Visiting hours: April/September – 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. October/March – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed New Year Day; Thanksgiving; Christmas.
2. Newspaper Rock
This historic piece of art is located alongside the Indian Creek in south eastern Utah. The Newspaper Rock has impressive petroglyphs all over it. According to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Rock displays multiple periods of rock art from different cultures dating back 1,500 years ago.
The Puebloan people who inhabited this region of Utah are whom the older art is attributed to. The more recent art, which is light in color, is attributed to the Ute people who still live in the Four Corners area.
The Newspaper Rock is located at 365 S. Main St., Monticello, Utah, which is on Highway 211, just 15 miles north of Monticello, Utah. The site is well signed.
3. Spiral Jetty
Located at Rozel Point peninsula on the northeast shore of the Great Salt Lake, the Spiral Jetty
is made up of over six thousand tons of black basalt rocks and earth form the site.
Robert Smithson was born in Passaic, New Jersey and the Spiral Jetty is his most famous work according to his Wikipedia biography. The Jetty was created in 1970 and is 1,500 feet long; it is a spiral-shaped jetty, which extends into the Great Salt Lake.
It was entirely submerged by rising lake waters for several years, but has since re-emerged.
4. Sun Tunnel
Nancy Hold, who is widely known for these large-scale works of art, created Sun Tunnels. Her interests in light, perspective, time and space have influenced her installation art according to the UMFA (Utah Museum of Fine Arts).
Land art is only one style of art that Nancy creates. Land art emerged in the 1960’ s, which asks people to become aware of the impact they can have on the natural environment. Most land art sites are located in remote, uninhabited regions.
Four massive concrete tunnels make up the Sun Tunnels, each are 18 feet long and nine feet in diameter. They are laid out in the desert in an open X configuration. As the solstices arrive the tunnels frame the sun as it passes the horizon at sunrise and sunset.
If you look up from the inside of the tunnel you will see different constellations such as Draco, Perseus, Columba and Capricorn.
You can find the tunnels about four hours from Salt Lake City at Latitude: 41.303507� and Longitude: -113.863838�
5. Trembling Giant
There has been a giant, living quietly in the Fishlake National Forest in Utah for the past 80,000 years. The Trembling Giant or also known as Pando is an enormous grove of quaking aspens which take the metaphor “forest as a single organism” to a much literal meaning.
The quaking aspens usually reproduce asexually, by sprouting new trees from the expansive lateral root of the parent. This single organism spans 107 acres and weighs around 6,615 pounds. Pando used to be the world’s largest organism but now is passed by a thousand-acre fungal mat in Oregon, according to Atlas Obscura.
You can find this amazing organism one mile southwest of Fish Lake on SR-25.
6. Meadow Hot Spring
Located just four miles south of Fillmore, Utah there is a little quiet town called Meadow. There is also an amazing hidden gem in Meadow, it is called the Meadow Hot Spring. The spring is located on private property but the landowner has continued to make it accessible to the public.
According to Utah Outdoor Activities there are three different springs in this one area but the Meadow Hot Spring is the hottest of them all. It is around 100 degrees and can get very deep. The two other pools are not as warm as the first one so they may be more to your liking on a hot summer afternoon. The western pool is clear like the main one however, it is not as deep.
If you continue heading south you will find the third pool. This pool is very murky with film on top. Be careful though because it is very deep and there are no edges for sitting.
So come check out all of these wonderful hidden gems that only Utah has in store for you and your family.
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