Strictly a bouldering area with many scattered rocks of varying heights (5' to 45'). The rock (cap stones from the ridge above consisting of a better grade of sandstone and a bit of a patina) is a mix of fair to not so good in its quality but the camping here is great, a bit like Ibex with a river (Paria River) near by. Hot in the summer but it's doable any other time of year. NOTABLE FOSSIL: Just 30 meters northeast of Campfire Rock is a boulder with a very obvious fossil embedded in the top, northwest facing surface. It is the scapula of a land turtle about 85 million years old in the Straight Cliffs Formation, late Cretaceous Period. See photos below.
Getting There
From west of Big Water and Church Wells on HW 89 take the Cottonwood dirt road 7 miles into the GSENM. When you first start seeing the river, look to your right for a spur road and the obvious boulders about 50-175 meters off. This place is approximately 1/3 of the way through the Cottonwood Rd. and between the Paria River and the Brigham Plains above and east.
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