A light late-afternoon breeze cooled the beating sun as I traversed from a sandy footpath onto a slickrock slab. It was a gorgeous 82 degrees on a September afternoon as I trekked through the desert in search of moonshine.
Moonshine Arch, that is.
It was a simple, well-marked desert hike at the base of Red Mountain, just a few miles from Steinaker Reservoir State Park. I passed ancient junipers, their trunks twisting and turning, and stands of prickly pear cactus sprouting from the sand.
Along the way, I spotted a couple wandering a parallel slickrock ridge. Was I on the wrong track? I didn’t think so.
Pondering the name, thoughts ran through my mind. Was this once a bootlegger’s hideaway? Would I find remnants of an old still?
I had moonshine on my mind, thinking back to a hike nearly 20 years ago in the San Rafael Desert. That one was Moonshine Wash, where there really was an old still. It was also like a death march through the sand after we ran out of water.
But we lived to tell.
It was just three-quarters of a mile to the arch. As it came into view, nestled against a rock ridge, the wandering couple turned back and headed down. I pushed on, closing in on my quest.
They never found the arch.
There is little recorded history about Moonshine Arch and seemingly nothing about its name. The Navajo sandstone here dates back roughly 190 million years, when immense sand dunes covered the region. Over time, freezing water expanded in cracks, weakening the rock. Wind, water and gravity did the rest, eventually sculpting the massive sandstone arch.
Even more impressive was the backdrop, where erosion had carved huge alcoves into the cliffs behind it.
But why Moonshine?
Old maps from the 1930s show the route through the area, but no Moonshine Arch. The name doesn’t appear on the historical maps I could find, emerging instead on more recent BLM maps. Somewhere along the way, somebody started calling it Moonshine Arch.
But who? And why?
Could it be yet another Uintah Basin mystery, like those Phenomecon attendees were seeking that week around Skinwalker Ranch?
What is no mystery is the Uintah Basin’s long history with distilling, moonshine and bootleggers. It stretches back into the 1800s and became especially colorful during Prohibition. There was even a still hidden in the Vogue Theater on Main Street, a story memorialized with a marker today. And then there was moonshiner John Aime, convicted in Vernal of illegally making liquor, whose biggest problem was that he kept getting arrested.
Whether any of that history made its way to this secluded sandstone alcove remains tantalizingly unclear.
Heading back down, I marveled at the landscape of slickrock benches, sandstone cliffs and desert vegetation. Off in the distance to the east was the distinctive outline of Molly’s Nipple rising from the ridgeline.
Some say it’s one of as many as 11 Molly’s Nipples in Utah alone.
But that’s a tale for another day.
DETAILS
Getting There: Simply take U.S. 191 north from downtown Vernal for seven miles to a well-marked turnoff to a dirt road, driving another mile to a well-developed trailhead with parking and a toilet.
Trail: This is an easy trail, well-marked — 0.72 miles to the arch, so a mile and a half total. The route climbs 300 feet. It’s suitable for all abilities.
Dining: There are plenty of restaurants in Vernal, but check out the family friendly Vernal Brewing Co. in the heart of downtown. Remarkable food for a brew pub and some great beer being brewed there. Or check out the legendary 7-11 Ranch Restaurant, which dates back to a hotdog stand in 1933.
Five Other Things to Do:
McConkie Ranch Petroglyphs — In Dry Fork Canyon, north of Vernal, the ranch has extraordinary Fremont rock art, including the distinctive large human figures associated with the Classic Vernal Style.
Dinosaur National Monument — Just 20 minutes east near Jensen. The Quarry Exhibit Hall preserves roughly 1,500 dinosaur bones in the actual rock face rather than simply displaying excavated fossils in cases.
Fantasy Canyon — South of Vernal, this small BLM area contains bizarre, extremely delicate sandstone formations that look almost sculpted.
Red Fleet State Park — About 13 miles north of Vernal, featuring beautiful red sandstone surrounding the reservoir. Its special attraction is the 200-million-year-old dinosaur trackway, reached by a hike through the sandstone.
Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum — Right on Main Street, it tells the broader geological and paleontological story of the Uintah Basin, with fossils, hands-on exhibits and the outdoor Dinosaur Garden.