Welcome to another grand adventure as we travel back in time to the dinosaur age! This trip was the grand finale, so to speak, of our summer adventures. For those of you who don't know, we inherited another son a week or so back. His name is Wyatt and he is Em's nephew. He is big into dinosaurs so we decided to show him one of Utah's best places for adventure: Dinosaur National Park. We left early Friday morning and drove directly to the visitors center at the park. The shuttle was waiting and we hopped aboard for the quick drive to the quarry. Inside the building is a wall of fossilized dino bones and some very cool replicas of some of the animals themselves. I can't recall the above guys name so we'll just call him Frank. The wall in the quarry has over 100 different bones of all types of dinosaurs and you can even touch some of them!
Upon leaving the main area of the park, we headed out to a part of the park named Island Park. Along this road there are a few spots where you can check out some of the ancient Indian writings carved into the rocks. Sharp eyed Noah spotted these ones and they were quite interesting to look at. I had a discussion with a professor Wednesday night who believes that these are religious drawings. I countered back with my belief that they are drawings of history. Let me explain. I think that after a special event such as a hunt or battle, the Indians recorded the event. Hell, we all do it today one way or another. Some of you write journals or diaries and some of us go public doing online blogs. That's my opinion and I am sticking to it.
Day 2 took 4 of us out on a long hundred mile journey of exploration. Before I begin I need to say how shitty the trail markings are out in the area. Following the maps provided by the government were a joke along with very few signs marking the outer trails. That said, we headed out to Crouse canyon that the rangers swore required a high clearance vehicle. Ya, right. After finding a nice lady in a Jeep who knew where we were going, we began a long day of play. I was counting on the Gopro to do the Crouse canyon part of this trip but........ it decided it didn't want to play. So, I do believe this means another trip out there is in store. The highlight of Crouse canyon is after you finish it. You have 2 choices: left to a normal bridge across the Green river or right, where you get to cross using an old suspension bridge. We went right. This bridge has a sign saying that 400 sheep, 200 cows or a 3.5 ton vehicle can use it. It is a very sturdy bridge but, it swings while you drive across it. It is a very odd feeling swaying above the river while you hear creaking noises coming from below the Jeep. Lucky for us, Emily had her phone out and we do have a record of us doing it. After that excitement we headed out to an old historic ranch along side the river. The tiny museum there had the grave marker you see above. Wow, shot dead. Wild times in wild country.
The ranch was neat visit. They had tons of cool stuff in the old general store there. And their bottle collection had me lusting like no tomorrow. The history of the ranch tells tales of outlaws who visited and sometimes worked there. The owner was a friend to them till a pair of crooks decided that hospitality wasn't enough and shot and robbed him. I can see why he stayed where he did. This area of the green river is so beautiful. I would have stayed there too. I wish I had brought a fishing pole. As you can see, the river is just perfect to wade out into and cast your line for dinner. I need to go back.
Further on, we ran into a sign that told of the "3 corners" area. In Utah, most folks know of the "4 corners" area: where UT, Co,AZ and NM join together. The "3" area is Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. This was the best off road trail of the whole trip. Had it been muddy, it might have proved to be a challenge but it wasn't so yah...... easy! After that we took the scenic route home to the hotel via Flaming Gorge. Wow! I never realized that this area was so beautiful. It sits high in the pine forests with some really nice rock formations for shore line. Again, this requires a trip back. I think a boat rental to explore and fish would be a great couple of days. Sunday had us returning to the park itself and taking some of the back trails for more Indian graffiti. There were 3 great foto ops and a whole bunch of dirt roads that were begging to be explored. Ya, I have to go back. One last bit of info..... if you stop at the rest stop just before Duchesne, beware of the Nazi cleaning bitch. We stopped long enough to pee and grab some sweatshirts. There were 3 cars in the lot and I pulled down to the farthest end and parked sideways. Boy, talk about coming unglued at the seams. I heard about it going in the door, pissing and going back out the door. Hell's bells, she reminded me of the soup Nazi on Seinfeld. Other than that, the trip was awesome. I do recommend that you go out there and see what's there. You won't be disappointed. Jeep on my friends!
Saturday afternoon found us once again at the base of the mountain in Providence Utah. I say once again because a week prior had found us in the same spot. The canyon had been closed for some time and I had decided that they had closed it to make it another Subaru trail. It seemed that was true. We arrived at the water fall on a Subaru trail. Life was good. The foto does nothing for the actual beauty of the falls, but I tried. As we left the falls and headed up the trail, my mind was soon changed. We had ourselves a good old, ass kickin'. rock crawling trail. It was 4-lo from the get-go and hold on tight time. The rocks were big and very loose so we slipped and slid our way to the top. Well, being dumb, I had left the cameras at home so we couldn't document our trip. So, we did our re-visit yesterday with both the gopro and the picture camera. I only took 4 fotos because the gopro was running the whole time. So, at the end, I will add the addy so you can see how it really was.
The first trip up, we went over to Logan peak and then down through right hand fork. Yesterday, I decided to make it interesting and we came down through Millville canyon. It's a lovely canyon with it's own personality. The trail is steep and very narrow in spots. As you get about half way down, the above sign shows up. It is kind of ironic that they don't put one at the top of the trail. Oh well, it wasn't a big deal. Old Yellow had no problems with either trail.
The views from the top of all these canyons are incredible. You can see forever from the tops of the mountains and it is so breathtaking. I guess most people would rather look online or in magazines to see these views. As for me and my better half, we would rather see them up close and personal. It's really rather nice that people don't want to see them up close: it leaves more room on the trails for us...... Jeep on my friends! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zhR916YXU
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!
Welcome to another adventure ! Today was fathers day, so we decided to head out to the top of northern Utah. This trail begins at Mantua and heads up to what is known as Inspiration point. The trail used to be a good rock crawling trail, but alas, the tree hugging, Subaru driving, head ranger lady bitch has made it into a boring trail. It's very sad when you see mini vans up where they shouldn't be. Though, they wont be going up soon..... there were a couple of nice deep mud holes that wouldn't take to kindly to mini vans at this point in time. Anyway, the above foto was taken on the trail up. It shows part of Pineview dam off in the distance.
Once you reach the top, the view is endless. This is looking back over the way we came. I have a few other fotos that I took but i liked this one. There are still patches of snow here and there, but nothing to bad. The one gnarly mud hole was a blast to play in and I really wished there had been more of them.
This is Willard peak. It is the highest point in Box Elder county. Inspiration point is the the trail head to hike up to the peak. I have never done the hike and I really don't think I ever will. I am just too fat and old. From the point I was able to take fotos with the telephoto lens of Ogden, Logan and Tremonton. I also had the gopro video going, but the battery died before we got to the top. Stupid thing! So, we ordered 2 new batteries and a charger so this doesn't happen again.
Down in the valley below the peak, there is a small picnic area with tables. We actually did it right this time and brought food. Nothing like a good meal while you are Jeeping. The trip down was uneventful and for once, we didn't see any animals, other than a few squirrels and chipmunks. Being sort of a holiday weekend, we did see plenty of humans. Not my favorite animal to see but what can you do? 'Twas a great day though and I cant wait to return and follow some of the trails that leave the main one. Jeep on my friends!
Buenas burritos and welcome to yet another summer adventure. Today's trip was out to hell, and back. OK, lets simplify this. The trip today was out to the Devil's Playground, thus the reference to hell. The Playground is an area in Box Elder county that had some of the strangest rock formations out there. If I remember correct, the stone is soft granite and Mother Nature has very little trouble shaping it in many odd fashions. I have posted other fotos on here of the area so go back and look at them. The oddest formation out there, that I forgot to take the foto of, is of solid stones with a cobblestone street in the middle of the rock. It is so amazing to see these.... it blows your mind!
Due to last weeks rain, the area out there was nice and green and the wildflowers were in bloom. There were pink, purple, blue, red and yellow flowers all over the mountain. I took this foto by a mine because I thought it was pretty. Being a desert area, the flowers are not like they are over in Colorado. The whole mountainside can be covered there , while here in our desert state, they pop up in all sorts of places, and there is not as many of them.
This is a foto of the hidden cabin. It was built in 1941 by a family and its open for use to anyone who wants to stay there. It's on a first come first serve basis, except for hunting seasons and holidays. There was no one there today when we visited so we hung out for a few and read the guest book. My first entry in it goes back to 2004. I think I have like 5 little scribbles in it. I even read where Sam and Bob found it back in 2011. Even more interesting is the entry from my next door neighbor when I lived in Ogden. It's quite nice for being 60+ years old and it would be a nice place to hang out for a few days. Someday I might just do that. You should too....... if you can find it!
For those of you who follow this boring blog, you will know what this foto is! For those that don't, this object, according to the state historians office is from the 1940's. I swear I have seen 4 of them , but I may be wrong because I only found 3 today. Anyways, this is a phone booth. There is a little shelf inside where you could write down a message or something like that. There is no visible wires left or anything else that would suggest this was a phone booth. This one is located at Lucin where there was a population of people living up till 1970 or so. The other 2 are out in the middle of nowhere with the only close thing to them are mines some distance away. Those have no wires or anything left either. I find it odd that there are no telephone poles either. My guess is that when they removed the phones, they took everything with it except the little building.
While at Lucin, we or I decided I wanted to wait by the tracks and shoot fotos of trains. Well, I struck out there because in 40 minutes, not one train came by. As we were waiting, I noticed on top of a signal there was a huge nest. I didn't think anything of it, until we heard noises from the nest. There are 3 baby Ravens in the nest and mom wasn't to happy with us parked so near. She made the one pass and fed one of them and then disappeared to watch from a distance. The babies were squawking so much she gave in and made one more stop. I had the IPhone video going and filmed it the best I could. So, that was our entertainment for 40 minutes while we waited for the train that didn't come. Stupid Union Pacific. It was a great day...... I still need to return and go see a mine we passed by..... who's game? Jeep on my friends.
Finally another adventure that doesn't involve me getting stuck. We headed back up Beaver canyon to see how far we could make it today. The sun was out but it wasn't as warm as it could have been. But that was OK, I don't mind it at all. The trail had some snow down near where I had gotten stuck, but nothing like before. We made it up to the valley where you can choose to go to Preston Idaho or across the the top to Franklin basin. I chose Franklin Basin and we headed up the canyon.
This foto shows the snow still in the trees and how deep it still is in the trees. It also shows a beaver condo there in the center. There are so many of them up there and it kinda sucks cuz you never see any of them. I do believe that they are allergic to the sun. The river is full of dams from the start of the trail to where the river starts. I would really love to see some of them sometime. As we headed up the trail to go over to Franklin basin the snow drifts got bigger and bigger. The yellow Jeep did very well blasting thru all of them till we rounded the corner and found no more road. It was buried under a white blanket of slushy snow 2 to 3 feet deep. Since we didn't have the luxury of another vehicle with us , we turned around and headed back down the canyon.
The trip down was uneventful and a breeze for the Jeep. Going down hill thru snow banks is a lot easier due to the law of gravity. As we got back to the bottom of the canyon, the GoPro video camera decided it had had enough. It wouldn't stay on so I had to use the normal camera to catch our friend munching plants. She is named Melanie J Moose and she doesn't look very old. If I remember my zoology studies right, moose spend time with mom from birth till the next years baby arrives. Thus my thinking that she is probably a yearling. She was the 2nd moose we actually saw today. On the way up we saw one in the Logan river. We also saw 2 deer and a young badger today. Needless to say, we had a great time, though it was too short. But then again, most Jeep trips are. Jeep on my friends!
Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. Sorry , but I have been busy with school and work and being poor. But, I did have a chance to go out last Sunday and we had a great time, considering I finally got Old Yellow stuck. We headed up to Beaver Creek canyon, which was really the only trail open, and proceeded to see how far we could go. As we hit the trail head, I stopped to hook up my GOPRO HERO camera and as I was doing that, I noticed another Jeep had pulled onto the trail also. They sat there watching me and I had no clue as to what they were doing. I got the camera mounted, turned it on with my IPhone and off we went. The trail, as I hope you can see from the video, was a perfect mixture of mud and snow. We got to a spot that I was nervous about so since we were alone, I turned back. On the trip back down, you will notice that the other Jeep had followed us. We stopped and had a conversation that was pretty much me " you have a tow strap" they said yes and said "lets go"! I flipped a U turn and back up we went. We blew right thru the questionable area and got to a culvert bridge. Being stupid, I took the wrong angle and I got stuck. The rear slid down the embankment and I buried the Jeep. The snow was deep enough that I could barely get the door open to get out. Hmmmmmmm, that really sucked! Thank heavens for the other Jeep. They hooked their tow strap up to my rear bumper and within 5 minutes, I was out. I hope the video of the adventure is viewable on here. This is the 1st time I have tried posting one, so we shall see. Even tho we did get stuck, it was a great trip. The sun was out and I had the side windows out and the top folded back for our pleasure. The new tires fling mud and snow very well and I like it! The wife keeps saying its time to go to Moab, so I might have to do it. Hopefully the video works and you can enjoy my first stuck in Old Yellow. Jeep on my friends!
