Green River, Utah, population 968, is not high on anybody's route except for longhaul
The Crystal Geyser site
truckers, whitewater rafters, wilderness explorers or people traveling from New Mexico
to Salt Lake City. Right now the water is low in the Green, and covered with thin slices
of ice which break off from the shore and float along, sometimes looking like great table
tops. With sunny skies and afternoons in the 40s, it's a great place to find uncrowded
areas to explore.
There is one small grocery, a couple of mini-marts, quite a few motels, and the pleasant Tamarisk restaurant overlooking the river just across the street from the Green River Museum, which we first visited in 2002. The museum is dedicated to the boatmen who explored the river in a variety of craft, from ancient woven baskets to modern elaborate special-purpose boats.
Rocks near Green River
Nearby, there are quite a few trails to explore by truck or car (depending upon the
weather -- most feature dirt roads or driving down a wash). On this trip we took
advantage of the weather and went in search of Crystal Geyser (not to be confused
with the water company of the same name). As soon as we left the main highway and
began to wind back up into the rocks, the scenery became more varied and interesting.
Fantastic shapes and combinations of rocks, balancing on each other precariously,
kept us watching. There is almost no vegetation except right at the riverbank, but
the rocky formations are beautiful and otherworldly.
Travertine
About seven miles in, following the excellent directions in the local guide, we found
the Crystal Geyser. "Crystal" is a definite misnomer because this geyser is a cold-water
geyser, powered by carbon dioxide deep underground, which leaves salt traces each time
erupts. The eruptions occur irregularly, about every 12 to 16 hours, and we believe
one had occurred only a short time before our arrival. A metal pipe had been placed
at the entrance long ago. The surrounding ground was covered in puddles of clear
water, with bubbles slowly subsiding. Standing near the pipe, we could hear the
water underground gurgling and bubbling.
But the most intriguing sight was the ground between the geyser and the river. As
the water evaporates, rippled by the desert breeze, the minerals solidify into a
delicate web of travertine in a variety of colors.
Tracery
For several hundred feet near the well, a large (and growing) mound of this travertine, colored mostly in shades
of rust and ochre but including patches of white and black, has formed what looks
like a watercourse of running rock down to the icy Green River.
After we admired the geyser's surroundings, we detoured past an abandoned Air Force
missile launch pad, once used in connection with New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range.
Unfortunately, as happens all too often, when the government leaves a place they do
not receive extra money to restore the land to its natural condition, before the
government had used it. In this site there was a perimeter fence with barbed wire,
old padlocks, strips of torn 'Evidence Tape' inadequately suited to prevent intrusion,
power lines cut by wire cutters, and a number of tumble-down buildings.
Abandoned base
No signs
indicated this had once been government property, but red spray paint in front of the
gate read, "KEEP OUT."
We found the Crystal Geyser in a leaflet we picked up at our motel. It describes five additional excursions, some of them featuring Native American petroglyph panels and dinosaur bones and fossils. Just farther on, starting at 14 miles from Green River, the San Rafael Swell is described as "one of the last great American wilderness areas yet to be discovered by the masses." We believe it. A party of dirty and rugged-looking men in our hotel looked like they had been in that wilderness for days.