A Day in Butch Cassidy's Neck of the Woods

As we drive south from Salt Lake City on our way to Green River to meet up with Brett, the fall foliage across Soldier's Summit is in full pyrotechnical bloom. We descend past the Castle Gate mine north of Helper and my mind drifts from the extraordinary beauty of this place to the history of the people that came through here over the course of the last century. Less than a month ago I traveled this same road with a friend and we discussed how radically things can change in the span of just a few generations.  My grandfather, for example, a man I knew before he died when I was 10, was born in 1892. That is five years before Butch Cassidy hightailed it out of the Castle Gate mine with $8,800 dollars in his saddlebags and two posses hot on his trail. I think about that now since our ultimate destination is a small slot not far from the labyrinth of dusty twisted canyons known as Robber's Roost. In fact, just north of the Roost in the San Rafael Swell where we are headed, Cassidy managed to get those two posses, one from Price and one from Huntington, shooting at each other before they figured out Cassidy was long gone. Of course, we are on our way to recreate, but not so long ago, these very same canyons provided men (and a few women) like Cassidy's Wild Bunch impenetrable fortresses from the law.

Green River, Utah, unlike many other former dusty outposts across the West, seems to cling to its history of mining, outlaws, railroad and cowboys while embracing the necessary change to keep it from becoming an anachronism. We pass a few shops on our way to the very modern and comfortable River Terrace Inn. Owners Lana and Ben Coomer have taken full advantage of a long spread of riverfront property by a placid stretch of the Green to provide travelers with a truly spectacular setting. With all the modern amenities, the River Terrace could be anywhere. Fortunately it isn't.  We grab a burger at Ray's Tavern because..well, when in Rome…and prepare for a day of canyoneering.