Next westbound: South of Hurricane, UT    Next eastbound: Lake Powell

On the Kaibab Plateau east of Kanab, Utah, looking for mile 103, we found a curious marker– a 1/2″ x 1 1/4″ x 10 foot silver-weathered stake lying on the red ground, with three guy wires still attached to the stake and to three anchoring rocks. So we stood up the stake– the Cor-Ten colored guy wires tightened, controlling the pole’s location. I’m guessing the stake was used as a reference point for an early survey: we imagine a surveyor, a mile west of us, semaphoring directions to the stake handler. How old is the stake? Is the desert dust is dry enough to have kept the stake from rotting for 116 years, when the original survey was done?

Location: around N 370 0.0825′ W 1120 09.7943′.  This should be near Carpenter’s Mile 103. A warm desert: Even with the dusty red soil, the spare, pale green grasses, blue-green sage and blossoming thistles glowed with life; the junipers aerosolized a tangy aroma.  We were told that a soaking rain had recently spread its benevolence on the area.