Welcome to the annual memorial day blog. Well, I want to think its annual, but I could be wrong. Anyway, today's awesome adventure began at 6 am as we left the fair city of Tremonton and headed south to Vernon, Utah. Vernon is located at the southernmost end of Tooele county. Google says its exactly 145 miles and I believe it. Today, the destination was Harker Canyon. I had never heard of it until it was mentioned to me by my friend, Mr. Kirt Womak. The canyon was named for his great x 3 or 4 grandfather who, during the summer, would take his flock of sheep from the Salt Lake Valley and march them or herd them all the way to this remote canyon.
My guess is it would have been a long long trip to get them all the way there. As you can see from the first foto, it is very green and lush towards the top of the canyon and there is a small stream flowing down named, are you ready for this, Harker Creek. The mountains there are surprising, in a way. The drive to mouths of several of them leads you to believe they are plain old desert mountains. As you climb up the canyons, they suddenly begin to turn lush with Pine trees, Willows and Quaking Aspen. They were quite beautiful and we had them all to ourselves. Supposedly there is a ghost town up one of the canyons, but we did not encounter it. We did find a few mines, complete with ore cart tracks that would be fun to explore had they not been blown closed. I am certain that there are ore carts left inside just waiting to be rescued.
The third canyon we went up is where the carnage took place. The trail was muddy, steep and way off camber. I must tell you that we went with my niece Holly and her 07 Ford F-150. This was her first time out doing serious off-roading. I had to get on her case to hit the mud-holes and she finally got into it. Her enthusiasm was growing as she followed me up the trail. We got to a spot where a chevy had parked of the road and the driver was no where to be seen. I went on by and headed up the hill to a mine. The trail was narrow and a 4-lo climb crawling over the boulders. We flew on up and sat at the mine and wondered what happened to her. She finally popped out of the trees and stopped where it turned really nasty. We took fotos and crawled back down to where she stopped and were met with damaged Ford. She clipped a rock in the trees and took off part of her passenger side running board. She also managed to remove the truck's antenna at the same time. She said she wasn't mad but I think she was. Of course I used this to try and persuade her to not trade it in on a Honda, but to get a Wrangler Unlimited. I hope she goes with her wise uncles advice and gets a Jeep!
We came back down the canyon, ate lunch and followed the road where ever it went. We ended up coming out at the Vernon reservoir where we stopped to check it out. Oh, and pee. TMI? Too bad! We will have to return someday to figure out where this so called mining camp is. A second entry on ghosttowns.com place it 2 miles west of Harker Canyon and we had gone east. Oh well, I guess I have an excuse to return. I will also admit I got to a place in the trail and couldn't go on. It was ATV wide and there was a good size rock that had a tendency to throw you into the trees as you tried to climb it. I bounced over on one attempt but the mud was too slippery. Again, another reason to return. As a follow up to the last entry, I got lucky and got into the University of Utah cardiac center on June first instead of July first with IHC. This is good news. Jeep on my friends!
It is quite interesting what you can find when out exploring the road less traveled. For instance, someone left this mine area and forgot the kitchen sink. Now who does that?
They also left the toaster. I find it hard to believe that a person would leave their dream and not take things with them. There were other things left behind too but we're not gonna talk about that anymore. It has become common knowledge that I, Mtnmad, suffered a heart attack some time in the last 8 weeks. It really hit home today when I mowed the lawn, which I really find relaxing, and it exhausted me. Granted, the lawn was about 18 inches high, but really, I never got tired before when I did it.
So I guess this gets me to my point. Life is awesome and I don't want to check out early. I used to think that you live then you die and no big deal. But when face to face with it, it becomes a huge deal. For example, I am going to be a grandfather in November. I used to think that it was not for me and it would make me old. Not anymore. I want to meet this child and impart some grandfatherly wisdom to this young man. Oh, It is a boy. I want to teach him how life is a great adventure with things out there to see and do. My parents took me to historical places when I was growing up and being the typical child, I thought it was boring. Now look at me. I can't get enough of exploring the past. I would much rather Jeep the darkside and see what was left for us by past groups of people than just read about it in some biased text book. My grandfather was a miner. I have had the luck to enter 1 mine he worked in, stand outside another, and view one from a distance. The 4th doesn't exist anymore due to the hole in the ground Kennicott Copper has dug, but I have fotos of it from when he was there. I don't know whether this new young boy will find any of it interesting, but I hope he does. He will have all of my old fotos someday and hopefully he will want to go see what I saw and enjoy it like I do. So, my goal is to try and win this battle ahead so I can be the one to take him on his first Jeeping adventure. That is what I plan on doing. As for whats ahead, I am kinda pissed off at Dr's. The left side of my heart is pretty much toasted at this moment. I had tests that said it would be wise to get blood flowing back into it, but they make me an appointment in July. What the hell? I talked to a friend who has a ton of know how and he told me time is of the essence. So, I am taking the proverbial bull by the balls and going out in search of a Dr who can get me in sooner. I have a young man who needs to learn a few things from me and I will be there to do it, even if it means I go about it in a slightly different manner than most would.
OK, that's my goal and I will achieve it. Stay tune for more adventures...... this ain't over yet. Jeep on my friends.
