July 30 - Grafton Ghost Town & TV Towers Hill

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Monday morning, I drove through a small part of Zion National Park, but didn't stop long, because of large crowds of tourists and mandatory shuttle busses. Instead, I went south to the nearby ghost town of Grafton, which had an excellent cemetery, and some buildings in decent shape, or being restored. See in Google Maps See on a USGS topographic map See in Google Earth 37.16308, -113.0812 

sw 07300947 1055 Grafton Cemetery Gravesw 07300952 1057 Grafton Cemetery GraveGrafton - cemetery - graves (7/30 9:45 AM)Grafton - some buildings still stand (7/30 10:03 AM)Boy Scout Troop Sign: "Grafton was settled in Dec. of 1859 by a group of saints led by Nathan C. Tenny. Due to common floods & Indian attacks the farming town never flourished. Its pop. peaked in 1864 (164) & was abandoned by the 1930s." (7/30 9:44 AM)

A track led up into the hill south of Grafton for a great view of the valley below, just before an impassable washout. See in Google Maps See on a USGS topographic map See in Google Earth 37.1572, -113.0887 

road (with washout) above valley with Grafton site (7/30 12:02 PM)

In the far southwest corner of Utah, is a rough steep trail called "TV Towers Jeep Trail", which as the name implies, climbs (1500 feet in 2.5 miles) to a peak with TV broadcasting towers, and 360° views. See in Google Maps See on a USGS topographic map See in Google Earth 37.1555, -113.8831 

TV Towers Jeep Trail sign (7/30 2:00 PM)TV towers at the summit (7/30 2:25 PM)view from the top (7/30 2:18 PM)wide angle photo at a switchback, attempting to show the steepness of the trail (7/30 2:34 PM)old cars buried under road at the switchback (7/30 2:36 PM)

The southwest corner of Utah (by the Nevada state line) also contains a large collection of Joshua trees. A rancher apparently uses this large plastic sheet as a water collector.

Joshua trees & water collector (7/30 3:25 PM)Nevada state line marker (7/30 4:09 PM)