Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Golden Spike & Northwest Utah

August 31, 2010 – Our visit to City of the Rocks National Reserve provided the perfect excuse to come home via “forgotten Utah” and experience a corner of the Utah not often visited.

Our adventure began from the Old Post Office and Mercantile Store in Almo, Idaho where we stocked up on gas and food. Almo is a small town of about 180 residents in the shadows of the granite monoliths of City of the Rocks.
Few realize Almo is also the site of one of the bloodiest massacres in pioneer history. Across the street from the post office a monument stands dedicated to those of an immigrant party who lost their lives in a horrible Indian massacre in 1861. Of the three hundred immigrants in route to California only 5 escaped.

Because so few survived and the place so remote, details of the tragedy have always been “sketchy” at best but speculation is that the emigrant train bound from Missouri had been keeping one of the largest gathering of Indians at bay for a couple of days by long range rifles. When the train finally stopped to camp at Almo Creek, the Indians ambushed them. Immediately circling the wagons the travelers held their ground. For 3-4 days they fought for survival but eventually the entire party was all killed. As time has all but erased details of the massacre it’s difficult to assess blame and come to a complete understanding, and is another example of the complexities of understanding the history of the west.
Heading south on the Elba-Almo Hwy we soon found ourselves on the Lynn Almo Road at the Utah boarder and then the Valley Lynn Road. The road itself hadn’t changed from the dirt cutout but its moniker had, just one of the many subtleties infrastructure in rural Utah brings.

Soon an unnamed road would offer us passages to Lynn and then Gross Creek, a small town with a couple of turn-of the century buildings. If you’re in Gross Creek you’re close enough to Etna so you should stop and visit, but keep in mind Etna’s not the kind of place you’ll even remember you visited.

There is a barren beauty about the land but traveling a dirt road can be monotonous and we had a sense of relief when we finally hit State Highway 39 and began to veer east.
Of course, we had to stop at Kelton and make our way to Locomotive Engine Springs. Few realize in the barren land north of the Great Salt Lake one of the most dramatic human accomplishment happened as two railroad companies raced to complete their segments of the intercontinental railroad. Today the rail lines are a memory as most of the tracks were pulled up to supply efforts during World War II.
When we finally made it to Promotory and the Golden Spike Historic Park we were tired and road weary. Luckily we had time with a handful of other visitors (presumably from the Salt Lake City route) to see the daily train demonstration.
Utah has some incredible offerings and often the northwest corner of the state is often forgotten, but for the adventurous history still speaks in this desolate land.

City of Rocks, Idaho & North West Utah

Saturday, August 28, 2010 -- There is a unique adrenaline which surges through your soul as you wait for the last minutes of the workweek fall from the clock. When it finally strikes 5:00pm you rush home, throw your gear together and bolt out the door with your camping buddies knowing that the only scheduled delay between you and a remote campsite is for cheap hamburgers and some gas.  Some weekends really are built for twisted travels.
 I visited City of Rocks, Idaho almost ten years ago and have been dying to get back to the imposing monoliths and boulders in a remote area on the Idaho/Utah border.  Just outside of Almo, Idaho sits City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park which have both become a Mecca for rock climbers. 
 From Ogden, UT we made it to Snowville, ID (just past the UT/ID border) by sunset and witnessed an impressive rainbow looming over dry farms with hugged the rolling hills. Deer seemed to be everywhere in the southern section of Idaho and it is easy to imagine there will be many who call this hunting season a success. 
 We made Malta, Idaho by nightfall and soon we were traveling alone on a two lane in the dark.  Under the cloak of darkness we witnessed two large horned-owls swooping over us as we pulled into the park. Luckily, we found an open campsite, pitched our tents with the help of beams from our vehicle and quickly fell asleep atop a leaking air mattress.
Obviously it’s hard to get a sense of place in the dark, but with the glow of sunrise we emerged from our synthetic tent cocoons to see light touch the granitic rock formations and found ourselves in the most impressive of places.





After exploring and hiking through the monoliths we then had the chance to visit some well hide petroglyphs and evidence of wagon trains and pioneer travelers. 




Soon we were on the dirt road again to drive through Standrod, Yost, Lynn, Grouse Creek and Etna the forgotten corner of northwest Utah.  State Highway 30 was a welcome site as we changed course and headed east on our way back to Ogden, UT.  Before reaching home we made some quick side trips off the beaten path to Locomotive Springs and Golden Spike Historic Park near Promontory.







Sunday, August 15, 2010

Epic Relay (Logan, UT to Jackson, WY)

Aug. 15th, 2010 -- Okay if your are going to wait almost two months between posts then you better have something "epic" to share.  Just yesterday I finished the Epic Relay between Logan, UT and Jackson, WY (Teton Village.  The relay was my second race having down Wasatch Back a couple of years ago before it became the Ragnar Relay.
Okay, so the concept is pretty straight forward- you put together a team of 12 runners in two vehicles and run three different legs over the course of 30'ish hours between Logan and Jackson (194 miles). Each run is between 3-8 miles in length and and there are a 36 legs.
 I didn't get to train as much as I would have liked because of a back injury I experienced a couple of weeks ago. I must admit I was a little anxious because I wasn't in the complete running form I would have liked. Additionally, even making it to the race itself proved an adventure because I couldn't get out of my work until Friday afternoon. Luckily my dad filled in for my first leg but I made it in time to run a 6.7 mile run in the county north of Soda Spring, Idaho at 10:00pm.

We were Van #1 and had the opportunity of sleeping a freezing night in Freedom, Wyoming where the stars filled the sky and light rain fell on us throughout the very short night. On Saturday I got to run a 5.7 mile run along the Snake River in Wyoming.
The race truly was Epic and it was great to have the finish line under the shadow of the impressive Tetons. My wife met me during the run and we explored Grand Teton National Park and visited a few of our favorite spots in Jackson Hole.
Then it was back in the car for a long drive back to Ogden, UT making a pit stop at one of our favorite spots "The Bluebird" in Logan, UT.

The weekend went by all too quickly but it was sure EPIC!