An Escape to Idaho

 Welcome to an actual adventure where the fotos are actual fotos of the actual adventure. Say that fast 3 times, I dare you! So, our escape today began up a canyon just north of Portage, Utah. We headed west up the canyon past a few springs till we almost hit the the top of the mountain. A quick right sent us down a side canyon that headed north and took us into Idaho and the Samaria Mountains. Now here is where it got interesting. As we started up this little canyon, we began to see real trees like Quaking Aspen and Pine. For some reason, the mountains west of where I live in Utah are too dry for these big old trees. In one little spot, I swear we saw some old cut down trees from years ago that were easily 5 feet in diameter. They were kinda cool

 As we neared the top, we came to a spot where we could see for miles into the western Malad Valley. I got on Google Earth just to check out where the other road went and found an interesting marker. At the spot where we stopped, there were cows everywhere down this little draw. It had looked as if the road went down that way, but it really didn't. Looking on the Google shot of the area, this little draw is call San Libertas of the Good Samaritan. The view from above suggests something might have been there before but as to what I do not know. I did a quick Google search and found nothing. Now I gotta dig deep I suppose and find the truth. I mean all it says is church in Oneida County Idaho. Who knows?

From there the road went across the top of the mountain and headed down to life in the valley. I often wonder things like who built this road and why. With the exception of the High Uinta mountains, pretty much every range in Utah has hundreds if not thousands of miles of dirt roads that seem to go almost anywhere. I am sure that some are fire roads and of course you have the roads built to service mines and other resources. Whatever the reason, most of these roads offer the driver a chance to escape the big city traffic jams and see some things you might not have known existed. Just do a wee bit of research before you go so you don't end up on a trail that could destroy you and your vehicle. That would make for a shitty day!  Jeep on my friends.