Temple Mountain Mining District

Cold War uranium townsite on the San Rafael Reef

Temple Mountain Mining District sits on the southeast flank of the San Rafael Swell in Emery County, where Temple Wash cuts through the San Rafael Reef — a seventy-five-mile rocky spine that rises up to about one thousand feet and forms the eastern edge of the swell. The historic townsite and BLM Temple Mountain Townsite Campground occupy the mouth of that short, steep canyon at the intersection of Temple Mountain Road and Behind-the-Reef Road. Cabin ruins, reclaimed mine workings, and interpretive context for Cold War–era uranium mining remain visible on foot and by vehicle.

Uranium history in Emery County is older than the 1950s boom. BLM San Rafael Swell advisory materials note that uranium was reported at Temple Mountain as early as 1898. Early twentieth-century production targeted radium and vanadium as much as uranium; market collapse in the mid-1920s shut many claims. World War II vanadium demand and the postwar Atomic Energy Commission program reopened the district. From the late 1940s through the mid-1950s Temple Mountain was a major producer on the Colorado Plateau. USGS reconnaissance of the era describes uranium with copper and vanadium in Chinle Formation sandstones of the San Rafael district, including the Temple Mountain member that blankets Moenkopi Formation over much of the swell. Mines, worker housing, roads, and mill-related scars still form an industrial landscape.

The Dingell Act directs the BLM to educate the public about Cold War and historic uranium mine sites in the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area while protecting health and safety. Dozens of individual uranium-related sites exist across the recreation area; Temple Mountain is among the most accessible. Reclamation has closed many openings, but abandoned mine hazards remain. Open shafts, adits, and unstable ground kill people. Stay out of all mine workings. Do not enter tunnels, climb headframes, or collect ore piles. Radiation risk and structural collapse are both real.

Getting there and where to camp

From Utah Highway 24, turn west on Temple Mountain Road (signed for Goblin Valley State Park). Stay straight past the state-park turnoff; pavement gives way to gravel as the road enters Temple Wash. Temple Mountain Townsite sits on the north side of the road as the canyon opens, about seven miles from the highway. The approach suits most passenger vehicles in dry weather. Mud after storms can stop low-clearance cars.

Temple Mountain Townsite Campground is a fee campground (individual sites; America the Beautiful Senior and Golden Age passes take the standard fifty-percent campsite discount). Stay limit is fourteen days. South Temple Wash Campground sits farther east on the same road, also fee-based, with vault toilets, fire rings, picnic tables, and a mix of individual and group sites. Both are desert camps with limited water — pack what you need. Goblin Valley State Park, two miles back toward Highway 24, offers a developed alternative with its own fee structure, trails, and yurts if BLM sites are full.

Behind-the-Reef Road leaves opposite the townsite. The first six miles are generally passable to most vehicles and reach trailheads for San Rafael Reef Wilderness hikes, including Chute Canyon and Wild Horse Canyon (horse-accessible). Beyond that, the road continues roughly fourteen more miles of high-clearance, four-wheel-drive track along the base of five-hundred-foot cliffs; after about seven miles the corridor narrows to a fifty-inch maximum vehicle width. Motorized use is prohibited inside wilderness boundaries.

What to walk, what to chain, what to leave alone

From the campground, short walks reach reclaimed uranium workings and cabin ruins from the townsite era. A short drive down the wash reaches the Temple Mountain Pictograph Panel. Rock art is protected: do not touch, chalk, or wet panels — oils and abrasion destroy images that have lasted centuries. North Temple Wash offers a longer vehicle loop through more of the reef’s red-and-white rock without the rough miles on Behind-the-Reef.

Most visitors also use the nearby day hikes. Little Wild Horse Canyon — the most popular slot in the San Rafael Reef — is a few miles south via the Goblin Valley / Little Wild Horse approach roads. Paired with Bell Canyon it makes an eight-mile moderate loop of gravel bottoms and straightforward scrambling. Goblin Valley’s hoodoo field is the classic morning or evening stop two miles east. Temple Mountain is the mining-history stop those two destinations do not cover.

Summer heat on the swell regularly exceeds 100°F. Carry more water than seems reasonable, and skip midday canyon walks. Monsoon storms flash-flood slots and wash out Temple Mountain Road. Winter nights are cold at this elevation; snow is less common than on the high plateaus, but ice and mud still strand vehicles. Cell service is unreliable. Check the BLM Price Field Office for current fees, fire restrictions, and road status before the Highway 24 turn. A slow afternoon among the ruins fits this place better than a rushed pass-through. Keep out of the mine openings and leave the pictographs untouched.