The Utah Office of Tourism’s Community and Partner Relations team is hitting the road this spring and summer to meet with partners around the state. The goal is to collaborate, answer questions, and share resources. This blog is an invitation to learn -along with us- about the opportunities and challenges we discover along the way.

In early April, we were able to spend time in Emery and San Juan counties. Our first stop was the town of Castle Dale where AnnDee Mead, Emery County Travel Director, had so much to show us, starting with a short drive to the Joe’s Valley bouldering site, in a canyon east of town. The word bouldering might cause you to think of mountain climbing or rappelling, but it’s different. Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. 

In Joe’s Valley this often involves small groups of people, or lone individuals scaling up and around boulders roughly the size of school buses, often with protective pads placed on the ground to prevent injury if a fall should occur. Julie Janus, the Coordinator of the Joe’s Valley Fest offered a bouldering demonstration. Her event will hold its tenth annual gathering this fall!

A few businesses in Castle Dale are embracing bouldering enthusiasts such as the Food Ranch, an oversized convenience store which stocks some bouldering gear, and R Place Pizza which extends hours to accommodate tourists as they come down out of the hills after dark.

We stayed the night in cabins at Big Mountain Lodge in Ferron, Utah. The Sinclair station in town also doubles as the front desk for the lodge. As in some other rural towns, the gas station sells sodas, beef jerky, and a variety of hunting rifles.

The next morning we made the short drive to Millsite State Park in the mouth of Ferron Canyon where we were met by Park Manager, Brad Walker. Millsite is one of the state’s newer parks. It borders the city golf course, and includes Millsite Reservoir which extends to rock formations rivaling those in southern Utah. Currently there are only 20 camp sites at Millsite, available through Reserve America. Walker says “they go fast”, and it’s easy to see why.

From Ferron, we traveled to the east side of Emery County where we met with Mayor Ren Hatt, City Manager Tyler Hunt, Epicenter Director Maria Sykes, and John Wesley Powell River Museum Director Janet Smoak. While at the museum, UOT’s Community and Partner Relations team was able to offer a presentation, and field questions about EDA grants, and the Co-Op Marketing Fund application process. Green River was successful in securing a Round One EDA grant which they’ll use to pay for a feasibility study examining a possible convention center.

Our team packs a lot into a day, and after Green River, we drove south to Monticello where we were pleasantly surprised to find Thai and sushi options at Ja-Roen restaurant before checking into the Inn at the Canyons.

The following morning, we met over breakfast with San Juan County Tourism Director Elaine Gizler, and Assistant Marketing Director Allison Yamamoto-Sparks, as well as Bluff Mayor Ann Leppanen, before heading to the Edge of the Cedars Museum. This museum boasts the largest collection of Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) pottery on display in the Four Corners region. And outside, guests are able to see the remnants of a 1000 year-old Great House, and descend a ladder into a well-preserved Kiva!

There was more beauty in store as we traveled to Goosenecks State Park, and then Natural Bridges National Monument where we took a short hike to Owachomo Bridge. San Juan County is America’s Outback, with wild and uninhabited places awaiting the adventurous traveler.

After a long day, we checked into the oasis that is Bluff Dwellings. Owner Jared Berrett has created a unique property, tucked up against towering rocks. The UOT Board meeting was held in the conference room of the resort, and afterwards, several attendees were able to experience the excursions offered by Bluff Dwellings, including rides by vehicle (or raft when weather permits) into the desert where there are ruins to see along the San Juan River.

This summer, the Community and Partner Relations Team will be traveling to Cache, Rich, Wasatch and Uintah counties among others still being arranged. And hopefully we’ll be seeing many representatives from rural Utah at UOT’s Salt Lake Office (Council Hall) during the application process for the Cooperative Marketing Funds.

Read more of our Partner Highlights adventures on the road here.