July 24th, a day off and a holiday. So, you know what that means....... Jeep trip! We began the day stopping at Sam's house to drop off her wedding gift and finally meet Daisy..... that dog is gonna be huge! Then it was off to the Oquirrh mountains and the Dry canyon trail to Jacob city. As you may recall, we tried it earlier this year and got cut off by snow. Not this time. It was a balmy 84 degrees and mostly overcast, so it was perfect weather to Jeep. I did manage to find one lonely mud hole and cover all 3 of us in it. The mesh top saved us from total annihilation. The canyon was quiet and we made it up with no problems. I've been visiting this place for many years and it is slowly going away. The above ore dump is pretty much all that's left.
With all the rain we have had the last 2 weeks, the flowers have begun to bloom. I have no idea what this is but it's kinda pretty. There are a lot of purple and yellow flowers showing now. Along with the flowers comes bee's, and I mean big bee's. Some of them were as big as my thumb. I tried to get a foto of them on the flowers but I just didn't have any luck today.
This pile of lumber and steel was once the dump chute for the hidden treasure mine. It was one of the structures that was still standing when I first started visiting the area. Between mother nature and I'm sure man, you can see it no longer stands as a testament to the men who mined here. It's really sad to see the past disappearing. I really wish I could have seen the area in it's heyday. There were supposedly 3000 people working and living here. It would have been a sight to see.
Up above the mine, way up the mountain, you can look down upon Rush valley and the chemical destroying depot. If you ever go up there at night, sit some place you see the valley below. As soon as darkness falls, the plant turns on the lighted fence and it is an awesome site. It is so big that you can watch the lights turn on and encircle the place. It is hard to describe, so I suggest you see it for yourself!
We took a trail I hadn't ever finished and did we score big! I hit a home run. This trail will take you over the top and down into Ophir. A miner once told me there were a whole bunch of mine buildings above there and sure enough, there are! The trail went from piss poor to shitty, so I didn't venture down into the area but, as MacArthur once said......I will return. The views were so incredible from up there. We could see Rush valley completely as well as southern Utah county and Utah lake. I wish somehow the fotos could project this image but alas, they just don't do it. The trip down was uneventful until we up with Ass-Munch Chevy driver. As is known in the the Jeeping and 4X4 community, the vehicle going up has the right of way. So, Ass is coming up, so I stop and begin to back up a single vehicle wide trail. Mind you, its a very steep drop off.... and instead of being patient, he rides my bumper all the way. I damn near stopped and taught him some manners but I figured why bother.... he drives a Chevy, that's punishment enough! I also filmed a lot of this trip but me and the video program are not speaking now. Maybe some later time we will agree on things and I will post the video..... Jeep on my friends!
