Horseshoe Springs

Our final stop was at Horseshoe Springs.  The springs were a stop along the Hastings Cutoff of the California Trail.  Perhaps the Donner Party on their ill-fated journey stopped here as well. 

Not much is out here now.  We walked around the springs and saw a few small bass swimming in the water. 

Next time I'm out here, I'll have to see how the fishing is. 

Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N 40° 36.836 W 112° 42.520
 Time Needed: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Very Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Finally- Cephalopods!

While out hiking near Iosepa, I looked down at the ground and spotted an unusual rock.  I bent over, picked it up, then examined it closely.  At that point I got really excited.  It was a cephalopod!  I'm not much of a fossil expert, but I know a cephalopod when I see it.  The most famous/well known example of cephalopods are ammonites. 

I've wanted to find one for a really long time.  We even went hiking up Cephalopod Gulch above Salt Lake City looking for them, but only found examples that were so-so and impossible to collect without destroying. So, finding this little guy was amazing.  I showed him around, then we continued on our hike to Story Rock. 

On the way back down, we stopped and made a bigger and more thorough search.  We found lots of fossils that were low quality.  Some were pretty big though.  More searching. 

 We found a lot more, but only a few that were good enough to take home. 

I really liked this one with two small cephalopods right next to each other.  A "double" is pretty uncommon.

My two year old even got in on the fun.  She found this "doggy rock" that she wouldn't set down.  Apparently the rock looked like a bone.  We looked at it more closely when we got home and saw the tell-tale spiral shape of a gastropod!  The rest of us didn't find any of these while we were looking.  Amazing!  We've gotta go back! 


Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N 40° 32.540 W 112° 43.400
 Time Needed: at least an hour
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info:

Story Rock- Hawaiian Petroglyphs in the Utah Desert

The real reason we came out to Iosepa was to track down Story Rock.  This rock is pretty unique- it's covered in Hawaiian petroglyphs. 


Story Rock

We had about a 2 mile (roundtrip) hike to see the rock.  I'm debating about how much info to put here, so let me know if I should add more or less.  The rock is located on one of the Bonneville Shoreline benches east of Iosepa.  

Sea Turtle Petrolyph and Whale Petroglyph

Sea Turtle Petroglyph

Whale Petrolyph

Man in a Boat Petroglyph

Shark Petroglyph

Island Petroglyph and Holding Hands in a Circle Petroglyph

Up Close

Island with Palm Trees Petroglyph

I couldn't figure out what this last one was.  After looking at it for a while I thought it was a petroglyph of a crab.  Studing it some more, I am now pretty sure it is one of a rabbit.  Blogger turned it sideways- sorry!


Rabbit Petroglyph

 Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderately Strenuous
Kid Friendly: Maybe?
Additional Info:

Iosepa- The Hawaiian Ghost Town in Skull Valley

We visited  Iosepa on Saturday.  It's nothing more than a few houses and a cemetary today.  For 30 years though it was a thriving Hawaiian settlement in Utah.  In the mid-1800's, Joseph F. Smith was sent on a mission for the Mormon Church to the Hawaiian Islands.  As a 15 year old boy, he initially struggled, but then found success in converting many of the Hawaiians to the LDS Church.  In the late 1880's, these converts felt the urge to migrate to Zion and to be close to the nearly completed temple in Salt Lake City.  They boarded ships and sailed east (while many European converts were sailing west) to gather to Zion.  They found a place to settle in Skull Valley and named their small town Iosepa, Hawaiian for Joseph, after Joseph F. Smith. later the 6th prophet of the church. 

The settlement thrived and grew from about 75 to over 200 residents.  Improvements were made as the settlement grew and prospered.  Running water, orchards of fruit trees, and wide platted streets made Iosepa a solid community in the desert of Skull Valley.  Then, in 1917 change happened.  Joseph F. Smith, once a young missionary in Polynesia, now President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints announced the construction of a temple in Hawaii.  The settlers of Iosepa were overjoyed.  Some of them made preparations to return to Hawaii.  Soon others joined in the preparation, and before long the trickle became a flood.  The town was sold to Deseret Land and Livestock, and the Hawaiian Iosepans returned to the islands of the Pacific.  All that remains today is a few houses along the highway, and a small cemetary in the dusty foothills of Skull Valley.

Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N 40° 32.513 W 112° 44.012
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:  Every Memorial Day weekend, the Iosepa Historical Association has a luau at Iosepa.  Once again Iosepa comes to life as hundreds of Polynesians return to celebrate.  This luau is open for anyone to attend.

Cave Camping in the West Desert

A while back Scott at http://www.scottsadventuresandworld.blogspot.com/ tipped me off to a sweet camp site in the west desert.  It took me a while, but I finally made it out to camp in the alcove for myself.  He calls it cave camping.  I'll go along with that- the alcove is huge enough to drive up into.  It is also shallow enough that you don't need a flashlight at the back of it.  Cave camping sounds a whole lot better than alcove camping. 

My boss let me leave work early on Friday.  We had had a busy few weeks and had turned in several projects, so about 2:00, he said to go home.  Sweet!  (I have an awesome boss.)  I rushed home and we loaded up the final few things we needed.  I had packed everything the night before so we could leave right after I got off work so we were on the road pretty quickly. 

We drove and drove, and after turning down a few wrong roads, we finally found the right ones and made it to the campsite.  It's big enough to drive your car into it, but I didn't because of some nails and glass that were in the dirt.  The west desert is NOT a place I want to get a flat tire at! 

We set up camp, cooked dinner, and had a relaxed evening.  The kids were thrilled.

I looked around the nearby cliffs for some petroglyphs, but didn't find any.  A sign nearby said that it was an archeological site, so we looked but didn't find anything interesting.  Supposedly the petroglyphs are there, we just didn't find them. 

The sunset was spectacular.  The west desert is beautiful.  I took a few more photos, then headed in for the night. 

After breakfast in the morning, we drove around a little bit looking for a way out to the Great Salt Lake Pumps, but because we didn't have an up-to-date map and had just over a half a tank of gas we decided to come back out another day. 

Nearest City: Grantsville, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: Overnight
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Deseret Peak

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the cooler weather and beautiful days of fall.  I also get a sense of urgency to get out & accomplish a few things that I've been wanting to but have avoided doing in the heat of summer.  I think that deep down I'm aware that winter is coming.  Somewhere earlier this year I decided I wanted to hike Thurston Peak.  It's visible out my back window, and I've never hiked it before, even though it's the Davis and Morgan County highpoint.  Unfortunately, Farmington Canyon is closed, and I didn't want to spend the 50 miles or so on backroads driving to Francis Peak from Bountiful.  So, I just changed destinations.  Thurston will have to wait.  Deseret Peak suddenly found itself at the top of the priority list.

I called up a friend and he said to count him in.  He promptly took over the planning of the hike, so I took a back seat and let him.  We left Kaysville at about 6:15 on Saturday morning, drove to Salt Lake to meet up with a few other people, then headed off for Deseret.  Normally my wife and daughter would come too, but my wife has an altitude restriction for the next month or so, and I didn't want to carry the added weight from a two year old. 

We took the Tooele exit, then turned off for Grantsville.  5 miles south of Grantsville, we turned west up South Willow Canyon.  South Willow Canyon was a pretty amazing spot.  I especially liked the narrows in the grey rock.   It's a very pretty canyon- especially with the fall leaves this time of year.  The parking lot at the end of the road was crazy busy.  I was surprised at how popular and full it was so early in the morning.  I guess others had the same idea  I did. 

Just west of the trailhead, we crossed the wilderness boundary and entered the Deseret Peak Wilderness.  The first part of the hike lasted about 1.5 miles and 1000 vertical feet as we hiked through a forest of evergreens and aspens.  Pretty soon though the trail started to wander through alpine meadows. 

We had a few good views of South and North Willow Peak off to the northwest. 

The trail would continue to climb, mostly through the open meadows.  We found a countless current berries along the trail.  This section climbs 1,500 feet, and is about 1 1/2 mile long.  This section is marked by a steep section of switchbacks up to a saddle. 

The saddle makes a great spot for a quick rest.  It's just over 10,000 feet and has a big rock and a trail sign.  From here on out most of the vegetation is about ankle high. 

We pressed on from the saddle to the peak.  The last section is 1/2-3/4 miles long, and you gain 1000 vertical feet- most of it in the first couple hundred yards. 

The top was a welcome break.  We summited, found the benchmark on top, and enjoyed the views of the salt flats, Great Salt Lake, and Tooele Valley.  Wo-Hoo!  The highest peak of the Stansbury Mountains and Tooele County at 11,031 feet above sea level.  It's also one of the 50-something peaks in the US with 5,000 ft prominence.  We spent about half an hour enjoying the view before deciding to head back down.  A scout troop was about 1/4 mile below us and we didn't want to be there when they arrived. 

We dropped down on the trail heading north from the summit.  It sees much less use, but offered a different experience than the trail going up.  We followed it until we came to a chute that dropped down to the trail below.  Rather than following the trail around another (smaller) peak, we opted to head down the chute. 

There were faint trails that led down the chute for most of the way.  Somewhere about half way down I tweaked something in my right knee.  I did my best to hobble the rest of the way. 

 Back at the trail we had the best views of Deseret Peak.  It's definitely an impressive and beautiful spot. 

A mile from the trailhead, we saw a huge mormon cricket in the trail.  It was HUGE- about the size of my big toe.  It appeared to be depositing eggs in the loose dirt of the trail.  I took a few pictures, then continued my hobble to the trailhead.  We made it back to the car with plenty of day left.  7 hours to hike 7-8 miles and go up and down 3,600 vertical feet.  What a great way to spend a Saturday! 

Nearest City: Grantsville, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: about 7 hours
Difficulty: Strenuous
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info:

Ophir

Ophir is a sweet little town.  It used to be a near ghost town, but has had a recent rediscovery and is coming back to life.  There are numerous ruins, relics, and old mining traces in the canyon.  The overwhelming majority are privately owned. 

Word on the street is the owners aren't too keen on people poking around their property without permission, so if you do go up and intend to look around, ask first! 

We saw several caved in cabins back in the brush. 

Downtown Ophir has a small museum & visitor parking area.  It was fun to look at the old buildings.  It actually reminded us of the "Million Dollar Highway" area of Colorado. 

We noticed some pretty cool hexagonal crystals in a few small rocks in the visitor area.  I couldn't resist taking a close-up. 

Apparently some areas are open to rockhounding, if you recieve permission beforehand.  We found a ragged sign with contact information for the area on the north side of Main Street.  It would be fun to come back and spend more time.  Our visit was spur of the moment, so we didn't know everything to see & do, but we definitely want to come back and spend more time at this outdoor museum.

Nearest City: Ophir, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed:
Difficulty:
Kid Friendly:

Additional Info:

Timpie Springs

After wandering around Stansbury Island, I wanted to drive a little further west to see Timpie Springs.  We took the Rowley exit then followed the signs to the WMA. 

There wasn't much there at all, but there were a lot of birds, and several of them looked like they were nesting out on an island. 

There were a few hiking trails out among the springs & ponds, but we didn't want to risk the bugs, & since the little one was asleep in the back seat, we took a few pictures and continued on our way.

Nearest City: Grantsville, UT

Location: N 40° 44.902 W 112° 39.137
Time Needed:
Difficulty:
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info: