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Show Picturesque Castle Valley Draws Visitors Like Gigantic Magnet Continued from Pags Bl valley floor, while the massive mas-sive red-brown walls of Parriott Mesa loom on the left. From farther along the road, this high, isolated JL JIL II. HI plateau resembles the escarpments es-carpments and sheer walls of an impregnable medieval castle, the "castle" that gives the valley its name. Next comes a small com- 1)1 III in I munlty of tiny ranches and a well-built parochial school lying below the spectacular spectacu-lar Priest and Nuns and Castle Tower. On the right side, the soaring, arrow-straight arrow-straight wall of Porcupine Rim rises steadily higher, then blends into the foothills of the LaSal mountains. A Natural VaHey As the road continues up the valley, human develop ments are left behind for a while. The broad valley1 is largely natural, save for an occasional irrigation ditch or water pipe. Low desert brush, flowering this time of the year, shares sand flats and shallow dry washes with prickly pear cactus beds, while green Cottonwood trees and other water-loving plants mark the path of the flowing streams that give life to the ranches in the lower valley. To the left of the road, a continuous view of the Priest and Nuns, and Castle Tower, offers photographers photograph-ers unlimited chances for capturing the spectacular beauty of these tall stone figures. Nationwide television tele-vision views are now seeing these in General Motors commercials for the 1973 Chevrolet because recently, for the second time, a new-model new-model Chevy was placed on top of the 600-foot finger of Castle Tower by helicopter, then photographed with a young girl posed near it. Continues to Climb The paved road continues to climb up Castle Valley, past the craggy features of Round Mountain and then to the site of the historic town of Castleton. Today, Castleton, while still shown on the official Utah map, is difficult to find in actuality. ac-tuality. Once a booming mining town, not much is left of Castleton now but a scattering of small buildings, build-ings, some still occupied, others deserted and collapsing. col-lapsing. Not far beyond what remains re-mains of Castleton, the La-Sal La-Sal Mountain Loop Road branches off to the right. The main paved road continues con-tinues beyond this junction for about three miles, then becomes a steeply-climbing Forest Service graded dirt road. There are many ways t see more of Castle Valley, or to see it from other highly rewarding viewpoints. view-points. Here are a few of these: LaSaSI Mtn. Loop Road At the head of Castle Valley, turn onto the LaSal Mountain Loop Road. For the next six miles this paved pav-ed road climbs steeply up the lower slopes of the La-Sate, La-Sate, and offers several spectacular views back down into Castle Valley. Some of these viewpoints are especially lovely during late evening. For those traveling in vehicles capable of negotiating nego-tiating rough and steep trails, two spur trails from the Loop Road offer varied glimpses of Castle Valley attractions. The Miners Basin Ba-sin trail offers several views down into the distant Valley, and a marked trail leads down into one upper branch of the valley to Pin-hook Pin-hook Battle Monument, where horse-stealing Indians In-dians massacred most f a posse of pursuing ranchers on June 15, 1881. Porcupine Rim Another outstanding and different view of Castle Valley Val-ley can be had from Porcupine Por-cupine Rim, the high wall that bounds the valley to the southwest. Access to the rim is only by off-road vehicle. The Sand Flats Road climbs from Moab to join the Loop Road above Wilson Mesa. A quarter mile or so after this road enters the National Forest, and at that point crosses a cattleguard, a short spur trail leads to Porcupine Rim and a breathtaking view tf Castle Valley from above. Almost directly below the viewpoint are the green acres of Porcupine Ranch. Nearby is Round Mountain, and beyond are the reaching pinnacles of Castle Tower and the Priest and Nuns. Porcupine Rim slopes toward to-ward the distant Colorado River on the left, and joins the rugged La Sals to the right. More distant glimpses of Castle Tower and other adjacent ad-jacent monoliths can also be had from Professor Valley Val-ley to the northeast of Castle Valley, from U-128 as It travels toward Cisco, and from the road and foot trails near the Fisher Towers. To-wers. Other Distant Viewpoints Indeed, Castle Tower is such an outstanding feature that it can be glimpsed from many distant points to the north and west. On clear days it is visible from several places along U.S. 6-50 to the east of Crescent Junction, from many places plac-es within the developed areas ar-eas of Arches National Park, from the rims above Moab on either side of the Colorado Colo-rado River Portal and from even more distant vantage points along the jeep trails that lead to the Gemini Twin Bridges, the Monitor and Merrimac, and the tm. developed western canyons of Arches. Aerial Views And, of course, the wh!f of spectacular Castle Val-ley Val-ley can be seen, spread be-low be-low like a vast 3-D map from scenic tour airplanes or from commercial flights between Moab and Grand Junction. But however you view ft, Castle Valley is lovely, out. standing, worthy of being made a park or at least of being developed with every ev-ery consideration given to preserving its thrilling, in. comparable beauty. |