Long Dong Silver: Finding Utah’s Hidden Desert Spire
Long Dong Silver, Utah
Chasing Golden Light Among the Badlands of Hanksville, Utah
If you’ve followed my photography journey for any amount of time, you know this is my absolute wheelhouse: weird, wild, and towering rock formations carved out of the American Southwest. Southern Utah seems to have an endless supply of them, but this particular spire—uniquely dubbed "Long Dong Silver"—was one I had been itching to find for a while. Back in 2023, I was out meeting up with my adventure club buddies on a swing through Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. We hit some incredible spots along the way, including White Pocket, Canyon X, the Sand Cave over near Kanab, Belly of the Dragon and the Coral Pink Sand Dunes.
When we finally rolled into the badlands around Hanksville, Utah, we took the Jeep as far out into the dirt as we reasonably could. Finding this specific spire on foot isn't as straightforward as following a signpost; it hides remarkably well inside the surrounding terrain. After wandering a bit and trying to navigate the maze of eroded ridges, we sent the drone up to get a bird's-eye view. Sure enough, there it was, tucked neatly into a small alcove just to our east.
The landscape around Hanksville looks like another planet entirely—so much so that Mars Society built the Mars Desert Research Station just down the road to simulate living on the Red Planet. The towering spires and clay mudstone cliffs here are remnants of the Entrada Sandstone and Mancos Shale formations, eroded over millions of years by flash floods and wind into razor-thin fins and solitary spires.
The four of us ended up hanging out in the alcove for a couple of hours, waiting for the harsh afternoon sun to drop low toward the horizon. Even without a single cloud in the sky to add interest, the warm, side-casting golden light caught the edge of the spire and illuminated the surrounding ridgeline in a way that really brings out the raw depth of the desert badlands.
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Exploring the remote desert badlands of Hanksville, Utah to track down Long Dong Silver, a towering rock spire hidden among eroded clay ridges.