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Show Discover Mocabs bidden Vdley by DICK WILSON Mill Creek, created anywhere any-where but in the Canyonlands, Canyon-lands, would have received fame. Imagine it within a hundred milcs of Chicago or any other metropolis. It would be a vacation spot a resort and an outdoor mccca. Plant it beside world-famous Garden of .the Gods near Colorado Springs, the Garden would have remained unnamed and Mill Creek would have had millon-dollar "improvements" "improve-ments" to enable the tourists tour-ists to see it. Mill Creek begins in the LaSals, the chief streams arising in the vicinity of Haystack Mountain, Geyser Gey-ser Pass and Mount Mel-lenthin. Mel-lenthin. After gurgling through pleasant meadows and aspen forests, pausing here and there in ponds such as Oowah, it begins its dashing, tumbling de-scent de-scent through the cut it has made in South Mesa. This portion of Mill Creek is easily accessible by automobile au-tomobile by following the LaSal Mountain I,oop Road up Brumley Ridge. The Loop Road itself spans a crevice where many feet ibelow the creek can be heard. Mill Creek missed becom ing a major stream of Spanish Valley by less than one-third of a mile. At the head of Spanish Valley Val-ley the creek turns north having cut its charming canyon parallel to the valley. val-ley. This has made an effective ef-fective barrier and even today the country between Mill Creek and South Mesa is rarely entered. The creek eventually bursts through the ridge that separates it from Spanish Valley and makes a beeline across the valley val-ley and through the town emptying into the Colorado. Colo-rado. fThe chasm formed by Mill Creek just cast of town is a popular hiking retreat. My wife and 1, leaving our car by the old dam, recently walked into the front door of that chasm, where Mill and North Fork Mill join forces ,Tust in this corner alone, among the 500-600 .foot cliffs, you could hide Garden Gar-den of the Gods. Take cither fork. You will have your choice of Ibuilt-in bathtubs, smooth terraces over which cool spring waters toss and tumble, or pools deep enough for swimming. But don't neglect to note the weather to ascertain how much time you have till the next rampaging flood comes through the gate! VIEWPOINTS BY JEEP Four wheel drive vehicles are the only means of mechanical me-chanical transport (besides trail bikes) that can reach the really excellent viewpoints view-points of Mill Creek. One rough trail leaves the old Mill Creek Dam and ascends the steep ridge just east of town. An easier trail to the same viewpoint, for those preferring fewer bumps, is reached from Murphy Lane taking a left about two miles north of the golf course at the entrance of the Highlands subdivision. We enjoy the view especially es-pecially near sunset when the slickrocks east of Mill Creek become dazzling orange, and the music of the stream rises to meet the listener at the end o a busy day. This trip is one that can be enjoyed by a family -after working and school hours and is especially pleasant: now that autum breezes are cooling the evening air. There's still a third trail leading to the isolated southernmost portion of this same ridge. The trad is rarely traveled by jeeps anymore but is still accessible acces-sible for those wishing ' a little more adventure. Drivers would find it necessary nec-essary to go around two washed out areas but o-thcrwise o-thcrwise the trail should present no real trouble. It leaves the old Spanish Valley highway a block or two north of the abandoned abandon-ed airport and switchbacks switch-backs to a relatively flat and grassy mesa. The ascent, as-cent, though rocky and sandy, gives rewarding views of Spanish Valley the head of which is now a peaceful yellow due to certain blooming plants that cover the floor of the valley. The pleasure of this trip is in seeing the new angles to old views. The entire length of the slickrocks stretch out before you. From dizzy depths below you hear the rushing waters wa-ters of Mill Creek. A LAND OF SEGMENTS One of the characteristic characteris-tic features of the Canyonlands Canyon-lands is dramatically portrayed por-trayed in the region between be-tween Mill and North Fork Mill Creeks east of town. This feature is that rivers and floods have cut the land into segments, isolating iso-lating such sections from each other and preventing asy transportation from one mesa to another. This is the reason for the rarity of visitors to the country between Mill and its little sister, North Fork. Tine region was once accessible ac-cessible to jeeps and the dim trail can still be followed fol-lowed by turning east immediately im-mediately north of the golf course greens. Jeeps can presently make it with out" too much roughness to a corral at the top of ,the ridge. From this point, wiiich is around five miles .south of town, is a scene .nearly comparable yes, perhaps surpassing to that of Chcsler Park of the Needles. HIDDEN VALLEY , I've heard it called Hidden Hid-den Valley and its name is appropriate. . When observ- : ing this valley from near the corral, Mill Creek enters en-ters with its gentle roar ; from a hidden recess to the south. It winds pleasantly pleas-antly through the valley creating a strip of green along banks. An old jeep track and an ancient truck lends old-time western west-ern aroma to the scene. Towering above and west of the creek is a rock resembling re-sembling a fortress containing con-taining minarets and balconies. bal-conies. . I've made it by trail bike inio Hidden Valley ' various times but the 0-ther 0-ther day the country got .the best of me. A rock flipped my motor in a vulnerable vul-nerable spot, opened an oil tube, and stopped me dead. I had a forced seven-mile run back to town pn two legs. Returning the following day with c-poxy, c-poxy, putty, oil and other (materials, I patched the (Vound enough to enable nic to get back to the ridge and to a four-wheel drive pickup driven by Dan Dunn. Mill Creek contains more secrets than can be presently described. It's history and . adventura waiit for those strong enough to enjoy it. And more important, Mill Creek's beauty is still un-d'irtuibed, un-d'irtuibed, though it's only five minutes from home. YxvYv2P Y & x w - jeep vze-t'oints w - 'jeep routes |