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Western
Washington County
The Community of Motoqua, the Beaver Dam Wash, and
Pine Park
A lonely dirt road leads west from Highway 18 at Shivwitz, south of Gunlock Reservoir. If you follow this road about 20 miles, you'll end up in a well-hidden paradise at the confluence of two rivers, the Beaver Dam Wash and Slaughter Creek. Motoqua, situated in this deep canyon, is a tiny community of people who'd prefer you hadn't found it. We'll leave it at that. There are 20 or so homes scattered through the valley.
As you can see,
this is not an affluent retirement community. The hardworking people
who live at Motoqua are farmers and ranchers. Their homes have evolved
from necessity rather than taste. And the cars that have made their
last trip across the 20 miles of high desert from the highway are
put out to pasture nearby. We joked with each other on our first vist
a few years ago that they were the vehicles of people who mistakenly
wandered into town and never made it out.
Upstream several
miles from Motoqua are the headwaters of the Beaver Dam Wash. You
actually are much better off getting to this site via route 319 through
Panaca. Follow the easy-to-miss signs to Beaver Dam State Park along
the highway. We visited the Park the day after Christmas in 1998.
The reservoir was frozen, but the weather was quite favorable. It's
a well-hidden place to take the family for picnics, fishing and light
hiking. In summer months, stay on the trails and watch for snakes.
Back on the Utah
side, Pine Park is another hamlet seen only by those caring to venture
off the pavement. We got here by driving through Enterprise and continuing
west past the end of the pavement, up into the hills and then down
into a limestone canyon. There are picnic areas, a small creek, with
very small fish, and plenty of places to explore.
The rock formations
at Pine Park are quite interesting. Yougsters would enjoy climbing
around. Keep an eye on them, though. This place is very far from town
if there's an emergency.
Ryan and his microscopic
fish... see it?
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