We try to camp off-grid whenever possible, and Crystal Geyser came up on our list when we ended up farther along into Utah on our first day of this trip than expected.
Boondocking (camping without a campground or services) is always best when it’s in the middle of nowhere, and the long, rough washboard "New Area 51" road coming into Crystal Geyser certainly keeps the crowds away.
The area was originally called the Utah Launch Complex, a launch facility for missles headed to the Army’s White Sands New Mexico missle range. It was mothballed after its last launch in 1974, and the government isn’t doing much for the site. Several buildings lay in various states of decay around the property, although we didn’t take the time to poke around any of them.
Back to Crystal Geyser – we weren’t lucky enough to see it erupt, since it’s an on an odd schedule and we didn’t catch the eruption times during our stay.
It is one of the very rare cold-water driven geysers created by an oil-well drilling in 1935, most geysers are driven by geothermal activity.
Despite no missles and no geyser, this was a perfect boondocking spot for our needs, and we’d certainly return on another trip across I-70.
Don’t Even Think About It
Nothing good could possibly come of dragging a camper down this…
Spot The Pod
Boondocking in the middle of nowhere.
Orange and White
Snow and ice spots on the travertine ledges below Crystal Geyser
Waves
The sunset lights up these waves of ice.
On The Other Side
Sunset on one side, moonrise on the other.
The Long Road In
We had another young couple in a campervan roll in for sunset, then leave once they realized that the geyser wasn’t erupting.
