Long road to the Sun Tunnels

Today was a long day, but a very fulfilling one.  I drove from Wendover, UT, which was a town that had slot machines in one of the gas station's to the town of Lucin, UT.  Lucin is not your normal town, in the way that there is no town really.  I surprisingly saw one vehicle but no buildings.  I traveled there to visit the second Earthwork of my trip which is called Sun Tunnels by American artist Nancy Holt.  The work is comprised of four large concrete tunnels that have been strategically placed to align themselves with the summer and winter solstices.  If I recall Double Negative also had an importance to its placement.  The placement of material or in the case of Heizers piece, the removal of material both depends on the structure of line and how one might place and/or navigate themselves within the existing work.

In the case of Holt's work the importance of line falls on the winter and summer solstices.  The concrete tunnels are placed within the open land, but the spherical shape allows the viewer to extract a smaller segment of that land, hence whatever the viewer's eyes might frame through the tunnel.  The holes that are drilled through the tunnels represent different constellations.  As the sun shines and works it's way east to west, the cast light from the holes shifts throughout the day.  

Getting to the tunnels by car is fairly easy, provided you have directions.  Cell service is dropped quickly after you turn on the road to Lucin.  I second guessed myself a few times weather or not I was going the right way.  I would turn around then turn back.  I said to myself AM I GOING TO FIND THE TUNNELS?  Realistically I was going to find them and was just psyching myself out.  After the train tracks you take that road a few miles, then take a left on to another unnamed road for 2 miles, which then finally you can see the Tunnels to the east and you take your final right about a mile to earthwork.  I had a lot of fun photographing them today.  

On Rt. 30 along the way to Lucin.

Gravel road on the way to Lucin

Well I'm in Lucin.

The directions said to cross the railroad tracks.

Finally made it!!