WEIRD OLD HOMELESS GUY?….. ECCENTRIC MILLIONAIRE?……or… A MODERN DON QUIJOTE?………….. & FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE: Utah’s Trout WILDERNESS

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ANNOUNCEMENT:
JUST POSTED…click to open 

Photo/essay explaining what I do to keep moving as I’m now into my 80th year (check the words..I didn’t say I’m 80…yet).  It will reveal all my secrets in a writing I’m entitling:

THE ANTI-AGING CHALLENGE: 
A Fun Filled, Humorous, Tough but Wonderful Journey


NOTE:  If I even accomplish only half of what my challenge for this season is…300 miles of backpacking in the Uintas.…It will pretty well confirm that I’m doing something right….so you can take seriously what I do….and remember:
Further note:   I have posted over the weekend the NEW…
……2015 GEAR/SUPPLEMENTS section 
It includes new REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN MY LIGHTWEIGHT BACKPACKING STUFF!

Scroll down for FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE article
WEIRD OLD HOMELESS GUY or ECCENTRIC MILLIONAIRE?
A young boy jumped out of a car and gave me something….he didn’t give me time to say I wasn’t homeless.  Then, just yesterday, May 2nd a nice fellow stopped and offered me a ride….I guess I don’t look as good as I think I do!  I thanked him and lied saying,
 “I’m an eccentric millionaire out getting my exercise with 40 pounds on my back!” 
The only thing for sure is that I’m having a ball working out now twice a day to get ready for my Olympics–300 miles of backpacking in the High Uintas to get to the last remote areas and then when snow flies go to work putting it all together into ……
….a unique package like no one has ever seen on Utah’s greatest WILDERNESS…THE HIGH UINTAS.

Soon my “mansion” in which I live year round (with 2 years logged…and counting), seen below, will be drug up to Bald Mountain Pass and area, likely by June 4th,  to acclimatize myself  as in my “golden years” (now in my 80th)  high altitude   has been a problem for my first few backpacks…..then be ready for my first backpack of 5-7 days in the Grandaddy  Basin to photograph and fish in 17 lakes  some I haven’t been to in 60 years,  a couple of three off-trail lakes never explored, and otherI just want to see one more time………

By the way….don’t feel sorry for me–I’M NOT ALONE AS YOU CAN SEE BELOW…
“WILSON” never abandons me, agrees with me in everything,  never talks back nor insults  me, and doesn’t eat a lot either, so I’ve got the ideal companion!
NOTE:  If you’ve been out of touch and don’t know “Wilson,” check out Tom Hank’s  great survival movie, CASTAWAY.

Here’s a fisheye view…… not only is it my home all year round, but for me really is a “mansion” compared to the needy Mayans I have been helping as a volunteer for half a century…this also is the World-wide, Interplanetary Office of the GUATEMALA FOUNDATION, 93% of donations going to help the needy…….
….this in stark contrast to a recently publicized well-known billion dollar Foundation that only spends 15% of their income on charitable projects–the founder of which recently justified his activities saying something like, “I’ve got to pay my bills!”    Click on the above  Guatemalan Foundation link and learn about “the rest of my life’s story”  and help a little…or better A LOT!  There’s no better place to invest your charitable dollars as you’re assured many will be effectively helped.
Below is an example:  Right now we are building for elderly Izabel Cho & her great-grandson a simple home….that will be inaugurated on MOTHER’S DAY.
BACK TO THE UINTAS:  After circling the Grandaddies I’ll start pecking away at my list which includes some remote lakes I haven’t ever heard of anyone getting to, including Little Andy Lake, which I’m sure no one has heard of, nor visited– and do just as much as the Lord let’s me do.  
Maybe I’d better explain.  Once my buddies on KSL Outdoor Radio suggested a lake be named after me….so I named one that the DWR hasn’t even given a number to which  is at 12,307 ft. elevation (600+ ft higher than the summit of Mt. Timpanogos)  in the eastern  shadow of South Kings Peak, above no name lake U-75.  Getting to it and photographing it will be one of my objectives this summer as well as other similar lakes. 

  Between each backpack, I’ll  go where I can get internet access like public libraries in the surrounding towns, to report here, re-program my SPOT Tracker, catch up on Guatemalan Foundation business, and then disappear again into the High Uintas  and be out of touch, except for SPOT tracks, and to report in each Saturday morning via sat phone to KSL Outdoors Radio.    


Click for ACCESSIBILITY UPDATES ON THE HIGH UINTAS
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JUST OFF THE PRESS

by 
Salt Lake Tribune Outdoor Editor 
BRETT PRETTYMAN
with a mention or two of our  
The High Uintas Wilderness Project

See below a tidbit or two….then go to Barnes & Noble and other suppliers to get your copy spotlighting Utah’s greatest Wilderness

HEROIC 1953 PIONEER TIMBER SLIDES CONTRIBUTED TO MAKING PROVO & SPRINGVILLE


 YouTube Video 

 PHOTO/ESSAY 
HEROIC 1953 PIONEER TIMBER SLIDES….

INTRODUCTION:  While I’ve had to hunker down close to Utah Valley for most of the 2014 summer due to several emergencies–and forced to suspend the backpacking aspect of my High Uintas Wilderness Project until the summer of 2015 –in my 80th year, I’ve  kept  in shape focusing on mountains nearby–The Wasatch, where the pioneer founders did incredibly heroic  things some of which few if any know anything about–even in Provo & Springville, Utah.

Read on about my research and original exploration–abundantly photographed, that I guarantee will fascinate and help you appreciate what a bunch of tough guys did to make possible what we all enjoy today here along the Wasatch Front.

NOTE:  Concerning the interesting history of Utah Valley I will draw some on one of my previous posts inserted here and there in this photo/essay, but believe me we’ll get into new territory and discoveries never published before. 


Read below just a little about the founding of Provo, 
monument found in Pioneer Park, 5th West and 5th North in Provo.

THE BEGINNING IN UTAH VALLEY

In 1847, when the pioneers led by Brigham Young came into the Wasatch Front, there was some consideration given to settle in Utah Valley.  The area had been visited in 1776 by Fathers Escalante and Domingues who had established in their short visit a good relationship with the Timpanogos-Ute Indians.  The Utes of Colorado called them, “THE FISH EATERS,” due to much of their diet coming from the abundant fish (“speckled trout,” and suckers) from the clear waters of the streams flowing  from the mountains, and the then clear water of Utah Lake.   


These Catholic explorers named the valley,

“The Valley of Our Lady of Mercy of Timpanogos,” 


and in a letter to the King of Spain, said, it was….


“….the most pleasing, beautiful, and fertile site in New Spain.”


The priests promised the Indians they would return and establish here a Catholic Mission.  Can you imagine how different the history of Utah would have been if they had of done so?   
But they never returned.

Famous explorer and mountain man, Jedediah Smith,  passed through the valley in 1826 and described the lake as “Little Uta Lake,”  previously known as Timpanogos Lake. A year later Daniel Potts, another early explorer called it, “Utaw Lake.”  


Brigham Young had several reasons to choose the Salt Lake Valley as “THIS IS THE PLACE,”  a practical one being it would be just a little simpler during the first years of survival as there were basically no Indians there they would have to contend with.  There were in Utah Valley–the Timpanogos-Utes.  The same for north of the Salt Lake Valley up into southern Idaho, also under consideration, but there the warlike Shoshone Indians dominated.


So, in 1849 a group came to the valley, who were Mormons, but most of them “not called”  to do so by the prophet and described as rough, tough, independent, backwoods frontiersmen,   whose “foolhardiness”  reportedly “led to hot encounters with the Utes…”  and  who used “….. alarming tactics to mercilessly crush the Utes.”  
The Indians were upset with the settlers for killing wild game, leaving less for them, and they retaliated by stealing cattle and horses.  Eventually the conflicts “…culminated in the largest Indian battle fought within the present boundaries of Utah,”  on February 9-10,
1850, called, “The Battle of Provo River,” that occurred approximately between the Deseret Industries store  and shopping center to the east of north Provo.
Information from D. Robert Carter’s book, FOUNDING FORT UTAH
We can see in the first picture above, an artist’s depiction of Fort Utah, a wagon loaded with logs from which the fort was built, they needed timber products–for construction and fuel.  Then we see in the picture above  a large log cabin that served as the school, meeting house, and what we today would call a “cultural hall,”  and see the pioneers needed lots of timber.

In my research about Provo’s history, I then found an article from the Provo Daily Herald I insert below, discussing the Pioneer Village at  Pioneer Park in Provo…



…. and reading on I found a simple notation on the second page…….
 highlighted below….



Here we see it separated.

So, with that mention is born the subject I have been researching, trying to understand, and unravel in my several explorations into the mountains east of Provo. Carter states in his book FROM FORT TO VILLAGE:

The  “….population was growing so rapidly and the need for timber for building was so great that many of the relatively accessible trees in the canyons would soon be cut down.  Large stands of coniferous trees near the tops of the mountains and high up on the north facing slopes of the canyons beckoned.  In order to harvest these trees, lumbermen built timber slides on which they could expeditiously whisk logs to roads in the bottoms of the canyons where men could load them onto wagons…”.  (page 133)


Thus was born the subject, “PIONEER TIMBER SLIDES” and I became determined to find evidence of them,  hopefully find remnants, artifacts, and make a photographic record  to share as I felt it would be of interest to many, and inspiring to all of us.
 Also of great interest to me in “my golden years” was to  get some great exercise and keep my body alive and strong, to persist with the backpacking aspect of my HIGH UINTAS WILDERNESS PROJECT in the summer of 2015– in my 80th year.

So I began scanning the mountains east of Provo and Springville….and wouldn’t you know it, I quickly came up with some leads…..that led me into the mountains you see below.

From North Provo we look East at what would be the focal point of my efforts–Y-Mountain, Slide Canyon, Maple Mountain, Maple Flats, and the little knobby hill to its west overlooking the valley–a little crest that the pioneers seemed to call, “Slide Mountain,”  and then further south towards Springville,  Buckley Mountain.

Right down the front of the mountains, we will call Slide Mountain, I detected a pathway you see above.  Let’s begin quoting from D. Richard Carter’s book which is the only book that has a few brief mentions of the slides.  The following is from one of my previous reports: 

We are seeing above the lower portion of what I call Maple Mountain that rises up from Maple Flats, but this lower portion of the mountain, from the Flats down, is perhaps described in this quote:  
“Workmen finished the timber slide down Slide Mountain in November.  George A. Smith informed the editor of the Deseret News that the two-mile-long timber slide ran from the top of the mountain to the foothills below. ”   It was described as a “chute”  “.. consisted[ing] of small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough”   p. 133.
From the journal of John C. Dowdle,  we find a little detail, one reference saying, it worked admirably as far as tried.”  John and his brother  Robert, worked on the construction of the slide, harvested logs to be used as fuel and lumber, and slide them down the “chute.”  p.133

The above quotes led me to understand that it would be possible to find logs, planks, and support structures for the “chute,” along with square nails to hold it all together, such as I discovered in exploring and discovering remnants of the flumes used by the tie hackers to get their wood products out of the Uintas and down into Wyoming.

THE EXPLORING BEGINS
It all begin in mid-July and continued until early November for a total of 8-9 hikes, some of which have been reported on, but this photo/essay will combine into one report all the hikes from mid-summer, into the colorful Fall, and end with the drabness of early winter.  So as we proceed you will see views of all three seasons assembled into one report.

This is the sign just below the Y Trailhead….which is what I should have taken a picture of, but we see above the rocky crest in the middle-right of the photo is Slide Mountain, also see below from the trail’s beginning up from the Parking lot.

It is the trail t the Y, but the Forest Service designates it as the “Slide…Slade Cnyon Trail,” as it continues past the Y, up through Eagle Pass to the “First Meadow,” where a trail separates to the south going to Maple Flats, the main trail going on to Y-Mountain, etc.

There was a problem, leaving late it, became a struggle going up the trail as it was a swelteringly  hot 104 degress F.  This mother and daughter coming down were suffering and not in a good mood, and I was overheating myself and having great difficulty, especially with a pack on my back as I intended to make it an overnight stay.

A friend seeing this shot in a previous report….accused me of focusing to much on  the young ladies…..but believe me I was so delirious by that time I only noticed the SUN FLOWERS….that screamed at me…..!!!

The “SCREAM”  was……

……..,“DON’T BE A MORON….TURN AROUND AND GO DOWN….AND GET AN EARLY START TOMORROW!  AND TAKE PLENTY OF WATER AS THAT SPRING NEAR MAPLE FLATS MIGHT BE DRIED UP!” 
Those drops of moisture on the stem….were from the sweat pouring off my face!  So I dutifully turned around and headed for the safety of my air conditioned car!

“WHAT A WIMP!”  

You might say …..but a quick   Googling of  “Pioneer timber slides” shows that I didn’t give up, but rather became the “expert,” or maybe “the only person in the world who cares about timber slides!!!”  BUT KEEP SCROLLING…YOU WON’T BE SORRY!


Of course you will also notice that, along with me, the only other entries in the search concern CHILDREN’S PLAY APPARATUSES…..
….lodging me squarely in the category of being like a “little child”  trying to live out my childhood dream!   Yet, what’s wrong with that?   Even in the movie RUDY, it is said:
“Having dreams is what makes life tolerable!”
 and
If I don’t do it I’ll never be any good for you, for me, for anybody!”


So, a day or so later I was again starting up the mountain  early.


IT WAS 43 DEGREES COOLER!


What a wonderful hike up the Y-trail along with tons of happy people.


The pictures tell the story.  Young and old, many families having a wonderful hike.


And seeing views of Utah Valley!


What a wonderful background for a family picture!



Eventually I got a call from the son of Dr. Kartchner who brought my first  4 children into the world….way back when the total pre-birth, birth, and post-birth bill was around $300 for each!  Ken wanted to talk to me about my nearly half a century of experience living and working among the Mayans in Guatemala….so Ken Kartchner became my hiking companion on one key hike.

These beautiful sisters also were hiking companions on one hike….smiles that will brighten anyone;s struggle up the mountain.


GREAT VIEWS OF PROVO….IF YOU & YOUR KIDS HAVEN’T DONE IT….DO IT…YOU WON’T BE SORRY



My objective was to go way up above the Y through Eagle Pass,  observing the pioneer timber slide coming down Slide Canyon, then on to Maple Flats and locate the launching site for the slide down the front of Slide Mountain.


Here we head up the trail from the Y towards Eagle Pass….as you can see this was late Fall after most of the leaves had dropped.  The high crest in the background is Slide Mountain.  Up there is where the launch site was for both the slide down the Canyon, and down the front of the mountain.


Looking up towards Y Mountain where apparently the Class of ’60 marred the mountain, we see an animal up on a ledge.  Soon we see others, and get quite close to Rocky Mountain Sheep, one we see below that would be a trophy.



Of course many of you know  that I can’t resist getting photographs of what I’ve called VISIONS OF NATURE, like the lizard, and……


…a couple of LDS missionaries on their Preparation Day.  Interestingly they are in the 
UTAH POLYNESIAN MISSION in Utah Valley.


We are nearing Eagle Pass, with Slide Mountain  below the moon, illuminated by the setting sun on one hike.


At Eagle Pass we look back over the Y towards North Provo.


From a different angle we see Mt. Timpanogos in the background.


Looking down towards the West we see a pathway leading down to the foothills….it being the Slide Canyon Pioneer timber slide pathway….we will now explore more closely.


Google Earth, helps us get the bird’s-eye view of Slide Canyon slide down to the foothill road on the left, with the Y-Trail in view to the north.


From the foothills road we look up the canyon with the slide cutting  across the picture angling up, and below zoom in some on the pathway seeing in almost dead center a curious half-moon like area cleared above the pathway.


Below the half-moon cleared area is pointed at with the arrow.  


On Google Earth it all looks flat, but the cleared area is very steep as seen above  enlarged.


Now we will get down on the ground and hike up the pathway to see what we find.  The red mark is a SPOT Track indicating where the first photo was taken as seen below.



We proceed up the pathway and see where a little excavating was done .

Here from the previous shot up, we look down towards Provo.

We pick up a trail, crossed by the pathway.

From a little higher, where the pathway coincides with a rock slide, we look north at the Y-Trail.

Portions of the pathway widen as you see here.  No artifacts of any kind have been found so far.  Below we again look down towards Provo.


At the lower portion of the cleared half-moon area we take a SPOT Track with its icon noted below.  From this spot we get a good view of the Y-Trail and many hikers.



The pathway continues straight ahead in the photo.  The cleared area rises to our right and pointed out in the photo below.   We can’t decipher what its purpose might have been.



From this point we look up towards the Eagle Pass area where in a moment we will see the pathway as it comes down the steep canyon.


From this point I will head up to the top of the ridge to the south, looking back on the pathway as seen below.



We come over the ridge and drop  down to the foothill road and Bonneville Shoreline Trail, on our way to explore the lower portion of the timber slide that comes down the face of the mountain.


Along the way we find  some old wood, hoping that it might have something to do with the timber slides, but as we see, the nails in it are round nails invented in 1910.  Nails from the timber slide period would be square nails.   So this is nothing of importance in our search.



At about the point where we come to a hefty gate barrier, is the approximate area where the timber slide would have come down to the foothill road, and so we look up to see what is visible.

Once again, we quote from Carters book, FOUNDING FORT UTAH.
“John later wrote that part of the slide consisted of small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough.  To form the lower end of the slide, the laborers dug a ditch down the mountainside.  Concerning the efficiency of the slide, Dowdle stated, ‘Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.'” pages 133-34

In the photo below we are likely seeing in the bottom portion what is described as “laborers 
 [having] dug a ditch down the mountainside.” 


Above Google Earth helps us again showing the portion of the slide we will explore, indicated by the arrows.


From the point of the SPOT icon, we look up and really can’t quite see anything, so we move a bit north to look at it from a different angle, and it pops out at us, shown by the arrows.

Again, this is likely the area described as having been dug out to form a sort of ditch.

We begin the struggle up the steep slope, with this shot of the adjacent ridge showing us the angle of steepness.  It wasn’t an easy climb!

Here we are looking down the area where accounts describe a ditch being dug.  Later when I come all the way down from the top, I’ll show pictures that show it a little better.

We now look up towards our objective, where the slide pathway coincides with the ravine, passing through what I call “The Narrows.”

Looking at the ridge to the north…..do you see it?   It is not a white spec of lint on my lens, nor on your computer monitor.  Let’s zoom in and see what.

Sure enough, I didn’t have to clean my lens.  It’s a hang glider.  These guys haul their gear all the way to the top of Y-Mountain and launch themselves out over the valley.

Some of my reports on the timber slides have been entitled WHERE EAGLES DARE (the title of a Clint Eastwood movie), and wouldn’t you know it, AN EAGLE SAILS INTO THE PICTURE  and I clicked off a shot!



Below we say “farewell” to the hang glider, and come back to Slide Mountain.
We are approaching the NARROWS.

Lots of VISIONS OF NATURE all around.

THE NARROWS, with the pathway going through the scrub oak from the right corner, crossing the picture to the Narrows…………

…..and coming down coinciding with the ravine.

The view looking down the pathway towards Provo.


It had been a late start and this was enough exercise for the day….still no arifacts, just beautiful views of Provo.

Still even had some ice left….a cold drink very welcome.

…..so with a parting VISION OF NATURE I had off on another exploration….




Fall and Winter must be coming as this Rock Squirrel is loading up on acorns and other good stuff.


Before heading back to Eagle Pass, let’s go a little further south to take a quick look at what was the first TIMBER SLIDE.  

THE FIRST TIMBER SLIDE AUTHORIZED
I quote information that comes from “The Utah County Court Minutes, from February through July 1853.”
“Early in 1853, Alfred Walton, Jerome Benson, and a Mr. Wilson received permission from the Utah County Court to build a timber slide down the canyon located between the two peaks rising south of Slate Canyon.  This slide would be located conveniently between Provo and Springville.  In order for the grant to be valid the company had to build the slide during the coming season.  If the men constructed the slide, they could control it and have jurisdiction over the timber on the mountain above it..”  

This permission was granted first, for the area known as Buckley Mountain that has two peaks, with a ravine separating the higher on the north from the lower on the south.  So via Google Earth we fly south to Buckley Mountain.


These are the two Buckley Peaks, the highest on the left, the ravine coming down between them.  Now let’s zoom in and see what we find.

Above we see a Fall-Winter view, and below early Fall, very obviously showing a pathway coming down to the foothills.


Here we zoom in a bit.  I’ve noticed this for years when we lived in Springville assuming it was a trail to the peak, but now know that it is a pioneer timber slide pathway. The trail to the highest peak goes up a ravine further north called Buckley Draw that I show in one of my Comeback YouTube videos entitled something like
 “FAKING NOT BEING A CRIPPLE–and GEOLOGY OF THE WASATCH”


I insert the picture below to orient you where this is.  We are seeing the “Old Highway” 89 between Provo and Springville, with the Public Works Vehicle facility on right, and the rock quarry in the middle.  

Below, from Google Earth we look down on the lower end.


It then goes up the mountain.

After a grassy area it get’s in to the scrub or Gambles Oak and Maples.


It ends at the base of some cliffs.  The SPOT icon is where I got to, and sadly didn’t continue as I got really tired and didn’t feel well and headed back down–I actually had the  SHINGLES coming on from the day before without realizing it--making it necessary next year going back up there as one can see in the Google Earth view that there are some other pathways off to the side, and something in the shadows at the base of the cliffs.

As I approach the area, I see the steep pathway coming down to the hills, marked by arrows.


Approaching the climb up the hill.




Then comes a relatively flat area covered mostly with grass–the pathway not really visible.



Soon it appears going through thick scrub oak.




The deep leaves make it quite impossible to find artifacts, like square nails, except in clear areas, where I found nothing.







This is where I got to….and started feeling pretty cruddy to say the least….got some nourishment–kindly given to me by my son Lito’s (Cordel Ammon) father-in-law, Edgar Pacay, visiting them from Guatemala up in Worland, Wyoming a few days before,  and headed down the hill.


Lots of VISIONS OF NATURE all around!








The view from the turn-around point–or the “throw in the towel”  point, with Ironton and such down in the Valley below.



One can see that this timber slide wasn’t very long…about  a mile.  It doesn’t get up high where the timber is….unless the pioneers cleared it all out, dragging it down to the cliffs with oxen, or mules, in which case there would be stumps up above.  Have to check that out next Spring.




Now, up through  what I call,  the Eagle Pass area, as there are like 3 passages before getting to the first meadow.  We will first, as we work up the trail, look down into  the ravine for signs of the timber slide pathway that came down Slide Canyon.


Below we see the trail as we work to the first passageway.
  

Down in the ravine we see clearly the very steep pathway up out of the  gully.

Further along we still see the pathway paralleling  the ravine up the canyon.


We leave behind us the first passageway, with the valley far below.



We look up to what I call the second passageway of Eagle Pass.


We have now worked our way up the pass and can see across the ravine where the timber slide came down out of the pines up near the summit of Slide Mountain. I”ll insert here another quote from my previous report, which information comes from Carter’s book:

It then plunged down the steep canyon, just up out of the ravine.  I still can’t quite imagine how they could have actually built a  “… slide consisted[ing] of small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough”   down through these areas.  It wouldn’t have been possible either for a log to come down  the “chute” and make a sharp turn without jumping out of the chute or slide.  The description previously cited, saying, Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.”   That description seems more likely to refer to the slide on the face of Slide Mountain,  and not this one in Slide Canyon.  However,  once down to the ravine, the logs could maybe make a run to the bottom with stopping.……. still  lots of questions,.


Below we also see that a trail, or pathway continues up the ravine, but it is not visible on Google Earth a couple of pictures below.

A couple of pictures below the same area is seen with the oncoming of the Fall, showing pine trees growing right out of the middle of the pathway.

Seeing the pathway coming out of the confers the pioneers were after, it reminds me what the report in the 2009 Daily Herald said: 
Saying “old timers” called them “red pine logs.”   but “red pine” trees are not found in Utah, but from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and south to Pennsylvania and in Virginia, West Virginia, and a few in New Jersey and Illinois.  The pioneers apparently were referring to  our Engleman & blue spruce and Douglas fir we see here in Slide Canyon. 

Below in the Pioneer Village we see some of those logs, but seemingly painted red in modern times, perhaps to fit the above description of “red pine logs.”   


Nonetheless one might say that it is just the ravine the water drainage created, but a Google Earth view  below seems to make it clear that man has his hand in it.

Google Earth shows a pathway coming down out of the pines, but which divides, the lesser going straight down to the ravine trail, the other curving to the left perhaps with a curve sufficiently large enough to keep the timber from jumping out of the chute.


We continue up the trail leaving Utah Valley behind us……and notice that we are being spied upon by one of the local beasts!


The “beast” is another Rock Squirrel.


Other VISIONS OF NATURE surround us….like the humming bird above, 
and below starkly contrasting visions coming out of the ground.




You’ll have to forgive me for reminiscing as I go up the trail….but these wonderful mountains gave me and my loved ones precious and unforgettable experiences that have enriched my life.

For example we see the ridge coming off of Maple Mountain where one deer season I bivouacked up there late Friday afternoon  knowing that hunters would be coming up the canyon in the morning.


Sure enough early the next morning I saw hunters coming up the Eagle Pass Trail, and a bit later the deer they were pushing came up the draw and stopped on the side-hill to look at me.  Still in my sleeping bag, I rolled over and took aim on a big buck and dropped him.  Then leisurely got dressed, packed up and went for him.


I didn’t get a picture of him, but just for fun insert a shot of  one from a hunt on the Henry Mountains back in “the good old days,” where I got him on the wrong side of the mountain, had to de-bone him, and with 150 pounds on my back, struggled up to the top and slid down the other side.

Here we are at what I call “the first meadow.”  
More memories!   One year I got up here late and in the dark laid my air mattress down on snow, snuggled into my sleeping bag and covered me with a poncho.  During the night deer were stomping all around me and I thought I’d get stepped on, and wanted to see by the light of the moon what was surrounding me, but the crinkling of the frozen poncho stampeded them and so never saw anything.  
 In the morning I was coming noisily across the front of Maple Mountain crunching through the frozen crust, when all of a sudden I saw a buck 25 yards ahead of me sort of spread eagled  looking  under branches to see what the heck was making so much noise.  I dropped to my knee and soon  I was dragging another buck down he Eagle Pass Trail and over the Y.

My son David, hearing of my success in this area, one year borrowed one of my  rifles, and got his first buck, and a while later called me from the highest home on the Provo foothills asking for a ride home with his first buck.

Well, let’s get back to our search…..Maple Flats is up there, and from there the objective was to find the launch site.

Ken Kartchner resting up a bit before climbing up to Maple Flats.


The trail takes off to the right of the large rock at the lower end of the first meadow.



It angles up the hill to the southwest, and is not maintained by the Forest Service as you see below.



The views are always wonderful, zooming down through the conifers at BYU.



In mid summer the vegetation on this north facing slope was lush to say the least….the trail often times disappearing under the thick vegetation.



The spring is about 3/4th of the way up to the Flats.

If you can follow the trail and not get lost in the jungle of vegetation, you will come to the spring.  As you can see it was just a very small flow, almost like a steady drip.  On earlier trips before I got up this far I had ran out of water, and so started carrying as much as a gallon, and so never needed to use the spring.  


Later in the Fall, as indicated by the dry leaves below, there wasn’t even a slow drip.  So, best not to count on this spring….and it is the only one on the mountain.



Monk’s Hood is just one of the hundreds of varieties of wildflowers one can see from Spring until late Fall.



We are now coming to Maple Flats with what I call Maple Mountain rising up to the east.  


Look-out….more memories fill my mind….but first I see a spec of something up above the forest to the southeast.

Believe me, it isn’t dirt on my lens, nor a spec of something on your monitor.  Let’s zoom in an see what we are seeing.


Sure enough we again are UP WHERE EAGLES DARE!  A Golden Eagle.



On my last trips in late Fall, Maple Flats, reminded me of my last deer hunt up here.  
The weather report was good, and there was to be a full moon, so I went prepared to sleep under the stars.  There were patches of snow, but I easily made me a mattress of straw and snuggled into my sleeping bag.  At about 10:30 I was startled by the  reverberating, echoing sound off the mountain of a howling pack of coyotes that seemed to be surrounding me with Bose-like sound!

I snapped to a sitting position, trying to sense exactly where they were.  The trail was just 10 yards to the west.  I grabbed my rifle, chambered a cartridge into my .243 rifle, laid it across my lap and laid back down…..waiting.


A little while latter I heard  the  pack coming towards me on the trail.  the moon was full and I could see pretty good.  All of a sudden there they were single file heading south on the trail.  I could see probably 10 of them, some in the middle obviously smaller, then came the big fellow last.  I raised my rifle and swung it with the pack targeting the big one, and squeezed off a shot.  I heard a yelp….and the pack scattered, but heard one struggling circling  me towards the mountain and then there was silence.  


In the morning I got up dressed, and following a blood trail soon found my prize, drug him back to my little bivouac camp and began skinning him.  David soon showed up and got a photograph or two for my memory bank.  


I had a taxidermist mount him for me, and soon he was with me on my way back to Guatemala to continue my work among the Mayans until 2002 when  I brought him back to Utah where he adorned my living room wall in Springville until 2013, along with the antlers from my first buck that had also been with me in Guatemala for all those years.  
Now no  room for either n my tiny Cabin A travel trailer, which is now my home, so things are getting spread around in the  family….but the memories remain with me, always as will the adventurous experience of discovering and exploring the Pioneer timber slides..



In the northern portion of the Flats a principle vegetation was Stinging Nettle you see above.  On my first trip, due to the hot weather, I went naturally in short pants, and a short sleeved T-shirt, so I all of a sudden was in big trouble.  Believe me, this was no joke.  I did what I could to persist, as you see below, opening up a couple of plastic bags and using my supply of black duct tape to protect my legs.


I made it over to the souther part of the flats you see below, that are startlingly drier than the north, but my leg protectors didn’t work too good, and so I headed home, and came again a few days later better prepared.


Looking south from Maple Flats where it drops off towards Slate Canyon.





From Maple Flats, the exploration had to go towards the west climbing a small hill the crest of which I am calling Slide Mountain, because the pioneers used that terminology, as well as Slide Canyon. So we are dealing with two pioneer timber slides in this area, with a third on Buckley Mountain to the south.
The red arrows show the path of my first explorations on Slide Mountain. as seen below.
The Google Earth view we see here is terribly deceiving as it is flat, and gives no warning about the steep mountainsides I had to deal with….which wouldn’t  have been too much trouble in my youth….but I guess I waited too long, now in my 79th year while doing all of this exploration.


So off I go into dense Gambles oak, maples and other deciduous trees and thick underbrush.
It took a lot of beating around, zig-zagging back and forth, looking for roadways over which logs would have been dragged by oxen or mules to where the slide began.


I finally started finding some cleared areas, and then found a pipe you see below.


But, as one can see it is a modern galvanized pipe, with a cap that seems to be aluminum, so wasn’t from the pioneer period.


Above you can see the size by comparing to my SPOT Tracker….which by the way I consider an essential technical and survival tool for explorers and backpackers.
The pipe is about 2-1/2 inches in diameter and has no markings except a sort of cross on the cap as you can see.



A little past the highest point on this hill, I found this aluminum toilet or latrine seat.  Once again, not from the pioneer period.

A little further to the northwest we found ruins of a cabin which in the first moment or two had my heart pounding….


In dating tie hacker ruins on the North Slope of the Uintas, you look for a number of factors, but a deciding one is NAILS.  This cabin had been put together by very large round nails which dated the ruin as being after 1910 and not of the pioneer period.




Further along I found this mess kit….likely from Boy Scouts, and not pioneers.


There were quite a few stumps like this one, and a few short logs like the one below…but……


….the cuts in the stumps and logs, were all made by chain saws……



There were large clearings and piles of branches and debri….but once again seemingly from modern times.  


One of the clearings led to the edge of the mountain where it dropped off steeply into Slide Canyon. There were stumps here too, large ones, but all cut with a chain saw.  Out of all the stumps, there was no sign of the large trees that someone had fallen.  How were they removed from the remote mountain?  


THE “SEVEN PEAKS RESORT” REMNANTS & ARTIFACTS

I have concluded that everything found on Slide Mountain thus far are remnants of    “… several plans since the 1950’s to build different kinds of resorts in the area,  the last being what was called THE SEVEN PEAKS RESORT  ….which originally applied for a special use permit to build a 3,010 acre year -round resort in 1988 centering on Maple Mountain.  Company representatives estimating at the time it would cost $26.5 million to build, which would feature a funicular railway, ski lifts and eventually a hotel.  But the Forest Service closed the project down in 1991.” 
 You can read about it at the following link:    SEVEN PEAKS.
NOTE:  The “seven peaks” must have been:  Cascade Mt., Squaw Peak, Provo Peak, Y-Mountain, Maple Mt., & the two Buckley peaks.


We finally came to the front edge of the mountain overlooking Provo.


Ken is having a bit of lunch where we found two old pipes you see below, that we called “anchor pipes,” believing that we had found the launch site for the timber slide.  He then decided to head back as he didn’t want to get caught by nightfall on the mountain.  


We said goodbye.


 Looking down on Provo, the anchor pipes aligning perfectly with 500 North St. 


Looking north from that spot towards Y Mountain.


Above we see a sketch of more or less how the two timber slides came off of Slide Mountain.


 I hiked down that ridge towards the southeast to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.  A 100 yards or so down I found this galvanized pipe with a reducer on the top.  Once again something modern.


I checked my print-outs to help orient myself, but as it worked out I didn’t pay close enough attention to details…….as we’ll see in a moment.


Down the ridge a ways I decided I was wasting my time and snapped a shot looking south over Slate Canyon at Buckley Mountain.


And, another shot at Maple Mountain to the east.


Looking again at my print-outs I concluded that the launch site was up this ridge and concluded as previously with Ken, that the anchor pipes area  was the launch site.


So up the ridge I went, back to the anchor pipes.



They certainly seemed to align with where the slide path went down the front of the mountain. I decided that I had time to follow the pathway down to Provo, rather than following the trail, that seemed to be the long way home!  Once again learning that our logic doesn’t always work out to be the truth.


This was the thinking, but shortly we’ll see how flawed our thinking can be by not focusing closely on details.


SO I LAUNCHED MYSELF DOWN….WAY DOWN…. TOWARDS PROVO!


I had already found down the hill 10 meters another similar pipe following the exact same trajectory, so was convinced I was doing the right thing.

I took  photos of the unique, relatively old pipe with very large interior threads.


Nearby I found this debri, which would say something to the person who knew.



As seen below, while  I went down I photographed to the northeast, up the hill a bit and to my right. These dead trees could serve to orient me on Google Earth and from the Y-Eagle Pass Trail.



Here from my path down I shot directly to the north at the side of Y Mountain.



Above I am angling to the northwest with my camera.  Looking closely you can see to the right a sliver of the Y.  Below I came to a clear area, but  I couldn’t really find the slide pathway.



Following carefully that same line I all of a sudden found myself in a jungle of  Gambles oak and Maples, and it got pretty rough.


Maybe you’ve heard that old people have thin skin, and for sure I’ve been accused of being “thin skinned” in the other sense too!  With my thin skin I have scars all over my arms from the last 20 years of adventures.  I soon got out my fisherman’s gloves, as I had come with all the essential survival stuff.


As I proceeded down without finding the pathway, I sometimes got myself into tight spots running into steep drop-offs and cliffs, and lost time backtracking to get around them safely.  The sun was dipping low in the western sky and it was beginning to darken some  and it didn’t look  good!


Something had gone wrong and I was losing precious time.  I was having a difficult time, even with some light still….and the night would be with no moon!


What had gone wrong?  I was following track (6) starting at the anchor pipes.  If I had of looked more closely, and taken seriously those dead conifers on the edge of the mountain, I could have got straightened out, but it was too late.  Track (7) was the correct path.  Track (6) was wrong, got me into difficult parts of the mountain forcing me to get even farther off track and into time destroying tangles!

All of that now seems to me a great metaphor for life….we’ve got to understand correctly the starting point and get on the right path or we can get off course into all kinds of time and even life “destroying tangles!

Darkness was almost upon me and I was only halfway down the mountain!  Time to PANIC? Remember “panic” is a very frequent  killer!    Later I will do a survival post outlining the principles that saved me, and can save almost anyone who gets into trouble along the Wasatch Front, or whatever wilderness.


A plane flew by close….and….should I jump up and down waving my arms and screaming for help?


By then I was totally fatigued and my legs trembled as I carefully climbed up at times to get around something, or went down shakily seeking for secure footholds.  I didn’t think I had time, yet I had to avoid missteps, and so sat down at times for a few minutes of rest and calming prayer….and of course got into my backpack for some energy food and a drink, and especially for my headlamp into which I had inserted fresch batteries before leaving!  


I had weather-proof matches too, and my tiny bag of fail-proof fire starter from the Uintas.  If I had to I could hole up somewhere and get a good fire going…..and use my cell phone  to call home so nobody would worry and do anything stupid (in the Uintas or similar wilderness, it would have been a satellite phone).  In fact I had all the time in the world…..all night and the next day if needed, so no need to panic, and no hurrying that could cause a miss-step.  


The lights of :
The Valley of Our Lady of Mercy of Timpanogos,”  
spread before me like a million colorful jewels with a lake of gold in the distance and I thought,
 for sure this is
“…the most pleasing, beautiful, and fertile site in New Spain.”


On this steep mountain I many times remembered  rule  #1 on such a mountain to “always lean into the mountain” rather than going the other way and tumble out of control down the mountain to a tragic end!  Of course leaning into the mountain had me often times sliding downward on my rear end!

By about 10:30 I made it to the foothill road and soon was at my car.

Yes I was bloodied up some…but so what?

THE “TROPHY PANTS” SYNDROME!
And, my pants?  Good thing I had on some tough old Levis from Deseret Industries, rather than my thin skinned  convertible mountain backpacking pants!

  THERE THE LEVIS ARE BELOW!  My 3rd pair of “TROPHY PANTS!” 
The 1st-from 2001  were ripped to pieces by gangbangers on Guatemala City’s main street who were trying to get at the money in my pockets…by the way I lost some pants, but WON THE WAR!  
Then the 2nd-from 2007 “trophy pants” came from a delirious and totally nutty me because of  a mixture of narcotics after my ankle reconstruction in 2007, when I ripped up my suit pants trying to get them on over my cast at 11:00 PM on a Thursday night to go to Sunday Church!!
This “SYNDROME” seems to repeat about every 7 years…..so I’ve got to watch out for 2021 in my 86th year!


MY TROPHY PANTS that saved my “trasero!”

..AND WITH A NEW PAIR OF DESERET INDUSTRIES LEVIS!
So, to 
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE IN!  
I was up the mountain again on October 20th.


This time I studied my previous attempts and the SPOT Tracks and knew where I had gone wrong and exactly where I had to go.


The red SPOT icon where the anchor pipes were WASN’T THE LAUNCH SITE.  I’m not sure what it was.  Remember, this flat looking Google Earth view shows a very steep slope DOWN!   From the anchor pipes I had to go over to the very edge of the canyon and follow  the line of dead conifers.  Follow them down and you’ll see vaguely a half-moon path with the slide path taking off down the mountain from the middle point.

Below it is enlarged and roughly penciled in with blue.  In the middle of the half-moon is one dead conifer.  Once there I was home free!

I should have had this figured out from the beginning, but….if I had of, how many great hikes would I have missed, how many  beautiful VISIONS OF NATURE would  I have never seen?  How many great people  would I have never met…  including on my very last hike, a very nice looking lady coming athletically up the Y trail who I recognized instantly and had an intuitive song leap into mind,
 “I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair!”
Yes, it was Jeannie, one of my 400 customers from REAMS Supermarket in Springville, whose names I memorized, associating with each something to remember them, and I had a wonderful chat with Jeannie and hope she sees this and sends me her picture in her running clothes so I can insert it here.  I can kick myself for not taking her picture then!

Sometimes in this life the “long, slow, uphill, winding path” gives us the wonderful experiences–good and bad, that make it all an incredibly  worthwhile journey!


Yes, those dead confers up along the edge of Slide Mountain would be my guide!


So I got up there and from the anchor pipes worked over towards the edge, and found and SPOT marked another modern pipe you see below.  I’d appreciate it if someone out there can email me and tell me what such pipes might mean.



I’m now over along the edge following the dead conifers, and getting a glimpse of the Y.


Now I’ve worked down to that one lone dead tree seen above and below, and I’m right in the eye of the half-moon, and hit my SPOT Tracker.




It’s sort of vague, but the picture below shows the portion of the half-moon that goes north marked by the red arrow.

Below you see more clearly without the arrow.


Here is the other half the goes south, above with the arrow, and below clear.



In the middle the slide path takes off down towards Provo.



Above are the SPOT Tracks:  (1) The “anchor pipes” at the red SPOT icon;  (2) White caped modern pipe;  (3) Lone pine; (4) north end of half-moon;  (5) & (7) Pathway take-off point;  (6) South end of half-moon;  (8) Down the path.


Here we go down the pathway.




Here I moved off a bit to rest and have a bite to eat.



 I had my gloves on, but still got bloodied up some.


Down we go!  Provo still a long ways down.





There were still some tough places!


As I do my best to follow the pathway down this very steep mountain, maybe I can quote again a description of the slide to help us figure out just how such could have been done.  I quote:
  I still can’t quite imagine how they could have actually built a  “… slide consisted[ing] of small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough”   down through these areas.    The description previously cited, saying, Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.”   That description seems more likely to refer to the slide on the face of Slide Mountain. …... still  lots of questions,.



I had seen this coming out of the middle of the pathway on the survival hike down, but from far off to the side, and had hoped that it would be something significant, but it just worked out to be a steel fence post, not from pioneer times.  What it was doing there, who knows.  I saw another coming down the mountain away from the pathway.

The disappointing aspect of this is that in all my hikes I have never found any artifacts, i.e. pieces of the chute, square nails, etc.  I know  concerning the Hilliard Flume coming out of the Uintas and going 36 miles down into Wyoming, that once it fell into disuse, it was cannibalized and the reports on it say nothing is left.  But, as you will notice in some of my reports, I have found remnants, support structures, support braces, square nails, etc.  Here it was described as a “chute” built with  “… small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough”  and I was hoping to find something  in these slide pathways, launching sites, etc.  but have come up with nothing. To cannibalize these chutes and take everything down to Provo would have been almost as hard a task as getting them up here and building the timber slide.  So there’s a lot we need to understand…… somehow.



There are still some tough places ahead, but this time I had time on my side and so worked away at it carefully.



Below we see the pathway from way off to the side as I had to work around some cliffs.  I’ll insert some arrows pointing to the path.


Here’s another area where to get around  a very rough area with big drop-offs, I had to  climb up and then down through thick oak and maples  to finally get back to the path further down.  The next picture will have arrows pointing to the slide  and my separate path through a hard area.


We are now approaching what I called in the report on exploring the lower portion, THE NARROWS.


Once again my thin skin sort of created a little color for the report!


Below we are looking down from THE NARROWS.  Can you imagine logs going down a chute towards Provo.  I’ll insert a quote from a previous photo/essay addressing that point:
Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.”   That description seems likely to refer to the slide on the face of Slide Mountain we are seeing here.
A log to go down at a 45 degree angle  all the way to the bottom without stopping could certainly qualify as being “whisk[ed]” down the mountain….at incredible speeds!  Concerning the Hilliard Flume in the High UIntas the Forest Service described it a “WILD RIDE” with water carrying wood products down into Wyoming at 15 miles/hour.  That journey couldn’t even come close to what this WILD timber slide ride was like!



We are now in familiar territory approaching the area described in Carter’s book, FROM FOR TO VILLAGE,  where  the “…laborers dug a ditch down the mountainside,”  to form a kind of trough which is what we see below in the lower portion of the pathway. 


Below we are entering that area, even though it is not so obvious as in the above photograph.






Above  are the SPOT Tracks from the website showing my trip down the slide, but apparently the SPOT Tracker was off some in about three places making the pathway look pretty jagged, with a bit of correction made below the way it should have recorded it.



So I have confirmed the pathways of the three slides in the Provo-Springville area of Utah Valley, showing once again that our pioneer ancestors did some incredible feats that boggle my mind, and make them real UNSUNG HEROES, just as was the case with the tie hackers on the High Uintas North Slope–which story I tell on my website with 14 photo/essays and YouTube videos.  

 Below I insert a  topo map of the two Provo slides, with elevation and distance profiles.


I end this report with another excerpt from a previous post, information from Mr. Carter’s book:

“Since lumbermen used the slide mainly in the winter, they labored under unfavorable working conditions.  Dowdle said at times the snow was from two to eight feet deep on the mountain.  Alexander P. Chesley, who helped cut and slide the timber, lived in such destitution that he had to wrap his feet in  burlap sacking in place of shoes.  Working in these dire circumstances presented at least one advantage.  Dowdle wrote, ‘By laboring in this manner during the winter we made a tolarable good living.'”

Without the contribution of these 
“pioneer UNSUNG HEROES” 
Provo and Springville might not have been built…at least not as quickly  and easily!

Special thanks to D. Robert Carter, of Springville, for his wonderful contributions to our historical knowledge with his two wonderful books about Provo, with a third coming out soon.  We see Mr. Carter below to the right at the Celtic Christmas held at the Pioneer Park. With him are friends Jon Clark, and Laura…..sorry about the quality of my smart phone camera.


and



I end quoting again the first white men to visit Utah Valley, they called:

“The Valley of Our Lady of Mercy of Timpanogos,” 


and in a letter to the King of Spain, said, it was….

“….the most pleasing, beautiful, and fertile site in New Spain.”







HEROIC PIONEER TIMBER SLIDES CONTRIBUTED MAKING the FORT>> a VILLAGE, then >>PROVO UTAH

December 6, 2014 – Saturday
COMING:  
FIRST:  A final combined Photo/Essay & SECOND: A YouTube video of 8 exploratory trips to discover and unravel  this
HEROIC PIONEER ENDEAVOR WITHOUT WHICH PROVO, & SPRINGVILLE TOO,  MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN BUILT…
…at least not as quickly and easily!
******************
UPCOMING TOO...
A photo/essay describing one of those trips: 
A SURVIVAL STORY THAT SAVED MY LIFE & COULD SAVE MANY THAT DIE NEEDLESSLY!
************************

Saturday,  Nov. 8,  2014
WILL EXPLORE LAST OF ALL THE BUCKLEY MT. PIONEER TIMBER SLIDE
Nov. 10th, RESULTS: 
 Made the exploration that was tough and I got really tired, then discovered that I was coming down with SHINGLES while doing it, and now working on overcoming this NEW CHALLENGE!   I’ll get to a report soon.

Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 
PIONEER TIMBER SLIDE LAUNCH SITE….DOWN TO PROVO FOOTHILL
Click for SPOT TRACKING
HOW DID IT GO?
Three cheers!….IT WAS HARD & BLOODY, but I MADE IT….following pathway all the way down to Provo 
Photo/essay soon…I’ll let you know.

Upper portion of the Slide Mountain exploration




Click here for previous reports 

Pioneer timber slides contribution…..
FROM FORT to VILLAGE to PROVO, UTAH

While I’ve had to hunker down close to Utah Valley for most of the summer due to several emergencies–and forced to pretty well  suspend the backpacking aspect of my High Uintas Project, I’ve tried to keep in shape focusing on mountains nearby–those associated with Provo and its pioneer founders who did incredible things that few if any know anything about.

I hope what I’ve been learning through research and exploring will be of interest to a few and help us appreciate a lot more what our ancestors did to make possible what we all enjoy today here along the Wasatch Front.
In 1847 when the pioneers, led by Brigham Young, came into the Wasatch Front there was some consideration to establish themselves in Utah Valley.  It had been visited in 1776 by Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, who developed in their short stay a good relationship with the Timpanogos-Ute Indians.  The Utes of Colorado called them  the “FISH EATERS,” due to much of their diet coming from the abundant fish (“speckled trout”  and suckers) found in the clear streams flowing out of the mountains,  and the then clear waters of Utah Lake.

These Catholic explorers named the valley, 
The Valley of Our Lady of Mercy of Timpanogos,”  
and in a letter to the King of Spain, said, it was 
“…the most pleasing, beautiful, and fertile site in New Spain.”

The priests promised the Indians they would return and establish here a Catholic Mission.  Can you imagine how different the history of Utah would have been if they had of done so?   
But they never returned.

Famous explorer and mountain man, Jedediah Smith,  passed through the valley in 1826 and described the lake as “Little Uta Lake,”  previously known as Timpanogos Lake. A year later Daniel Potts, another early explorer called it, “Utaw Lake.”  

Brigham Young had several reasons to choose the Salt Lake Valley as “THIS IS THE PLACE,”  one practical one being it would be just a little simpler during the first years of survival as there were basically no Indians there  they would have to contend with.  There were in Utah Valley–the Timpanogos-Utes.  The same for north of the Salt Lake Valley up into southern Idaho, also under consideration, but there the warlike Shoshone Indians dominated.


So, in 1849 a group came to the valley, who were Mormons, but most of them “not called”  to do so by the prophet and described as rough, tough, independent, backwoods frontiersmen,   whose “foolhardiness”  reportedly “led to hot encounters with the Utes…”  and  who used “….. alarming tactics to mercilessly crush the Utes.”  
The Indians were upset with the settlers for killing wild game, leaving less for them, and they retaliated by stealing cattle and horses.  Eventually the conflicts “…culminated in the largest Indian battle fought within the present boundaries of Utah,”  on February 9-10, 1850, called, “The Battle of Provo River,” that occurred approximately where the Deseret Industries store is today in north Provo.  
Information from D. Robert Carter’s book, FOUNDING FORT UTAH

We can see from the first artist’s depiction of Fort Utah a wagon loaded with logs from which the fort was built, they needed timber products–for construction and fuel.  We see that in the picture above showing a large log cabin that served as the school, meeting house, and what we today would call a “cultural hall,”  we see the pioneers needed lots of timber.

In a July 22, 2009 PROVO DAILY HERALD article by historian D. Robert Carter, entitled “Despite hardship, Provo historians pushed for pioneer village,”  he states:  

“Old-timers speculated that the red pine logs…..used for the cabin were likely transported from the tops of the Wasatch Mountains to the more accessible foothills above Provo via a timber slide.”

So, with that mention is born the subject I have been researching, trying to understand, and unravel in my several explorations into the mountains east of Provo we see above and below. Carter states in his book FROM FORT TO VILLAGE: 

The  “….population was growing so rapidly and the need for timber for building was so great that many of the relatively accessible trees in the canyons would soon be cut down.  Large stands of coniferous trees near the tops of the mountains and high up on the north facing slopes of the canyons beckoned.  In order to harvest these trees, lumbermen built timber slides on which they could expeditiously whisk logs to roads in the bottoms of the canyons where men could load them onto wagons…”.  page 133


We are seeing the lower portion of what I call Maple Mountain that rises up from Maple Flats, but this lower portion of the mountain, from the Flats down, is perhaps described in this quote:  
“Workmen finished the timber slide down Slide Mountain in November.  George A. Smith informed the editor of the Deseret News that the two-mile-long timber slide ran from the top of the mountain to the foothills below. ”  p. 133.
From the journal of John C. Dowdle,  we find a little detail, one reference saying, it worked admirably as far as tried.”  John and his brother  Robert, worked on the construction of the slide, harvested logs to be used as fuel and lumber, and slide them down the “chute.”  p.133


Quoting further from Carter’s book,
“John later wrote that part of the slide consisted of small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough.  To form the lower end of the slide, the laborers dug a ditch down the mountainside.  Concerning the efficiency of the slide, Dowdle stated, ‘Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.'” pages 133-34

In the above photo we are likely seeing in the bottom portion what is described as “laborers 
 [having] dug a ditch down the mountainside.” 

In the above view of that lower portion of the slide, we can’t distinguish it very well, but moving a bit north for a different angle, it appears as indicated by the arrows below.
It’s well to mention that the ditch-like depression is not the ravine coming down the face of the mountain, as that is a bit further to the left in the photo, sort of disguised by the oak brush–all is seen clearly in the Fall photograph two photos up.  Yet it’s hard for me to understand how in such terribly rough and rocky terrain they could have dug the ditch with just pick and shovel.  
So up I go scratching and clawing my way along the very steep mountain….indicated by seeing how steep the ridge north of me was.
Looking down the pathway with Provo in the background.

Looking up towards the cliffs, but in the foreground a curious area of scrub oak (Gambles oak) that had been chopped down and seemed to be coming up with new sprouts.
In the middle left of this picture we can barely see an area where the ravine and slide pathway coincide to get through an opening in the cliffs.  That point will be about half-way to the top.
Off to the north we see a white spec…..No, it’s not dirt on my lens, or on the monitor screen.  Let’s zoom in and see what the heck it is…maybe a flying saucer?

It’s a, what do we call them?  …..a parachute glider.  I know some of them climb Y-Mountain hauling all their equipment and then launch themselves over the valley.  As I zoom in more……
..….a Golden eagle glides into the area, and I quickly squeeze off a shot, giving me a title for this report, 
UP AGAIN WHERE EAGLES…..AND OTHERS DARE!

So, up and up I go….grateful for being able to do it, which wouldn’t have been possible in 2012 when it looked like I was going to be a cripple!

And also grateful that my new “glitch”  being PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY, doesn’t seem to stop me when I have a pack on my back, and doing heavy duty things!
We are getting closer to the …..what should we call it?  Maybe THE NARROWS  where the ravine and pathway coincide and we bid farewell to our parachute glider.
And, yes, there are plenty of what I have called TEXTURES OF NATURE or VISIONS OF NATURE.

……and wouldn’t you know it, HERE COMES  THE BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN COLORS!


Color also all of a sudden appears out on Lake Timpanogos….let’s zoom in.

It must be some kind of algae that appears as the water warms.


We are approaching now THE NARROWS….

Looking up and looking down.

I had found no old pieces of wood, or square nails, which disappoints  me.


But I was happy for the view, and happy to be alive and still be able to get up WHERE EAGLES DARE, and for a strong cell phone signal, so took a picture or two and texted, and even emailed to family and friends……..

…..and grateful for the two quarts of ice cold water….still with a bit of ice.

So here was  our first photo of the objective to explore the pioneer timber slide.
In yellow where I’d got to for this exploration, only halfway, but had got a very late noon start.

To get to the top of Slide Mountain, we resort again to Google Earth, following the pathway in a very rough area.

And continue towards the nobby hill to the west of Maple Flats.
Here we are to the top of the front mountain….Maple Flats to our right.  To the upper right we see  where the other slide that goes down Slide Canyon begins.
I’ll remove the text so you can see unimpeded the view.

Above is the overall area, the SPOT Track showing where I had got to on my overnight to Maple Flats.
Below we can distinguish the slide coming down from the top of Slide Mountain, into Slide Canyon that follows down the canyon usually just up out of the ravine, opposite the Y Mountain Summit Trail.

The pathway comes down out of the coniferous forest the Daily Herald 2009 article quotes “old timers” calling them “red pine logs.”  We see below the coniferous forest referred to, but “red pine” trees are found from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and south to Pennsylvania and in Virginia, West Virginia, and a few in New Jersey and Illinois.  The pioneers apparently were referring to  our Engleman spruce and Douglas fir we see here in Slide Canyon.

If you look carefully you can see the pathway of the timber slide curving down across the picture from the forest above and making a sharp turn down the ravine as seen below..


It then plunged down the steep canyon, just up out of the ravine.  I still can’t quite imagine how they could have actually built a  “… slide consisted[ing] of small logs on the bottom and large logs on each side, making a sort of trough”   down through these areas.  It wouldn’t have been possible either for a log to come down  the “chute” and make a sharp turn without jumping out of the chute or slide.  The description previously cited, saying, Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.”   That description seems more likely to refer to the slide on the face of Slide Mountain,  and not this one in Slide Canyon.  However,  once down to the ravine, the logs could maybe make a run to the bottom with stopping…….. still  lots of questions,.


In either case, here, or on the face of the mountain, a log to go down at a 45 degree angle  all the way to the bottom without stopping could certainly qualify as being “whisk[ed]” down the mountain….at incredible speeds!  Concerning the Hilliard Flume the Forest Service described it a “WILD RIDE” with water carrying wood products down into Wyoming at 15 miles/hour.  That journey couldn’t even come close to what this WILD timber slide ride was like!

On February 5, 1853  “The Utah County Court Minutes”  indicate that permission was given to Thomas King, T.J. Willis, a Mr. Curtis and others to build “a timber slide  & the timber in a Kanyon [Slide Canyon] next S[outh] of Rock Kanyon.”  Further along the record states that  “the slide down Slide Mountain”  was finished in November when the Deseret News was advised “that the two-mile-long timber slide ran from the top of the mountain to the foothills…”  I quoted the same when referring to the slide down the face of the mountain because the one reference is to “Slide Mountain” and the other to “Slide Canyon,” two names that might refer to the same slide, but there are two slides and the two descriptive terms seem to fit the different slides.

NOW BACK TO  THE FACE OF “SLIDE MOUNTAIN” 


On the right you can see where I got to….about half-way up the mountain.  From there the slide came down from above through the ravine or NARROWS, and from that point down it was a relatively straight slide down, with the bottom portion perhaps a ditch as previously mentioned.  From that high point I angled down across the opposite side-hill to the bottom so that I could look back and take shots of the slide path on the other side as seen in the following two pictures.


That pretty well is the report on the two slides down to the Provo foothills, but now we come to the fact that these two slides were not the first in the Provo area.

THE FIRST TIMBER SLIDE AUTHORIZED
I quote again information that comes from “The Utah County Court Minutes, from February through July 1853.”
“Early in 1853, Alfred Walton, Jerome Benson, and a Mr. Wilson received permission from the Utah County Court to build a timber slide down the canyon located between the two peaks rising south of Slate Canyon.  This slide would be located conveniently between Provo and Springville.  In order for the grant to be valid the company had to build the slide during the coming season.  If the men constructed the slide, they could control it and have jurisdiction over the timber on the mountain above it..”  

This permission was granted first, for the area known as Buckley Mountain that has two peaks, with a ravine separating the higher on the north from the lower on the south.  So via Google Earth we fly south to Buckley Mountain.

Here we see south of Slate Canyon the two peaks of Buckley Mountain in the late Fall and Winter

Now let’s zoom in and see what we find.

Sure enough a pathway is visible in the right center, angling down to the foothills.  Zooming in we see more clearly a pathway, similar to what we see in the lower portion of Slide Canyon.

Now back to Google Earth with the arrows pointing to the lower portion of the slide pathway coming down to the foothills.  On the left is the gravel quarry between Springville and Provo

….and we proceed up the canyon between the two peaks.

The pathway continues about half way up the mountain ……..

.……and stops at the base of some cliffs.  This must be the one referred to in the Utah County Court Minutes  and quoted by Carter in his book.


To conclude, I quote again from Carter’s book, original information coming from footnote 15. Chapter 9:   Business as Usual, and page 134:
“‘Large logs as well as small ans [ones] would run with great rapidity….We would often start timbers at the top end of the slide an[d] it would run the entire [way to the] loading place with out a stop.’ 
“Since lumbermen used the slide mainly in the winter, they labored under unfavorable working conditions.  Dowdle said at times the snow was from two to eight feet deep on the mountain.  Alexander P. Chesley, who helped cut and slide the timber, lived in such destitution that he had to wrap his feet in burlap sacking in place of shoes.  Working in these dire circumstances presented at least one advantage.  Dowdle wrote, ‘By laboring in this manner during the winter we made a tolarable good living.'”

FORT UTAH

THE FIRST SCHOOL & LDS MEETING HOUSE IN UTAH VALLEY

The Valley of Our Lady of Mercy of Timpanogos,”  

and in a letter to the King of Spain, Priest Dominguez said, it was 
“…the most pleasing, beautiful, and fertile site in New Spain.”

UTAH VALLEY & PROVO, UTAH

2014

..October 11th SEARCH FOR LAUNCH SITE….. PIONEER TIMBER SLIDES….UP AGAIN WHERE EAGLES & OTHERS DARE!

SPOT TRACKING  Final LAUNCH SITE SEARCH October 11th & 
l7th weather permitting

Click here for PREVIOUS REPORTS, PHOTO/ESSAYS & YouTube Videos

Trip #10 – Elk Hunt on Mt. Nebo from Monday Oct 6 on….report SOON!
SPOT TRACKING

REPORT ON RECENT —Friday Oct. 3 EXPLORATION ON SLIDE MT. …SOON!

NEW POST:  September 23, 2014
NOT THROUGH YET……
For nearly the last two months I’ve been going through another topical chemo skin cancer treatment……which I survived again, and with just a simple touch-up on a couple of small areas, I’LL BE A NEW MANas you see me  below, and by the way,
 RARING TO GET DONE  NEXT SUMMER–IN MY 80th YEAR–THE HIGH UINTAS PROJECT BACKPACKING… 
…..ready & excited to  “Not give in….easily” …
……by the way “80th” has a much better ring to it than 79th….so…..
…….“80th” will be the big year for me! 

With  Guatemalan friend Miguel, at the BYU vs. Houston game, invited by son David

Friday, Sept. 26th….STUNNING UPDATE AT END OF THIS POST:.

So on Wednesday, September 24-25 I will take advantage of a couple of good weather days and once again be  UP WHERE EAGLES DARE  to finish my exploration of the pioneer timber slides that helped create Provo, Utah
 
This time I’ll take with Google Earth & SPOT Tracker print-outs,  and my own photographs to see where I’ve been, and exactly where I have to go to do a better job exploring  and  then  make a final report on this:

Fascinating and heroic pioneer endeavor–
TIMBER SLIDES DOWN SLIDE MT. 
critical to the building of Provo. 


This time I intend to camp-out Wednesday night right at the site where the timber slide down “Slide Mountain” began, and be able to check out nearby where the one started that went down “Slide Canyon.”  

 I hope to find actual artifacts, and other features besides just a “scar” and “pathways”  on the mountain. Using my cell phone I’ll actually send a message from up there along with a photo or two..
Then from the top I’ll follow the pathway down to the foothills….and report.

I of course will use my SPOT Tracker, programmed so any interested can follow me, clicking on: 
 Find Me at SPOT 



Fall is pretty well here as the Gray Rabbit Brush is in full bloom.  Looking up at my objective…the top of Slide Mt. where I hoped to camp….But I noticed that there was still too much foliage…..a problem to be able to find what I’m looking for.


My intention was to take this double deal, with my ticket from the BYU vs Houston game, up the mountain and have like a picnic rather than “lightweight backpacking”  food  but I had to take a gallon and  a half of water as I ran short on previous trips and the pack weight was just too much…..so it started being a bit tough!

At the 1st turn on the Y-Trail we look across at the timber slide pathway coming down Slide Canyon 

There were a few hikers….all leaving me in their dust! 
Of course I focused on the beautiful flowers as I struggled up to the 6th switchback.



NOTICE:  “EATING CROW….AGAIN!” 
 My hike up the mountain today (Wednesday, Sept. 24th)  will have to be considered  a warm-up as I found that my month and a half layoff for the chemo treatment  on my entire upper body–chest, back & upper arms,  effected me more than expected and wisdom had me coming back down the mountain.. So……EATING A LITTLE “CROW”..again…..to continue to work on getting back in shape and do the exploration  in a  week ….hoping for two days of good weather next week and giving  the leaves a little more time to drop  to make finding remnants of the timber slide easier–All before elk hunting when I head for Mt. Nebo on October 3rd (Friday)… 

UPDATE:  The weather report has everything trending down, maybe this exploration will have to be done later after getting my elk…quickly  (I’m being optimistic …of course) and before I head for Idaho & Wyoming mid-month, , or even until next Spring. 

 Hope you’re having a good laugh at this old geezer eating crow again.…but you can count on me not giving in easily.…but doing my darndest to achieve my goals…no matter what my age! 
 HOW SWEET IT WILL BE TO HOPEFULLY….GET THE LAST LAUGH!

I have a hard time getting used to being an old guy….and forced to work harder at getting and keeping in shape to be able to do this sort of thing….but it will be done …..just give me a little time and I WILL YET BE UP THERE WHERE EAGLES DARE!


Friday, Sept. 26th UPDATE:
So I’m back to training with 35 lb. pack on my back in the mountains near American Fork….the couple of following pictures taken during my workout on Thursday, Sept. 25th…...


.Then TODAY the 26th…..doubling my workout from yesterday, going up Grove Canyon until the trail swichbacks up high towards the front of the mountain  as seen below..



High up center is the summit of Mt. Timpanogaos



GOOD WORKOUT...
..now two days of rest and hopefully ……. Monday & Tuesday back up on Slide Mountain.

The weather moving in this afternoon (Friday), by tomorrow with a 25 degree drop in temperature, rain, and snow above 8,000 ft., but hopefully Monday & Tuesday improved when I will attempt my last exploration on SLIDE MOUNTAIN…..if the weather works out…I’ll continue my SPOT Tracks from Switchback 6, then at the Y and up the mountain, but with lighter load:  No .45 Colt Defender, no heavy professional photo equip…just point-and-shoot camera and cell, less water, light weight food, etc.
  I’ll cross my fingers…and do my darndest!.

NOW..Sunday night…looks like maybe a day hike on Thursday, Oct. 2nd?  Then elk hunting from Oct. 3rd on.
 Find Me at SPOT 
**************************************************************************


Remember a lot of OK Spots are alright as I often use the tracker to pinpoint certain areas critical in the exploration
************************************************************

EXPLORING “Pioneer Timber Slide” DOWN WHERE SPARROW HAWKS DARE!

Click for:
EXPLORING THE Provo Utah “Pioneer Timber Slide” 
WHERE EAGLES DARE   Trip #4 -Attempt 1

WHERE EAGLES DARE    Trip #5 Attempt 2

Trip #7 Attempt 4 Pioneer Timber Slide – Sat. Aug. 16  – SPOT LINK
EXPLORING the slide pathway on what pioneers called SLIDE MOUNTAIN
Up again WHERE EAGLES & OTHERS DARE!

Report coming soon

Trip #6 Attempt 3 Pioneer Timber Slide
Exploring  “DOWN WHERE SPARROW HAWKS DARE!”
Saturday, August 9th 
With important UPDATES to the photo/essay on Aug. 13th
I’m just  an old geezer trying to keep alive…. keeping  moving today  focusing on the recent objective…and do a little to maintain my conditioning  for a scheduled High Uinta backpack with my buddy Ted Packard & son, Mike.
 Rest assured that the HIGH UINTAS WILDERNESS PROJECT is ongoing with research & writing going forward and more backpacking will be done when I have resolved a few personal, family & Foundation issues….and a new GLITCH! 

A NEW CHALLENGE IDENTIFIED 
  A  newly discovered “glitch,”  as I have called them,  has been developing for quite a while, but recently its worsening had me identifying it as   PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY in my feet. So far it miraculously is  not  manifested with a 30-50 lb.load on my back, nor when doing heavy duty hiking….like I did today from the foothills up the paths of the timber slide.

ASSUMPTIONS,  influenced by tie hacker’s “FLUMES?”
I envisioned what we see below, but without the water, rather gravity carrying the timber on a  REALLY WILD RIDE down to the valley  & have been looking for remnants such as old planks, braces,  square nails, etc.


So off I went to explore the timber slide pathways that come down Slide Canyon, as seen below, and down the face of the mountain in the first image.


This is a Fall view of the pathway from Eagle Pass..  Below is a Google Earth view of the area.

..In this Google Earth view we see the switchbacks of the Y Trail climbing up Y Mountain, and the ravine of Slide Canyon, with the pioneer pathway over on the south side of the canyon.

Here we have zoomed in a bit on the pathway that we assume is one of what seem like two Timber Slides, this one after which the canyon is named.  From Google Earth the pathway disappears as we get into the very rough area of Eagle Path, but in my last “Attempt” I took pictures of it, where visible from the Y Mountain & Eagle Pass trail. Higher up it reappears in Google Earth as seen below.

 Here we see the pathway again coming up out of the ravine, and going up the mountain into the trees leading to the Maple Flats area, from where the other pathway begins and goes down the face of the mountain.
Here we see it going up into the conifer forest which are the trees needed by the pioneers to build Provo

 So off I go my objective being to hike along the foothills and  explore the lower ends of the two pathways, hoping to find remnants and artifacts from the timber slide. We begin below the Y Trailhead.

 Please excuse me, but I couldn’t resist taking just a few photographs of what I call 
VISIONS OF NATURE.

Aren’t these VISONS WONDERFUL?
Get closer to them…or zoom in and you’ll see what I mean.

 At the bottom of Slide Canyon we get our first glimpse of the pathway coming down the south side of the steep canyon.

The arrow is pointing at a large half-moon area above the pathway, for who knows what purpose?  You see it below on Google Earth which is a flattened view that gives no idea just how steep a mountain and pathway we are dealing with and the half moon almost vertical.

Here we zoom in on the nearly vertical half moon cleared area.  soon I’ll be up there for some close-ups.


More magnificent VISIONS!  
For me every time wonderful testimonies of our Creator’s kind hand!


50 yards or so off the foothill road–or BONNEVILE SHORELINE  TRAIL, I begin following the pathway, first hitting my SPOT Tracker OK button.


The pathway disappeared into the scrub oak, tunneling through.


To keep us oriented as to where we are I’ll take photos from each spot looking back down, seeing here the eastern edge of Provo.  From this point the pathway goes straight down and seems to end at the foothill road, which the  Bonneville Shoreline Trail follows.


The steepness and roughness of the area can’t really be appreciated in these photos.  Often I was scratching and clawing my way up the pathway.

At this point a trail crossed the pathway.  Sometimes the trail followed the pathway, but usually zigg-zagged up the mountain, and was much easier to hike than  the much steeper pathway that followed a more direct route up the mountain..


Here we get our first glimpse of hikers on the Y-Trail.  Soon the pathway will take us up above the first turn of  that trail.


We continue up the pathway, not finding any kind of wood artifacts, much less square nails. Usually it was quite wide as we see here…at least 2 to 3 yards.  Below looking back down from the same point.


We are now above the first turn on the Y-Trail.  I hit the SPOT OK button, but apparently was too impatient, so it didn’t register, but the spot was basically as indicated below by the arrow, at the lower part of that area with a wide half moon cleared above the pathway–in very steep country.

Here we see the pathway continuing up the canyon.

The half-moon cleared area (of scrub oak)  is very steep and covered by tall grass and dry underbrush as seen below.


This is the view looking straight down from the same spot…….


…..and here moving over just a bit to show both the pathway and the Y-Trail

Zooming in on the Y hikers.


This was the highest point of my exploration looking down, and with the Google Earth view below, showing the SPOT Tracker OK symbol.

Here we are looking up towards Eagle Pass.  


I found no remnants or artifacts that most assuredly would have been there if they had of actually built a flume-like timber slide.

I entitled this effort  “DOWN WHERE Sparrow Hawks DARE,”  since it would be down in lower terrain, but didn’t get a shot of a Sparrow Hawk, rather a Red Tailed Hawk.


In this view looking up at Eagle Pass, we can see glimpses of the pathway from  the bottom center,  up through te  middle of the photograph.  The pathway continues up in very steep, rough terrain.


I’m now on a game trail zigg-zagging up to the top of the ridge leading to the face of the mountain. Above we can see   the pathway of the slide angling across the picture.


I have now come around to the face of the mountain and head down what was such a steep mountain that for the first time in my life I found a stout staff to steady me and brake my descent as I scrambled down. 
 I might mention that during my COMEBACK efforts in 2012, of which I made a whole series of YouTube videos, finally resolving to be a cripple–before giving the doctors another chance or two,  I could have never climbed up here, nor made it back down in one piece. 
 HOW GRATEFUL I AM FOR WHAT SEEMS LIKE A MIRACULOUS “2nd CHANCE” TO KEEP MOVING!.


Down near the bottom I excitedly found some old pieces of wood and examined them
.
But soon noticed round nails, which were invented in 1910, so I was looking at something that had nothing to do with the pioneers.


At about the point where the prints I had of Google Earth with me had the pathway coming down the face of the mountain to the road, I came to this gate, and it was there I hit the SPOT Tracker OK bottom, took a rest and drank some ice water, and then got in position to photograph  what I could distinguish as the pathway of the flume–actually seen in the photo below directly over my right shoulder..


I had got enough good exercise for one day, so will wait until next week to follow this pathway just as far as I can……and report.


I could see the pathway coming right down through the center of the photograph, pinpointed below in the Google Earth view. Eventually I got an angle where it is more visible….seen a few pictures below.


My SPOT Tracker OK signal is seen above, as is the pathway in this Google Earth view below.


It is also quite visible in this Fall photograph and the close-up seen below.


This close-up of the pathway actually seems like a created shallow trench in the lower portion.  For this I found a historical reference I will quote in my next report when I will hike up the pathway as far as I can.

From this angle I was able to see it quite well.


Zooming in up high I could barely see it, but it’s there as we can see on Google Earth seen below  from up high where it begins  in the upper right corner.

So, I headed back to the car calling it a day…..except for this beautiful little guy I photographed along the way.


NO, he doesn’t have mumps, but was making trips back and forth to his den loading up on acorns

 RESULTS SO FAR:  FRUSTRATION? 
 ASSUMPTIONS, perhaps wrong influenced by tie hacker’s “FLUMES”
I envisioned the following, but without the water, rather gravity carrying the timber on a  REALLY WILD RIDE down to the valley  & been looking for remnants of such…NOTHING FOUND SO FAR.  
So, HOW DID THE PIONEER TIMBER SLIDES WORK?
I’ll be doing more research in trying to figure it out.  Do any of you have any ideas?  Let me know what you think.

NOTE:  In my research I just found some important historical   references on the timber slides first constructed in “1853,” including the first one in an area a little further south which I have pictured in COMEBACK videos and described as  “a trail.”  These exciting pioneer descriptions of the timber slides will be included in the report of my next exploration which will be to follow the pathway up the face of the mountain which the pioneers described as “Slide Mountain!”

Trip #4 Attempt: WHERE EAGLES DARE…searching for Pioneer Timber Slide….

PREVIOUS POSTS”

WHERE EAGLES DARE!
This is the title of one of Clint Eastwood’s great movies.

ATTEMPT #2: 
 The weather is a bit questionable but will attempt  to do it on Friday & Saturday, August 1st & 2nd.
WILL DO Trip #5: PIONEER TIMBER SLIDE… SPOT TRACKING 

ATTEMPT #1 MADE:  Scroll down for photo/essay

NOTE: See at the end of this post, Who Google Search categorizes me with?

Friday, July 25th- KEEPING IN SHAPE on Y-MT- Eagle Pass-Maple Flats-Exploring Pioneer Timber Slide down to Provo foothills
I’ll hit the OK button to begin, & at crucial trail points

 I first attempted what was supposed to be an overnight backpack leaving on July 23rd and intending to be exploring for remnants of the little known “Pioneer timber slide” above Provo, Utah on PIONEER DAY.

The problem was that I had too many errands to run and so didn’t leave the Y-Mountain Trailhead until 2:30 PM when the temperature there was 104 degrees F.  So it quickly got real tough for this old guy.
Looking up WHERE EAGLES DARE on Eagle Pass…..by the way that is the name of a Clint Eastwood movie..

There were a few on the trail….very few….this mom and her overheated daughter sliding down the trail…without a smile on their sweaty faces….

This gal doggedly kept going ahead of me……

As I turned to admire what the pioneers had done to Utah Valley, I began feeling a  bit light headed…..spotting mirages down in Provo….and as I proceeded up the trail began to feel like I didn’t weigh anything….my body struggling up the trail and my spirit continually separating a bit floating behind!

The sun flowers glared a warning at me….saying, 

“Hey you dummy, get smart!”

So I let wisdom take over and I “chickened out” and headed down the mountain. There would be another day….even for this old guy…..and for sure going early would be better.

Two days later, July 25th I awoke at 6:00 AM and by 8:00 was on the trail in the SHADE.

 My Smart phone told me it was 61 degrees in Provo….43 degrees cooler!

There were many on the trail…..the smart ones coming down already, almost beating the sun.

A few were on the top of the Y enjoying the awesome view. 

A whole herd followed me, in fact I deduced that there were 3 or 4 mothers accompanied by their kids……

 ….one big brother helping little sister…


…and all having a great time seeing what the pioneers had started…and what the Brigham Young Academy in I 1875 was developing into!


I continued up the trail towards Eagle Pass….picture from a previous trip in the Fall as is the shot below of Rocky Mountain sheep above the Y.


This trip the prevalent wildlife seemed to just be frequent lizards.


Here we see a Google Earth view of the hike from the SPOT Tracker website showing the high point of the trip……and below the expanded view of the area……

….to  Rock Canyon on the north…..
  
….and from Eagle Pass zooming in on the BYU sports complex:  Track & Field on the left, the Marriott Center for basket ball, the Larry H. Miller Baseball Field, and the LaVell Edwards Football Stadium…WOW…AM I EXCITED ABOUT THE UPCOMING FOOTBALL SEASON!.

Looking down in a Fall photograph we see an old trail that must have been from the pioneers, and it continues up the ravine of Slide Canyon.  Was it also a timber slide pathway?  I show more of this at the end of this report.  
My research has turned up very little, just mentions of the “timber slide,”  but no details.  One of my reports of the failed attempt has already got me on the Google list concerning timber slides. 

Now looking up Slide Canyon, and as we will see a series of passageways through rough  points that has me calling the area up to the first meadow  the “Eagle Pass area.”  

 From the first “passage” the trail continues towards the 2nd……
….. with the arrow pointing at it from where the next couple of pictures will be taken.


Looking back to the 1st….and then zooming in on it. 


Now looking up the 3rd after which we eventually come to the first meadow.

And of course there just had to be a GOLDEN EAGLE!



We are almost to the first meadow and seeing the north side of Maple Mountain where I’ve got more than one buck…..in the “good old days!”  
…….like when working at Provo Steel & Supply in 1955 hearing that some of the guys were going up there deer hunting the next morning, I got off work around 4:00 quickly prepared my pack, hiked all the way up high above Slide Canyon and Maple Flats, and threw down my sleeping bag on a deer trail  with a good view of what would come up from below.

Still in my sleeping bag the next morning I saw the guys way down in the canyon beginning to come up the mountain.  Soon the deer paraded in front of me.  Still in my sleeping bag I rolled over, shot the biggest buck, then got dressed, packed up, gutted the buck and started the drag….saying hi to the guys along the way (they hated me for a while!), and continued down the switch-backing  trail through Eagle Pass  area, over the Y and down, all done in a matter of maybe 18 hours.  I can’t even imagine today how I ever did that….. the mountain must have been smaller back then! 
Then we come to the 1st meadow that also brings back fond memories:

One deer hunt there was snow on the mountain, but after work or school  I high-tailed it up here  and in this meadow with a bit of snow on it  threw down my air mattress and sleeping bag and covered myself with my poncho. During the long, cold night I heard deer snorting all around me–wondering if I wouldn’t get stomped on,  and tried to move to see as there was a good moon, but the poncho  was frozen and the crackling had the herd thunder off.

Next morning I continued up the trail and then traversed back around the mountain seen in the previous photos.  There was a thick crust on the snow and I was making all kinds of racket….but rather than scare off a buck, it got him curious and all of a sudden I noticed 20 yards ahead of me a buck sort of squatting down with his front legs flared out to look under branches to see what was making so much noise.  I dropped to my knee and with one shot dropped him right on the spot….another long drag proceeded and again we ate that winter….healthy “grass fed”  venison!





 The vegetation under the quaking aspens was lush….to say the least.


I had continued up from the meadows to see if I couldn’t find signs of pioneer timber operations, and soon came to a junction….that was almost missed.  The trail to the left is the Y-Mountain summit trail.  

To the right,  almost hidden by the vegetation, is the main trail to Slate Canyon and up to the Squaw Peak Road, and bushwhacking to Provo Peak.

The lush vegetation often had the trail totally hidden as it tunneled under the green.

There was an old logging road that traversed around the mountain that I used years ago, but it was so hidden by vegetation that there was no point in trying to photograph it,  but here is the map of the area, showing my SPOT Track where after resting I headed back down as I was almost out of water.

There I hit the SPOT Tracker OK button….and soon it lit up sending the signal to the satellite to trigger 10 emails sent to my friends, saying:  

Message:Trip #4 Fighting to keep in shape - exploring Pioneer Timber Slide from Maple Flats down to Provo foothills




 A midst the vegetation is STINGING NETTLE,  so watch out!

Back down to the meadows...and looking back we see the ridge that comes off the back of Y-Mountain.  It was up there where my oldest son, David, got his first buck, in thick fog,with my Browning lever action .243 I loaned him.  He dragged him down to the highest house on the Provo foothills and called me to give him a ride.

 Looking up towards Maple Flats, I began looking for the trail.  I had to find water soon, or head back.  I  just couldn’t remember where the trail took off and failed finding it.  In my youth I would have just went bushwhacking and got there, but…..the mountain had grown bigger in 30-35 years.

The spring was up there somewhere,  I since learned from my brother, Marlo, who had been up here in recent years, that on his last trip the spring was dry.  I had brought a gallon of water, but was almost out, so headed back to civilization

Since,  I did a Google Earth and Topographical map study with images that follow showing what I'm still determined to find and explore....IN A COUPLE OF DAYS.

 On my last hunt up there I got to Maple Flats that had spotty snow, and set up a bivouac camp.  There was abundant straw from the tall grass and I made a thick mat of it and laid  down my  sleeping bag under the stars.  
At around 11:00 PM I was shocked to a sitting position by reverberating echos off Maple Mountain of a howling pack of coyotes that seemed to  surround me!  There was a good moon, so I just laid my .243 Browning across my waist and laid back down..  The trail was just 10 yards below me.  Soon I heard them coming by, sat up and squeezed off a shot at a  big shadow that trailed last.  There was a yelp….and then I heard him struggling,  circling around me…and he stopped.
Soon the howling returned echoing off the mountains, but a much subdued, quieter, and sort of lorn-full chorus.  Apparently there would be an opportunity for another male to take over the pack.

In the morning I found him 30 yards from my camp, and in the process of skinning him out, David showed up to see how I had done. The mounted coyote was with me down in Guatemala for nearly 20 years.  Now, no room for him in my tiny Cabin A trailer, so he's  on my son Nephi's wall.

Had great memories on my hike!


What is ahead of me this week?

In a couple of days I'll leave even earlier and head back up there with more water, and tough energy supplements and see if I can't get the task accomplished.  Following are Google Earth views showing what I'm looking for.



Below  in shadows it's  hard or impossible to see...just a little top right.


It begins to appear faintly as we proceed down the mountain.


It becomes very distinct again.


 Further down it disappears again  on Google Earth.


This view taken in the Fall of 2012 it is seen quite distinctly near the foot of the mountain approximately in the vicinity seen below on Google Earth..

 It ends in this vicinity along Provo’s foothills.

Below is an enlargement of the beginning up near Maple Flats of the slide pathway area.

  It shows some roadways, or ditch-like structures that need to be explored.

Likewise there is another pathway coming out of large trees to the northwest of the end of the Maple Flats trail as seen below in dead center.These would be descending into the steep ravine.

They are seen in the middle top of this image
and enlarged below.

They go down the ravine, disappear in shadows and rough areas, and then reappear in the lower section as seen below.

I’m likely biting off much more than I can chew….and hope some young archaeologist will take up the interest.  It would be a fascinating study for someone–in the meantime I’ll be considered the expert on Google Search…see what I mean below.

I headed back towards the valley with less than 20 oz. of water left.  Between the Y and the Trailhead, some hikers first congratulated me for being a good backpacker, but apparently I looked pretty bad so they offered me some needed  water and kindly gave me 3 slurps from their water bottle.   On arriving at the car I didn't have intentions of trying it again.....but after a couple of days I'm determined to give it one more try.

I'll post the SPOT Tracker link and when that attempt will be, on Thursday, July 31st .
*********************************


GOOGLE SEARCH "I'm #1," 
But what am I  associated with?

So, my activities place me squarely in the 
CHILDREN’S WORLD OF PLAY! 

…..but before you laugh too much about my life…..remember that ….
“The Kingdom of heaven is for those who become like little children!”

KEEPING IN SHAPE – TRIP #3 REPORT & YOUTUBE VIDEO

*******************************************

ATTEMPT FINALLY MADE: report on it’s way…..soon:

Friday, July 25th- KEEPING IN SHAPE on Y-MT- Eagle Pass-Maple Flats-Exploring Pioneer Timber Slide down to Provo foothills
SPOT TRACKING...I’ll hit the OK button to begin, at crucial trail points, camp site on Maple Flats  & then at critical discovery points on the timber slide
UPDATE: FIRST ATTEMPT…. 7-23-14 …7:00 PM
BAD TIMING!
I had too much to do today and got a late start heading up the Y-Mountain trail at around 2:30 PM with temperature at 104 degrees F. I did a mile or so with 1,000 ft. elevation gain and even drinking some water started feeling a bit light headed.  Then it got interesting for this old guy…I started feeling like I didn’t weigh anything and my spirit was floating away from my body!  So I let wisdom take over and I “chickened out” and headed down the mountain.  I will leave that one SPOT track there and on Friday at around 6:00 AM start up the mountain and see if that works better….and able to keep my spirit from separating from my body!

  If all goes well I’ll hit the OK button at the Y, then at Eagle Pass, next at the spring half-way up to Maple Flats (there better be water there or I’ll be in trouble), then at Maple Flats where I’ll set up a camp–about where I was camped back in the 80’s when surrounded by echoing howls from a pack of coyotes (and by the light of the moon I got the big one), then when I begin locating remnants of the pioneer timber slide, I’ll hit the OK at key points as I explore the pathway down to the foothills, hoping to find remnants and artefacts….like square nails, etc.

This is where I used to hunt deer, backpacking in, and I never failed at getting my buck, until the last hunt when I got a coyote.


 ROCK CANYON….

…….. east of Provo hiked to keep in shape and  had an incredible experience in this  magnificent canyon with all its natural & human wonders!

This is where in my youth I would hunt cottontail rabbits and had great adventures.
6 MILES IN 6 MINUTES of VISIONS OF NATURE!
No narration, so watch in silent reverence 

********************************************************


YouTube Video of Trip #3 Attempted Backpack to LAKE LORENA 

NOTE:  No narration…7 minutes….pictures only…

“Admire our magnificent Uintas & the Lord’s astounding creations in reverent silence!”

“A very quick snapshot–231 of them–of the effort”

For identification of flowers, “Friends,”  & simple details…scroll down for photo/essay
*******************************************
UPDATESdaily with reports from friends on LAKE LORENA & ALLSOP LAKE inserted in those  portions of this post

7/15/14 reports from Chris (Allsop Lake), and from Kevin & Rich (Lake Lorena) including “Fishing report” 

new 7/23 Rich’s pictures of LAKE LORENA

REPORT:  TRIP #3 East Fork of Bear River & Lake Lorena

Scroll down to see the photographic report (150 images) & simple captions…
……names of flowers–
Now with quotes about the beauty & immortality of God’s creations from the book:
VISIONS OF GLORY

Plus new “Friends” & important details of
 MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES
&
“The Forest Gump moment”

As I headed east towards the High Uintas the weather looked ominous….except for a double rainbow.  Was it a sign?  Meaning what?
From American Fork it was like 88 miles following the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway to the North Fork Road, then a couple more miles to this sign where you go another few miles to the East Fork of Bear River Trailhead….100 miles from American fork.
Check out on the YouTube video some close-ups of the great GMC pickup from Nevada that looks like a Power Wagon. It will also have overall shots of most flowers & plants, and then close-ups.

NOTE:  Throughout this report I will be again  showing beautiful photographs of what I called in a YouTube video last year, VISIONS OF NATURE.  Today, July 17th I’m interjecting some quotes to help us appreciate such “visions,” from a book entitled:

VISIONS OF GLORY

It is a narrative of NDE’s (Near Death Experiences) had by one person who saw in his journey to the next life that many of these “visions of nature”  we appreciate and love so much from an area like the High Uintas, also exist in our future immortal life–so those of us who see so much beauty and inspiration in nature–are not wasting our time as it will also be part of our future life in the eternities.  Quotes will be recognizable as from said book by the font & color:  

WESTERN BLUE FLAX, Linum perenne
The whole area was a wonderful wildflower garden…even before getting to the Register…In this photos/essay I’ll identify most of the flowers for those who might be interested….hope there are a few because it is a painstaking effort to do so.

 SKYROCKET, or SCARLET GILIA, Ipomopsis aggregata
The Near Death Experience in VISIONS OF GLORY, had the author literally seeing his spirit leave his body  & make a journey into the “other world” where many things were witnessed and learned that help me appreciate more the “Visions of Nature” of our High Uintas Wilderness.  In one part he describes part of that “other world:”

“I found myself standing in a beautiful meadow.  There were fully grown trees nearby of many varieties.”

 MEADOW SALSIFY-Tragopogon pratensis

“A short distance away a blue lake reflected the beautiful arrangement of trees and bushes….

Reconnaissance Lake & Triangle Mt. inserted here to show a lake as mentioned in VISIONS OF GLORY.


WASATCH PENSTEMON, Penstemon cyananthus

“…..several varieties of fish in the lake.…with magnificent displays of flowers and flowering shrubs …of many varieties.”

SCORPIONWEED, Phacelia crenulata

“A narrow stream was flowing between me and the lake…….”

SPREADING FLEABANE–Erigeron diverens

“……(the) meadow and everything I was experiencing was here because the will of God had organized them….for God’s purposes.”


RICHARDSON’S  GERANIUM, Geranium richardsonii

“Even the flowers, when I bent to touch them or smell them, were worshiping God and expressing joy in their beauty only because I had thought to myself how glorious and beautiful they were, which expression they heard and understood.” 

  STICKY GERANIUM-Geranium viscosissimum

“It was a place God had created to be exactly what it was–to radiate beauty for the senses to behold.” 

 SILKY LUPINE, Lupinus sericeus
Here we see a close-up of the sign-in of Dave Cawley who had learned about Lake Lorena from my Dream List of backpacks, and made it there on 6/28/14 when there was good weather, and got some wonderful photographs you can see on KSL Outdoor Radio Facebook page–Lake Lorena is the third.  He states:  “Didn’t see another soul!” 

I expected no less on my attempt to get to Lake Lorena….how wrong could I have been?

Ready to go!


At the Trailhead the Forest Service has this display and description of the East Fork Fire from 2002, and an explanation of the Interpretive Trail that starts here and is 1/4 mile long.  You should zoom in and read about this event, evidence of which you will see during the entire backpack.
Covering the mountainsides is the dead timber from the fire, but notice the green vegetation and colorful flowers that carpet the forest floor….bringing back to life the area.

Foremost among the green carpet is the new “Queen of Utah’s Trees,” the QUAKING ASPEN, since 2014 the Utah State Tree..

The Quaking Aspen propagates through its root system that usually survives a forest fire and very quickly sends up sprouts to save the forest.
There are good reasons why the Aspen is now the “Queen”  of Utah’s trees. I say “Queen” as it is delicately beautiful, but resilent  and a wonderful “helpmeet” for the tough “manly” mountains.

 MOUNTAIN BLUEBELL–Mertensia ciliata

In the humid areas all kinds of wildflower are seen in addition to the Bluebell. Like the tall, long stemmed Monkshood.

MONKSHOOD, Aconitum columbianum

 YELLOW MONKEYFLOWER-Mimulus guttatus

NOOTKA ROSE, Rosa nutkana

GIANT RED PAINTBRUSH, Castilleja miniata

GIANT RED PAINTBRUSH, Castilleja miniata

The Bear River-Smiths Fork Trail takes off to the east.  It is often called:
The North Slope Highline Trail.

American Vetch
WHITE CLOVER, Trifolium repens

 ALPINE PAINTBRUSH, Castilleja rhexifolia

SLENDER CINQUEFOIL, Potentilla gracilis

STICKY CINQUEFOIL, Potentilla glandulosa

BOG REIN ORCHID; BOG CANDLES, Platanthera leucostachys

ELEPHANTHEAD–Pedicularis groenlandica

New High Uinta Friends:
CHRIS WAREHAM and CHRIS VALENTINE
They were heading for Allsop Lake. I told them about the unique Native Cutthroat trout I caught there a few years ago, seen below:

Native cutthroat trout from Allsop Lake.  The Cathedral is in the  background.

REPORT FROM CHRIS & CHRIS: 7/15/14
Hi Mr Anderson!

Thanks for including us in your blog….we made it up to Allsop, and the rain started in earnest right about the time we arrived.  We had to reconfigure camp a couple of times as the thunderstorms moved through to find drier ground to set the tarp over.  We found a good spot in the trees and got bedded down, but not before getting pretty well soaked.  Got dry and slept great even with the weather.  The next day, caught a few of the native cutthroat that you told us about.  The fishing was really good!  Rather than try to make it up and over to Priord lake, we hiked back down (through the other couple of heavy storms) to the East Fork Bear River Trailhead, and decided to call it a trip.  We headed up to Evanston and had a big dinner :^).  It was a great time, with great scenery, and we’ll definitely visit again.

Good luck with the rest of your trip!

Best,
Chris

Wild strawberry leaves….saw no flowers yet as seen in Lakefork.

 SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL-Potentilla fruticosa

ROSY EVERLASTING or PUSSYTOES, Antennaria rosea

ROSY EVERLASTING or PUSSYTOES, Antennaria rosea
Pink ROSY EVERLASTING or PUSSYTOES, Antennaria rosea
Coming down to the East Fork of the Bear River.  The Bear River has the distinction of being the longest river in the hemisphere–500 miles long– that doesn’t empty into an ocean.  It begins in the High Hintas, flows north into Wyoming, swings west making a loop through Idaho, and then flows back into Utah emptying into the Great Salt Lake.

 HEARTLEAF ARNICA-Arnica cordifolia


AMERICAN BISTORT-Polygonum bistortoides

SHOWY DAISY, Erigeron speciosus

Not identified…yet… tiny flower….number 318 photographed so far from the foothills to Kings Peak.
Zooming in on the very tiny flower…perhaps 1/8th of an inch in diameter or smaller.
RED CLOVER–Trifolium pratense

ARROWLEAF GROUNDSEL, Senecio irigangularis

The trail crews are doing a great job–thanks to Bernard Asay, Trail Supervisor for the Forest Service out of the Evanston Office. I’ll insert his picture below.

 FALSE DANDELION or PALE AGOSERIS- Agoseris glauca
Notice the leaves, compared to dandelions, two pictures down.
 FALSE DANDELION or PALE AGOSERIS- Agoseris glauca

COMMON DANDELION, Taraxacum officinale

TAPERTIP ONION, Allium acuminatum

LITTLE SUNFLOWER, Helianthella uniflora

Tie hacker stumps from the early period–1867-1880.

“Tie hackers” were lumbermen sent into the North Slope of the Uinta Mountains to work 12 ,months a year with their broad axes to  make millions of  railroad ties for the Transcontinental Railroad–first Irishmen from 1867-1880, and then Scandanavians from 1912-1940

About 2 miles from the Trailhead, there is a series of 4-5 ruins from the tie hackers.

Round nails weren’t invented until 1910, which are the ones found in all the ruins, so the ruins are from the 1912-1940 period.

The early period ruins have square nails, are smaller, and don’t have smooth interiors as all of these ruins do.

A fairly large tree grows  inside one large ruin….which has one assuming that the tree is as old as 100 years.

Early period cabins have signs of rock fireplaces, but this remnant of a wood burning stove further designates these sites as from the latter period.

This outhouse and garbage hole likewise identifies this site as from  the latter period.  In the early period garbage was just thrown out the door accumulating in front of the small cabins, and I’ve never found an outhouse hole in sites from the early period.
A stovepipe further confirms our aging of the site.

More stumps very rotted away are from the older period.  Further investigation would be required to understand the full historical picture.


Mt. Beulah 12,557 ft.


PARRYS PRIMEROSE, Primula parryi

ALPINE SHOOTINGSTAR, Dodecatheon pauciflorum

Finding safe ford of the Bear River where it broadens out and reduces the depth and strength of the current.

Good strong pole in hand and wadding slippers on I’m ready to cross the stream…carefully.

Just in case,  my camera and lenses are safely sealed in gallon sized Ziploc bags.

My topographical map indicates approximately where the crossing will be made…and from there begin bushwacking up the steep side of the canyon.

Here and there in the burned out area conifers are also seen coming up.

MONKEY FLOWER, Mimulus lewisii

It was slow going up the very steep mountain detouring constantly around downed timber.

The FIREWEED–Epilobium angustifolium–plant is springing up all over, and later on will look like what we see below.
FIREWEED–Epilobium angustifolium
Least chipmunk
 WHIPPLE’S  PENSTEMON, Penstemon whippleanus

The rain, threatening all day, begins to come down.

I put my poncho on covering me, photography equipment and backpack, and waited.  It slowed a time or two, but then kept coming down harder and the temperature dropped.
Just with a short-sleeved T-shirt and short pants, I soon began to chill and realized I had to get on more protection.  A lull in the storm let me quickly get pack off, find a long-sleeved shirt, rain parka, and rain pants, then with backpack on my  back again,  got my poncho back on and felt safe.  The three “killers” in the High Uintas are:  Hypothermia, lightning, and High Altitude Sickness.  One has to be prepared to survive all three.
As the monsoon persisted, now  approaching 7:00 PM, I had to become concerned about finding a flat piece of real estate to set up my tent to get through the night.

I could see up above me what looked like the top of the hill where I would hopefully be able to set up a camp.  It worked and soon, with rain still coming down,  I had to get my tent set up.  I covered my photo equipment and backpack with my poncho, and hustled to set up my tent.  Luckily I was protected with rain parka and rain pants as I did so, but still only one thing is worse than trying to set up a camp in the rain–that being, to have to pack up wet equipment in the rain.
Finally it was done.  I put my backpack in the vestibule area, and threw everything else inside and jumped in head first…..a bit of a problem as in my small one man tent it is almost impossible to get turned around inside.
It was CHAOS inside my tent, but I had got it done and was safe.  No cooked dinner that night.  Luckily I had filled my water container and was able to use one of my lunches that just needed water.
The rain persisted hard most of the night, along with lightning and thunder all around me.  The purple container you see to the left  is my urinal….making unnecessary going out for that, but I did worry a bit about maybe needing to do “Number Two?”

Approximate location on topo map of “Emergency Camp”

In the morning I waited for the sun to hit me and begin drying everything so I could continue….but it never happened, and finally I opened the vestibule to see a cloudy day.  My experience had me believing that when a day begins that way in the High Uintas, the day would just get worse from there on, so decided it wise for me to pack up and head down.

I just hoped that Mother Nature would hold off the storm until I was at least packed up. I had made about 1,000 ft. in elevation gain with about 600 ft. to go, but quite frankly I was worn out and didn’t want to put myself in a situation of greater risk.  So I hit my SPOT Tracker OK button, and began preparing to break camp.
I should have taken a picture of my tent set up, but was in a big hurry to get packed up before the rain hit…..but then clicked off a shot when ready to begin stuffing everything into my pack. At that point I all of a sudden heard a human voice:

“I KNOW YOU….YOU’RE CORDELL ANDERSEN!”

It was Kevin Rogers, who led a group of 7 who had struggled into the area during the downpour the night before and 50 yards off set up their tents.

Kevin’s cell phone picture….as I have heard from him, added more pictures further along, and have the promise of more pictures soon.

Once packed up I dropped by to meet my 7 new “HIGH UINTA FRIENDS,”  who were gathered around a campfire trying to dry out all their stuff.
Some of them knew me from my website, and had decided to one way or another get to LAKE LORENA.   Kevin for years had been a professional guide, but admitted that this was one remote area that had escaped him, as it had me.

We got talking about my nearly 1,700 miles of backpacking, beginning with my 27 day expedition in 2003 that had kicked off the HIGH UINTAS WILDERNESS PROJECT, with many tough times when I had to be spurred on by Winston Churchill’s challenge:

But….had to admit that there had been times…..like the present one…when I had to add the word:  “EASILY!”
I joked with them about my several “FOREST GUMP MOMENTS,” and admitted that I was again possibly facing one of those times….even though admitting that each time, after surviving, recovery, and a Big Mac & Mountain Dew, I became determiend to “NOT GIVE IN” yet!
They started asking me questions….one being,

“WHAT ABOUT THE WEIRD EXPERIENCES YOU’VE HAD OVER ALL THOSE MILES?” 

I mentioned that the exact question was asked me in my Coalville speech, me qualifying it as:

MY MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES:

I think I mentioned learning about the “tie hackers,”  being  “unsung American heroes without whom the West might not have been won,”  and “the liveliest if not the most wicked town in America!”  but then launched myself into my two BIG FOOT experiences from 2013.

Describing when coming down Little East Fork of Blacks Fork, when all of a sudden stopping to rest…….Big Foot appeared and we tried to communicate using gestures…..

Then his son appeared on horseback….and I recalled a couple of years ago that a sheep herder in the area had lost a horse, and it occurred to me that is why we don’t see footprints of Little Foot since he’s on horseback.  Then they began sort of making fun of us humans who need REI backpacks, and Golite sleeping bags, and Big Agnes tents to survive in the Uintas, etc.  Then they turned and headed into the forest.

All the time I was trying to manipulate my camera that I had set on a rock, hoping to get some photographs, and even video.

But, once they were leaving I went for the camera to make sure I was getting something, but knocked it off the rock, and the clutter of it falling….WOKE ME UP….FROM THE DREAM!

The fall actually broke my skylight filter…saving the lens, and I checked to see if maybe I had got some pictures from what was maybe….a real experience?  But, no luck!

It was just a dream, I told them, but…..maybe like the prophets of old…it was a VISION IN A DREAM giving me the idea that maybe there was something to the legend and I should keep an open mind.

I went down the trail with camera ready as always…..and then all of a sudden …..
HE CAME CRASHING THROUGH THE TREES…..AND HAD A RED T-SHIRT ON!

Back to reality…..I found it was ROB WILCOX, mountain runner, heading for Squaw Pass.  I told him about the dream I had just had…..and caught him expressing…..

“Maybe there’s something to it!”

I then went on to tell them what I related in Coalville, that a rare experience had been:

Seeing a PINE MARTEN that came into our camp checking everything out, but didn’t have my camera in hand to get a shot.

Then remembered my MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE

IN THE UINTAS

It happened in Crow Basin in 2011 you see in these pictures


Above Crow Basin, below Jackson Park

I was caught along the escarpment of upper Crow Basin in a rain storm, when attempting to throw my poncho up over my backpack lost my balance, fell backwards over a huge fallen tree catching my left foot in the roots and left hanging there with my whole load, convinced my ankle was broken.  Finally wiggled out of my load, pulled myself up and was alright.
I got my poncho on, and moved up to the edge of Jackson Park with rain pouring down, then the lightning hit and got real close.
All of a sudden a bolt hit with lightning and thunder at the same instant right on top of me that shook the ground……
……..and WAVY WISPS OF ELECTRICITY DANCED ALL AROUND ME!
It was real close to being my end….but since I survived it is remembered as my
GREATEST EXPERIENCE IN THE OUTDOORS!

We bid each other farewell, me wishing them,
 “God bless you in your attempt to get to Lake Lorena….and let me know how it goes.” 

So far I haven’t heard from them.

Just heard from them and will insert here the message and after it a couple of photos…although Rich hasn’t sent me ones of the lake, nor replied to my question about the fishing….yet.  Will update when able:

Cordell,


Glad you made it out ok! The weather held out long enough for us to get to the lake but my camera (phone) kinda died from all the rain. Rich (my friend in the orange fleece) took a bunch of photos. I have copied him on this email. Hopefully he’ll send you a few.  It was great to meet you and talk with you for a while.  

Best of luck on your adventures. KEVIN 


Hi Cordell,

Great to hear from you. I do have quite a few pictures and some good ones of Lake Lorena. I will get them off my phone and send them to you soon.

Thanks for the fun stories. Good luck on your next encounter with big foot!
Rich

FISHING REPORT FROM KEVIN: 7/15/14
The fishing was horrid.  In fact, my brother who was there with us is a Hydrologist and wanted to take samples of the water.  We saw no evidence of fish (other than dead ones) for 2 hours and he speculates an anoxic or hypoxic (they’re effectively the same thing) event took place in the lake over the winter due to the presence of algae on the bottom of the lake. Either that or the storm scared the fish into a deep hole.

Nevertheless, it didn’t make up for a rough night!  We left around 3 after another deluge that lasted from 2-3pm which was much more severe in volume and intensity.  One strike (lightning) hit above camp not more than 300 yards away (simultaneous flash & thunder). Thankfully, the weather subsided for the hike out and by the time we hit the trailhead, the sky was 60% blue.  Go figure!

Keep in touch!

Rich’es photos of LAKE LORENA follow: (Thanks, Rich)

Now I’ll continue telling the experience of going down to the river and back to the Trailhead.

I knew as I started down the steep, slippery slope that I couldn’t make a miss-step, so carefully I moved, zig-zagging all over the place to get around downed timber.

Do you recognize this flower?

Here’s the whole plant that you should recognize from its leaves….the monsoon caused the fluffy seed heads to become almost unrecognizable.  
I finally made it to the river that had risen due to the rains, and I couldn’t find my ford.
I finally found this log jam on the river and carefully made it across, only wishing I had with me a machete to clear out the branches that made it more difficult .

In one meadow I found a unique flower I had been looking for and got a few shots;

ORANGE SNEEZEWEED or OWL CLAWS, Dugaldia hoopesii

ORANGE SNEEZEWEED or OWL CLAWS, Dugaldia hoopesii

All the way the clouds were threatening….with drops falling at times, and then it started building.

Then with a BANG another monsoon broke loose, and I said a prayer for my friends up on the mountain……and hurried along towards the safety of the Trailhead and my little Cabin A trailer.

A thorny THISTLE had me thinking about my nearly 1,700 miles of exploring the Uintas, and had me concluding that in my 79th year I had to get my priorities straight and move on to the remaining phases of my HIGH UINTAS WILDERNESS PROJECT.
So, in a sense I’m doing like Forest Gump when after 3 years of running around the country with a little group of followers, he stopped, and turned towards them.  One of them shouted, 
Quiet, he’s going to say something!” 
I know myself well enough to realize my backpacking days aren’t over with–as quite frankly I have gratefully been able to do better than I would have ever imagined possible just 18 months  ago when it looked like I was a cripple, but the reality is that I have got to move on to the concluding phases of my project before it’s too late.

I’ll have to admit that  failing at doing my DREAM LIST OF BACKPACKS has an interesting humanizing and humbling effect on me….that is a relief…..  lightening my load, and opening up the way to finally finish what I vowed I would do 62 years ago–share what I vowed to learn about the High Uintas with as many as I could reach.

As is happening already, my DREAM LIST OF BACKPACKS is blessing the lives of younger adventurers who can complete them all–and be blessed in the process.

At this writing I’ve already heard from several High Uinta Friends who soon will be heading for high adventure….getting to LAKE LORENA.   I just hope it won’t get too congested!

As I drove down the canyon I turned to bid farewell to Mt. Beulah, grateful for the wonderful experiences the Creator has blessed me with in these incredible mountains that have blessed my life in so many ways…..and for the opportunities of sharing my experience with hundreds and thousands from all over….some of them thanking me for  literally “SAVING”  their lives through my frank sharing of experience and my suggestions how to go into the Wilderness safely.

I stopped near  Bald Mt. Pass to take a last shot of Hayden Peak & Mt. Agassiz, grateful for Ferdinand Hayden, and Louis Agassiz, and others like them,  who over a century ago paved the way for all of us to be blessed by this wonderful Wilderness.
A wonderful spot as the sign indicates, the drainage to the east being part of what becomes the Green & Colorado Rivers, fed by most of the streams from the North & South Slopes that drain into the Pacific Ocean, and the Provo River to the west draining into the Great Salt Lake, along with the Weber, and Bear Rivers–ALL OF WHICH, NORTH &  SOUTH, EAST & WEST, CONTRIBUTE 90% OF UTAH’S WATER!

PAGE FOR ALL RECENT 2014 POSTS

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DREAM LIST OF BACKPACKS-LAUNCH-SPOT Link–TOPO MAPS, etc.

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Report on: Trip #1a from the HIGHLINE TRAILHEAD to SCUDDER, WILDER, WYMAN, & PACKARD Lakes and the beautiful Canyon of the East Fork of the Duchesne River..NEXT BACKPACK: “Lake Lorena”


Click on the following links for recent posts:

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DREAM LIST OF BACKPACKS-LAUNCH-SPOT Link–TOPO MAPS, etc.

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Trip #1 REPORT: The “ACID TEST”  To East Brown Duck Basin….Success? Future?

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NOTE:  My next backpack will  be what is listed as 
Trip #6 – EAST FORK BEAR RIVER TRAILHEAD – Lake Lorena. 1 lake, 9 miles, 3 days
This will happen from Thursday, July 10th to Saturday, July 12th–UNLESS THE WEATHER REPORT HAS ME SHIFT IT A FEW DAYS…it looks sketchy but I will try and be on the trail Thursday morning…if you get a SPOT track “OK” that means I’m on the trail…….  the SPOT link will appear here on Wednesday, July 9th.
SPOT LINK

Sunday July 13 – UPDATE
In spite of ominous weather I made the effort to get to LAKE LORENA, had an incredible experience…even though kicking and screaming, scratched & scared…. I failed to get to the finish line…yet had WONDERFUL SUCCESS!

A CONTRADICTION?   You’ll have to check it out to 
see….and judge.

 DETAILS COMING:  
A simplified Photo/essay (like a slide show with captions), 
&
 a complete photo version in a YouTube Video without narration.


For details click on the Dream List above.

PREPARATION:  I’ll have to admit getting hooked on the World Cup, even though the U.S. was eliminated…..so I want to be around for the games on Tuesday & Wednesday–then immediately on termination of that game leave for the East Fork of the Bear River Trailhead to sleep Wednesday night there and get an early start on Thursday for LAKE LORENA.  I know that Dave Cawley beat me to it last week (see KSL Outdoor Radio Facebook page)  but he didn’t test the fishing, and I have plans for unique photographs that I can’t rest until attempted. 

NOTE:  KSL Outdoors Radio seemed to indicate that Dave discovered this isolated Jewel through my website.  The hike’s elevation gain was misunderstood on the program indicating it was something like 3,500 ft. but it is rather 1,662 ft. in the 4 mile hike.  The trailhead’s elevation is about 9,130 ft. from which you drop down a couple of hundred feet then climb 1,662 ft. to the lake at 10,562 ft.

In the meantime……Daily I’m up at 6:00 now building on the conditioning and improvement I’ve achieved in 2 backpacks, and  hoping to “increase the pace, lengthen my stride and stretch out the distances”   by jogging every morning and in the evening walk around a couple of blocks with my 40 lb. backpack.   Then doing all the Guatemalan Foundation work, while helping with a couple of family situations that need attention,


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NOW: THE REPORT — BACKPACK #2

NOTE:  To get the whole story with many details like, names, elevations, distances & jokes– read the captions that will take you maybe 20 minutes.  To just focus on enlarged photos, click on the image below and see  photos one by one.


Backpack #1 had turned out to be difficult I believe due to the topical chemo treatment I had gone through over a period of almost 6 weeks prior to the trip which was supposed to have been according to the post below.
I experienced a lot of fatigue and in that weakened condition when all of a sudden above 10,000 ft. began experiencing some symptoms of High Altitude Sickness, and was forced to go down, rather than continue even higher as planned.
I even had thoughts again as Forest Gump had after running around the country for 3 years.
Yet, my challenge for years has been to “NOT GIVE IN…..EASILY” so I determined to keep at it making a 2nd backpack from the Highline Trailhead  and do my darndest to build on what I achieved in my first trip.  This one turned out to be successful resulting in the following post on my website.
For unexplainable reasons I experienced difficulty doing the YouTube video announced above, so resorted to the following photo/essay.

It began at the Highline Trailhead at 10,347 ft. altitude along the Mirror Lake Scenic  Byway–Utah Highway 150, with Hayden Peak guarding the area.

 Hayden Peak is 12,479 ft. high and named after Ferdinand Hayden, an American geologist and surveyor who made pioneering surveying expeditions in the area in the late 19th century.   
Horse packers were seen preparing to go into the Wilderness.
 

Backpackers were preparing to head east on the Uinta’s most famous trail:  The Highline Trail that follows the spine of the High Uintas east for more than 100 miles 
Among them were CORDELL & Candy Wolking, along with two friends, Brandson Farley and Nate Gardner….all of them together seen below.
 They were heading for the Naturalist Basin
These two new High Uinta Friends, Jason Howes, and Danny Drake, had just returned to the trailhead having backpacked to Pinto Lake.  They reported good fishing.
 First point in backpacking safely….
Let family & friends know where you’re going.   I had posted the day before the following on my website, along with the  topographical map that showed the route I was going to take.
 My family, friends, and the whole world knew where I was going.
Second  point in backpacking or hiking safely
Have and use a SPOT Personal Satellite Tracker.  I used it when I was ready to head down the trail hitting the OK button that emailed  my prepared message to the 10 on my list letting them know I was on my way and exactly where that starting point was.

 Prior to leaving for the mountains you program your SPOT Tracker using your computer with the name of your backpack, a short message, and 10 emails of friends, who will receive the OK message via email.  Part of that message, seen below, is a link they can click on to instantly connect to Google Earth and see my exact location.  My first OK is from the starting point.  Also I put on my trip announcement, seen above, a link to the SPOT website where anyone interested can go everyday to see if I’m okay and see on Google Earth exactly where I am .

One can see the location either using “map” mode, or “satellite” mode.  Above is seen my beginning point at the Highline Trailhead in “map mode.”  Other examples along the trail will be in “satellite mode” which is the Google Earth view.  
Third point in going into the Wilderness safely…..
..……… especially when alone, is to have a satellite phone. Groups, such as Boy Scouts or Explorers, should have one phone in the group (and one SPOT Tracker) ….and I’m sure parents will love the comfort daily of knowing their children are safe and  would be happy to chip in to cover the rental cost from SKYCALL SATELLITE
Of course the sat phone as well as the SPOT Tracker can be used for emergencies.  In my case,  the sat phone, during my first 4 years of the High Uintas Wilderness Project,  was only needed for emergencies twice–both with groups of Boy Scouts that had an injured boy.  I loaned them my sat phone to call for help.

Only once has it been necessary for my own need, which story I related in my speech at Coalville a few months ago.

I get my phone from friend Russ Smith at SKYCALL SATELLITE
The photo below is outdated in the name of Russ’ business, but the phone numbers are the same.

At the Trailhead I used the phone to give my weekly report to KSL OUTDOORS RADIO’s weekly Saturday morning program from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM.
 Tim Hughes, the host of the show is seen above.  Russ Smith is his partner in the weekly radio program.
.

READY TO MOVE!

 I was finally ready to get on the trail, but first had to register with the Forest Service.
I’ll insert below shots of the register to June 18th.  You might find a friend there….but it is interesting to see where people are going, and how early backpacking got started this year.
I’m not sure why printed forms are not used at the Highline Trailhead, such as are used at most trailheads.  “Come on Brenda, get the Forest Service’s act together in Kamas!”

Finally ON THE TRAIL..
...where we can see that the trail crews are on the ball having cleared downed timber.
Heart Leaf Arnica leaves are everywhere in the shady forest….but no flowers yet as was the case in the area of my first trip on the Brown Duck Basin Trail where their beautiful yellow flowers decorated the forest floor everywhere.  Part of the difference is that  the Lake Fork Trailhead is at 8,000 ft.–2,347  feet lower than  the Highline Trailhead at 10,347 ft….the highest Trailhead in the High Uintas.
White Globe Flower among the first to bloom.
The Marsh Marigold flower is similar to the White Globe Flower, but the leaves are totally different.  It is always one of the first wildflowers to decorate  the humid areas.
More new High Uinta Friends are the Wilsons:  Chris & Carol, daughter Kayla, along with “ASLAN,” the Tibetian Mastiff breed dog that Chris brought back from Mongolia where he worked for a time on a service project. 
 Soon we come to a junction where a trail from Mirror Lake joins the Highline Trail. Rocky Sea Pass is about 11,700 ft. high, 8-9 miles from the Trailhead and leads to the Rock Creek Drainage. Early in the season there is always a large snow drift blocking the trail on the east side of Rocky Sea Pass…..so be careful.
There is high traffic on the Highline Trail.  I met some of them as we are seeing, got a few photos of others–to whom I gave my card promising to email them their pictures if they emailed me, and there were many others I didn’t meet nor get photos of.
 A mile or so from the Trailhead we come to the Wilderness Area boundary.  From here on the rules and requirements for human use are ramped up quite a bit.
 The forest is coming alive with many life forms, such as mushrooms…….
……and always one of the early flowers is SPRING BEAUTY, whose beauty is generally ignored or not noticed as it is very tiny…about 1/4″ in diameter. Look what hiking at a “stalking pace” and getting down on your knees can reveal!
This is the first mountain scene to the north of the trail….and maybe we can say it is  the southern end of Hayden Peak….named after a famous geologist & surveyor as explained in the beginning of this post.
 Mt. Agassiz becomes the dominant mountain as we will see throughout the entire trip.  Louis Agassiz was a naturalist  (paleontologist, glaciologist and geologist), and in a sense it was after him, and his profession that the  Naturalist Basin was named, with most lakes in the entire area named after his students.
All of a sudden two new High Uinta Friends remarked that they knew me.  Neal on the right happened to be the brother of one of my favorite Springville neighbors, Luke Hopkin.  Ryan is a cousin.

Some ask me how I stand going “alone?”
But, as you’re seeing, for me backpacking is usually a social experience with many new friends each trip….like the mosaic below of all my new “friends” from 2013.

How can one feel lonely with so many good friends?

 Quite a few of the hikers had their dogs accompanying them…this one actually carrying his (or her) own load.
 One of the real special alpine wildflowers is the Glacier Lily or Fawn Lily.  This one and all of the hundreds  of varieties found in the High Uintas are for me wonderful testimonies of the Creator’s talented Hand and love of beauty.
Actually my total of wildflowers photographed now comes to 316  from the foothills to Kings Peak–316 testimonies of our wonderful Creator.
Two miles  (2.17 miles) from the trailhead we come to the sign pointing to SCUDDER LAKE.  Many times I have walked by, but this time  took off down the trail and soon came to the lake.  Of course the Highline Trail further along comes real close to the lake, but I was looking for a special angle.
 The DWR’s pamphlet on the Duchesne River Drainage first states Scudder Lake is  “productive”  but ends saying it’s “subject to winterkill and does not sustain fish life.”   I tested its waters for fish, but couldn’t come up with anything.
I hiked down around the southwestern end to get that “special angle”  that puts in  the portrait Mt. Agassiz with my fish eye lens.
 We are now back on the Highline Trail, still heading east with Mt. Agassiz to our north.
Soon more new High Uinta Friends appeared.  This handsome couple is  Don & Nancy Eggert.
 Candy Tuft is another of the flowers that decorate the edges of our trail.
 And of course there are ROCKS….not near as many interesting and colorful ones as I saw in the Brown Duck Basin, but once in a while I got shots of some fascinating ones…..
…..and of course more mushrooms, this one being the Orange Sponge Polypore that we will see in various forms during the backpack.
 Here comes a backpacker with an interesting load on his back……

 Zooming in we see a baby backpacked on the Highline Trail.

Near the junction with the trail to Wilder, Wyman and Packard Lakes we find ourselves with two smiling faces……and all of a sudden I hear, “I know you!”   from Russ Harris
 Russ and his buddy, Rich Hagle, came to the conclusion they knew me from the Salt Lake Tribune article published back in 2011, written by Brett Prettyman.
Russ recalled vividly the full-page spread with a picture of Reconnaissance Lake and Triangle Mountain.  He went on to relate them having now made 3 trips to the area and we all agreed that this scene rivals Red Castle Peak as the most beautiful mountain scene in Utah.

Then Rich spoke up with the announcement:
“SILVER FOUND IN THE UINTAS AT BLUE LAKE!”
He held out his hand showing me the treasure discovery…that didn’t look very silvery.  
I zoomed in……
 It’s a very weather tarnished SILVER quarter dated 1966.
We bid farewell promising to keep in touch. Wow…Russ has great legs and also my REI backpack!
 I headed down a very rocky steep trail  towards Packard Lake
Soon I arrive at WILDER LAKE, about 3.5 miles from the Trailhead, and decided to head for the southern end to set up my base camp…….but soon I found, or she found me to check me out, but she was  GENEVIEVE HARMEN, Wilderness Ranger.
Genevieve is the only Wilderness Ranger working out of the Kamas Forest Service office.
She does supervise those who work at clearing the trails of downed timber, etc.
She is from Oregon and has worked several summers in the High Uintas.
Soon I was working my way towards the south end of the lake…and all of a sudden heard a loud SMACK!  with a large swirl out in the middle of the lake.  I sat for a moment and soon…..
… a  beaver surfaced and headed across the lake.
As I began moving out–  at least 200 feet from the lake so I could have a campfire and cook a little food, I passed a couple of patches of snow….the first I had come close to in my two backpacks.
I set up camp 250 feet from the lake,  quickly got some water from the lake and put it through my Gravity Works purification system–which I repeat is INCREDIBLE.!

I then prepared my recovery drink to restore my apetite and have me feeling good enough to go fishing.

 I then put together my
The formula:   egg-nog/Endurox/Calcium/Magnesium/glutamine/electrolytes recovery drink. It also has a ground up energy bar–ground in my Nutri-Bullet blender since my poorly fitted dentures can’t handle hard stuff!
Soon I was down at the lake catching pan-sized Eastern brook trout that were surfacing all over the lake..
.…and there was buzzing all around!

On my first backpack there were very few mosquitoes, but they are now on the increase…with one you see circling to my left ready to make a suicide dive  after me……
….and he’s getting me near my eye…..
…..with another on my lip……
….and this one is getting his fill of my blood from my leg.   
TIME TO GET OUT THE REPELLENT!
It’s got to be from 98 to 100 percent DEET!  Mark my words, the 30 percent stuff just doesn’t work!

The next day I headed south on a day hike to Wyman, and Packard Lakes, and to witness again the Canyon of the East Fork of the Duchesne River.  In my photo waist pack I had my SPOT Tracker, clipped on one side the sat phone, and on the other side my Colt .45.  In addition I had my headlamp, and weatherproof matches in case of any emergency need of light or fire.  My food was another of my home-made energy drinks, and water.

Another mushroom.  I’m not quite ready to say a lot about them….so for the present  have extreme caution.

 About half a mile, including some elevation gain, I arrive at WYMAN LAKE.  It’s a pretty lake that looks like it should have fish, but the pamphlet states that it is subject to winter-kill, but occasionally stocked .  I tested its waters for fish at the inlet, and here and there around the edge as I followed the trail to the south end, but with no sign of fish.

Here’s a fish-eye view looking north towards Mt. Agassiz.

 I then continued on towards Packard Lake, but with one suggestion for the hiker.  The trail divides, the main one going up over a hill which then drops down to Packard Lake.  The right hand fork continues over level ground skirting the edge of meadows and then comes to the Canyon following  near the edge up to Packard Lake.  It’s no big deal, but it’s easier and will give you a glimpse of an incredible canyon that those who take the other trail often never even see–and they miss one of the great sights of this hike.

Here is the SPOT Tracker view of the hike in the area down to Packard Lake.  From the Trailhead where I hit the OK button first, then at Scudder Lake, and then at my base camp at Wilder Lake.  Then on the day hike I hit it again at Wyman Lake, then on the edge of the Canyon, and at Packard Lake, and last of all in the evening when returning to my base camp..

PACKARD LAKE, at 10,000 ft., guarded by Mt. Agassiz, is always visited with the Ted Packard family in mind.  Ted was one of the first two who introduced me to the High Uintas in 1952. Those two, Ted Packard and Charlie Petersen, along with me in 2008 had our Golden Anniversary Backpack to the Red Castle Area you see below .


The other Packard on my mind at this lake is Ted’s son,Mike who is  another great High Uintas Friend we see above.  Without them I might have never had the interest in backpacking to Packard Lake.  Thanks, to both of you.

As mentioned above, some Packard Lake visitors get there going up over the hill, come down to the lake, circle it, camp and fish it without ever realizing that just 50-100 yards to the south is a canyon you see below on this Google Earth view

Let me show you….the outlet stream from the lake  which soon ends….

…..and then turns into a waterfall at the beautiful edge of the canyon.

Expanding our view we look up the Canyon of the East Fork of the Duchesne River  towards the Four Lakes Basin, and almost visible is Cyclone Pass.

We look here down the  Canyon which eventually will take you to the North Fork of the Duchesne River, Hades Canyon, and Defa’s Dude Ranch.

Zooming in on the river has me thinking that this would be a great Fall backpack, after the mosquitoes are gone, hiking and fishing the river up from Defa’s Dude Ranch.

Back to Packard Lake we observe the Yellow Pond Lilies beginning to surfacer.

Fishing produced pan sized Eastern brook trout, but also one that was larger, and some very hard hits–one that took my lure and I could see the colorful brookie thrashing around with a Thomas Cyclone in his lip.  Hope he survives and is one day caught by a fisherman–who can return to me the lure for a nice reward!

Soon I headed back to my base camp at Wilder Lake.

I relaxed resting from my several mile long day hike, and prepared to head out the next morning, always in awe enjoying the beautiful changing scene as the sun sank into the western sky.

A flickering campfire at the inlet had me zooming  in……..

I understand the warming emotion of a family campfire as the night’s chill comes on, but somehow we’ve got to make a sacrifice moving at least 200 feet from the water, and thus avoid violating the law as these campers are doing.

 I guess with this sunset view of Mt. Agassiz we should end the show…..but I had to get out of there and along the trail the next morning had experiences I have to share.

So the next morning, June 30th, I bid farewell to Wilder Lake and headed up the trail.

As always, SPOT Tracker at hand ready for emergency use, as well as sat phone clipped on my camera waist pack, and on the other side my Colt .45.  The camera, that was taking the picture,  would be hanging around my neck with one hand steadying it and ready to click off that once-in-a-lifetime shot.  No need of trekking poles–not enough hands to work them anyway…and they do require “work” expending extra energy, a luxury this old guy can’t afford.

That “once-in-a-lifetime shot” might be like one of the following which I would have never got if I was hindered by trekking poles;

Soon I was back to the Highline Trail.

Along the stream the Bluebells are budding out and will soon add their beautiful flowers to the scene.

The tiny Alpine Lewisia makes its contribution to the magnificent hike–but you have to zoom in to appreciate its beauty..

And I wasn’t about to stop meeting wonderful new High Uinta Friends….and little did I know that just around a few bends in the trail a really WOW one would appear in a flash!

….but first I met Kevin McDowell and Joe Hoffman…who signed in and parted with a shout….“Don’t ever stop backpacking!”

Alpine buttercup along with a host of others  raised my spirits even a little higher.

Soon a Boy Scout group, came down the trail…..

….and I met BEN KENNALEY, and CLARK JONES..

Ben’s father and others brought up the rear….all heading for the Naturalist Basin.

Then in a FLASH a “WOW MOUNTAIN RUNNER” with her running companion whipped by me in a blur…..

 I yelled after her, asking, “How far are you going?”   Without stopping–mountain runners stop for nothing…she shouted back, “I’ll go 6 miles and then turn around!”

Incredible to say the least.  How I admire these runners on these tortuously rocky trails and lung killing high altitudes.  I thought of waiting for her to return at the Trailhead, ready to shout,
  “HEY, WILL YOU MARRY ME?”

Us old guys can sometimes get away with that kind of joking that no one is going to take seriously, but I had stops to make along the return trip home, so stalked up the trail, soon seeing Mt. Baldy off to the west…..

….and soon I was at the Trailhead having done around 12 miles, including extras, and hit the OK button on my SPOT Tracker….

Sending this message to the world…..that I had made it, not experienced High Altitude Sickness this time, and while slow, got stronger, giving me hope for the future……

.. then headed for my tiny “Cabin A” home, freshened up a bit and set alongside of me some snacks for the road, and headed for the first stop–Bald Mt. Pass.

In this series I try and take on about the same date each year shots so we can compare and gauge what kind of summer we’re going to have.  Compare……

Then on to PROVO RIVER FALLS for the annual photograph to also give us an idea about the season, compared to other years.

While at the Falls I all of a sudden recognized someone, and she recognized me….

She was the “WOW MOUNTAIN RUNNER!” and  I met JENNY POWERS, and told her that I had almost waited for her at the Trailhead to ask, “Will you marry me?”  and quickly qualified that to make sure she knew I was just an old guy doing my best to joke my way through what’s left of my life.

 She picked up on the thought and mentioned her boyfriend might want to fight me over her.  We talked about the High Uintas Wilderness Project–my going on 1,700 miles of backpacking, and my years in Guatemala–with the prediction on leaving in 1967, “You’ll come running home with your tail between your legs in 6 months!” ….and finally I did come “running home with my tail between my legs”  but 35 years later!

 . I learned she is from Georgia, and wants to backpack the Highline Trail later this summer but thinks her and female companion will have to eat a lot of fish….but she doesn’t know how, so asked me to teach her.  As we were saying goodbye, she asked, “Can I hug you?”   How could I refuse such a nice request…..so I got paid for my 12 torturous miles on the trail with one great hug!

I recalled at Reams Supermarket where I worked from 2009 to 2012 as likely the oldest “shopping cart herder” in the world where I loved to serve the ladies (and everybody else too), but was restricted by management to receiving and giving hugs only to those over 90!

WOW!  IT’S GREAT TO BE FREE!

Then on to Coalville and Summit County Courthouse.

 NaVee Vernon, the Historical Director, had advised me that they had framed the large print I had donated and I was curious to see it.

Susan Avard, of the Office of Community Development, and NaVee took me to a Conference Room and showed me the beautiful framed photograph of what many think is the most beautiful mountain scene in Utah and it’s in Summit County as is nearly all the North Slope.

At Coalville I hit the Ok button and then headed for the Wasatch Front……….

……. American Fork where I hit the OK button on my SPOT Tracker to end the trip.

So here we see the whole trip as it is on the SPOT Tracker website, showing all the OK signals and the message sent as seen below.


NOW THE ANALYSIS OF “ACID TEST #2”

Did I make any progress so as to avoid the “Forest Gump reaction?”

I’m happy to say that progress was made.  I didn’t experience any High Altitude Sickness, my balance greatly improved, and I felt great on finishing the trip….of course  “the hug”  helped a lot!

But I was embarrassingly slow that would make most of my scheduled trips too long and quite impossible as too much food would be necessary. Besides, I rationalize, most of those “Dream Backpacks”  are to areas I have already been through, so they aren’t critical to my project. I’ll just  back off a bit but still keep working at getting back in shape, with shorter trips, and hope to eventually be back to what I consider normal–if there is anything normal for an old guy in his 79th year.

So no “GIVING IN”   yet, rather carefully, and persistently going forward doing the best I can and hope to eventually be able to “Pick up the pace…lengthen my stride..and increase the distances.”  .…but fill in my time with what is now critical research and writing.

So keep an eye on my website where I’ll announce further attempts to get the job done.

Trip #1 REPORT: The “ACID TEST” Success? Future?

Mt. Agassiz at sunset over Wilder Lake

A TEEZER:  On the photo/essay on Trip #1a “ACID TEST #2” to Scudder, Wilder, Wyman & Packard Lakes and the beautiful Canyon of the East Fork of the Duchesne River now on the Home Page  I  tell the story from a new “High Uinta Friend” of 
SILVER FOUND ON MT. AGASSIZ!”
SPOT TRACKING
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The “ACID TEST” Trip #1 to East Brown Duck Basin
Over 12 years I have backpacked over 1,600 miles exploring, photographing and reporting on the awesome High Uintas Wilderness.  It has never been easy with many “glitches” over these years (2003-2014, 67 years old to 78) perhaps chronicled best in my 2013 YouTube video:  
In 2011 it had become so difficult that I ended one video report with the Forest Gump conclusion who,  after running around the country for like 3 years, turned to his little group of followers, and said: 

Nevertheless I kept trying my best to follow Winston Churchill’s advice to:
“NEVER, NEVER GIVE IN!”
I persisted in announcing plans of more backpacking really putting me on the spot asking the question whether I might be successful or rather was “JUST SO MUCH HOT AIR?”

By 2012  I tried back surgery and did my darndest in my 77th year to chronicle my efforts of working hard with a series of “COMEBACK” videos that evolved into a video entitled “FAKE NOT BEING A CRIPPLE!”   But, with no backpacking in 2012 I was maybe “JUST SO MUCH HOT AIR?”.…or really just an old guy!

 In 2013 a miracle was done with hip replacement surgery and I was without pain for the first time in 30 years….did 125 miles of exhilarating  backpacking, plus visiting many beautiful places in Utah and Wyoming meeting a whole host of wonderful people, and speaking about my beloved High Uintas in Evanston.  
I made exciting and enthusiastic plans for 2014 with my “DREAM LIST OF BACKPACKS”  that have been on my website for nearly 6 months, along with what I was doing to be strong and capable of doing them.  In April, in my speech at the Coalville, Summit County Courthouse, I admitted that to “dream” of doing such in my 79th and 80th years was perhaps just a little much, but that I had to try and see how it went. 

 But, then I made a horrible decision accepting a topical chemo treatment on my face, scalp and neck for cancer and went through more than a month of hell when I was unable to keep exercising and preparing.

With that backdrop of almost sure failure, I headed for Duchesne on June 13th, and did some research while waiting for the weather to clear and warm, and finally headed for the Lake Fork Trailhead at Moon Lake on June 18th.  By noon of June 19th I was on the trail and want to share with all of you all the magnificent beauty of the South Slope of the High Uintas as I cautiously went up the trail, knowing it would be a real test,“the Acid test,” to determine what my future might be.
  
I will take you on the trip with me showing the route and sharing with you the awakening of life in the Uintas as I “stalked” up the trail that makes possible me seeing many things….and zooming in on “visions of nature”  that many never see.  ENJOY, and stick with it to see in the end WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR THIS OLD GUY!
NOTE:  Usually I won’t comment, nor try and identify flowers, etc. but just show you what I saw which we will all contemplate in silent reverence & awe.

I checked in for accessibility conditions on the South Slope with Sheila, Lori, and Cindy seen below, who is new.  I also printed up for the Forest Service a set of photographs of the Crow Basin area that they could show to interested outdoors-men and women. 

I learned from Sheila that the Duchesne Ranger Station is responsible for maintaining the trails on the entire South Slope:  From the Grandview Trailhead & the Grandaddies, to Rock Creek, Lake Fork, Yellowstone/Swift Creek, Dry Gulch Drainage, Uinta River, and the West Fork of Whitrocks Trailhead–all with only 4 summer employed Wilderness Rangers, and 4 cutters and clearers (or whatever they are called), like the one you see below who I met years ago near Clements Lake. That had me forewarned that I would have to deal with a lot of downfall blocking the trails.

High Uinta Friend, Jori Thomas, had advised me of a weather watching website you see below on my cell phone showing that there had been new snow in the area of my backpack, just the day before. This is updated during each day with a video camera apparently on top of Lake Fork Mountain above Moon Lake. I’ll insert the link below the image.  Thanks JORI.



Below are shots of the Duchesne River from the bridge in Duchesne, showing the contrast from one year to another. 

About half way to Moon Lake you come to the nice Bed & Breakfast..Store at Mountain Home. 

 NOTE:  The way I’m headed in this photo is heading for Rock Creek and the Stillwater Reservoir and Trailhead.  For Moon Lake you keep heading north.

Here you can get whatever you might have forgotten…and come down out of the mountains to spend a luxurious night in a soft clean bed. 

 We are looking north towards Lake Fork Canyon, with the tip of 13,219 foot Mt. Lovenia seen on the right.

If you know me you’ve seen this shot before, but this time don’t turn right, but keep on the pavement heading north towards Moon Lake.

From the Trailhead  looking up Lake Fork Canyon once again seeing the tip of Mt. Lovenia–the first 13,000+ peak one sees as you come from the west on the Highline Trail.

 I was the only car at the Trailhead with most signed into the register just on hikes around the trailhead area.

 The Forest Service Hostess is Jan Spencer who mentioned it had been quite cold lately. I should have asked, but soon perhaps that could be a good summer job for me.

 Ready to go carrying food for 5 days, and actually too many supplements and extra stuff I never used.  I did leave my tripod….a “NO, NO”   for a real photographer, but I just set my camera on a rock or a log!  I still went up the trail with 45 lbs. on my back and around my waist, including 2 quarts of water as I recalled the first water from 2-3 miles up the trail.

 Lodge pole pine forest

 Gradually we climb and the forest changes


 A heart shaped leaf…..and soon the flash of Heartleaf Arnica is all around us.


At this junction the trail joins us from the Moon Lake Campground.  We’ve come a bit over 2 miles.

This beautifully delicate Quaking Aspen tree sprouting brings up the interesting subject of the 
UTAH STATE FLOWER which for many years was ironically the Colorado Blue Spruce.  But earlier this year children from the Monroe Elementary School made a push with the State Legislature to change it to the QUAKING ASPEN (Populus tremuloides), and achieved their goal.

 So, meet the UTAH STATE TREE: 
 The QUAKING ASPEN


Remember the  Lodge pole Pine forest with a bare, nearly sterile forest floor?  With the Aspen everything changes providing a much more life creation environment, for plants, animals and birds.  In this photograph we see an area that previously was an evergreen forest but wiped out by an avalanche.  Look what’s sprouting up to fill the void…the ASPEN.  Reproduction is mostly through the roots that spread out all over and sprout new life as we saw in the first photograph.  After a fire, it’s usually still there and sprouts soon.  So we’ve got one great STATE TREE.

The beautiful  color is from the Quaking Aspen as well as some still green & others changing to golden yellow.


The Aspen helps many important animals like the elk….a hoofprint is seen below …many were seen on the entire trip.

 I saw more elk tracks than deer…..both are benefited by the Quaking Aspen.

In this photograph we see on the left deer tracks, in the dead center a deer fawn track, and to the lower right a young elk.  Deer pointed in the direction they are heading, the fawn track about 1″ long.   Elk are rounded, the young one we see here about 3″x3″.

 A mule deer female or doe, almost completely having changed from its grey winter coat to its summer one.

 Spruce, firs, and pines  are each beautiful in their own way, but now have to bow to the  Queen of Utah trees…
The Quaking Aspen!

Out-of-staters have asked me what the trails are like?
One thing for sure is that they’re not well-groomed like some perhaps are elsewhere.  “Rocky” is what best describe them, so step carefully, and usually step over them.  This is one of the better “trails,” others of which I’ll show in a minute.Rocks, by the way are so important in the Uinta’s history that I have an entire Gallery just on Rocks & the Making of the Uintas.  They are not boring as we will see.

 We’re now getting up there with Moon Lake way below us.

Even one of the flowers is called a “rock,”   STONE CROP we see here sprouting.

 Even the “stones” turn into beautiful flowers….and they get even more impressive later on.

 We will now leave Moon Lake and the canyon behind us and get into the “high country.”
Just one more plant we see from this spot.

 It is the Mountain Mahogany blossoming.


This still isn’t too bad….but always be careful.

First water, Brown Duck Creek,  and just in time as apparently all my water leaked out of my water bladder. Actually I got water from a small stream coming into the creek.

 Now, INTRODUCING A NEW WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM: 
The Platypus Gravity Works System.  Hanging high on the tree is the “Dirty Water,” that drains down flowing through the filter and in this case into the Platypus Clean water container.  

 One of the adapters screws into my water bladder, and as you’ll see adapters adjusts to other containers.  With the bladder, I had to seal the leak first, and here is another tiny item that always goes with me:
PLASTIC SURGERY.  It is in a tube, like Super Glue, but much better and the only cement that has kept my water bladder going now for 11 years.  You can buy it at www.Amazon.com 

 On this trip I have already used it several times:  For my glasses, and a latch on the back door of my camper.

We arrive at the Wilderness boundary….about 4 miles from the Trailhead.  Now the rules get stricter, even though most of them should be used everywhere in the outdoors.

 One sign was missing and I found it on the ground, the post having rotted.

 It is a very important sign….some aspects of which rub some the wrong way, but there are reasons why we should all respect these rules….and below I’ll give the details for those who might not know,  or who might need to remember what we have to do to maintain this amazing Wilderness.

  This is the exact same sign in 2006–8 years ago.
This instruction sheet can be acquired at all Forest Service Offices.  Below are the crucial items. 


 I insert this map in reference to the middle restriction above about no campfires closer than 1/4 mile from the restricted lakes.. the orange areas….which are almost all the ones you have ever seen or heard of. 
My first reaction was like the vow:  “I’ll give you my gun when you pry (or takeit from my cold, dead hands!”  which I used to think of concerning my “campfire”  that I wasn’t going to give it up!  But, then I saw some areas totally bare of a dead branches or sticks, as high as a man could reach.  it was like a sterile desert!

Without a campfire I can get as close as 200 feet from a lake or stream….which still isn’t close enough to make me happy, but if I love the Wilderness, I’ve got to be willing to make sacrifices to help preserve it.  Already two of my three daily meals are ones that don’t require any cooking.  I’m now looking into preparing some days three meals that don’t require a fire, just add water.
If you’re still resistant, notice the fine if you get caught violating the rules.


If you just have to have your campfire within 200 feet of a lake, you’ll have to get further from civilization, like Crater Lake, Ottoson Basin, the off-trail lakes up Little East Fork of Blacks Fork,Lambert, Porcupine and Oweep Lakes, extreme upper Garfield Basin, Bob’s Lake,  Kermsuh Lake, Priord, Allsop, Bald Lake, Red Castle, Upper & East Red Castle, Smith’s Fork Lake, and most in the Henry’s Fork Basin, etc.


 This is my new lightweight backpacking tent for one person:
BIG AGNES Fly Creek UL1, weight=1 lb. 12 oz. Cost:  $329.29.
You can get it at:  amazon.com

Here it is with the rain fly positioned. There is a vestibule for your pack.  It requires a little getting used to….for example you have to back in among other things.

It is billed as a free standing tent which is this portion you see hanging to drain out  and dry as  some water spilled.  To clean of  pine needles, leaves, scraps of whatever, etc. just hold it up and shake it out..  After 3 nights I got used to it and can now say I really like it.

 I went for increased comfort this year by purchasing an inflatable pillow on sale…and really thought it would be a pillow, but it ended up being only a 1″ thick pad…so INTO THE FIRE!  Somewhere around 1 lb. of weight off my back.  Not a lot, you’d say, but in a 5 mile day I take at least around 9,000 steps….adding up to me lifting 9,000 lbs. less weight during the day!


I can’t say enough about the Platypus Gravity Works System.  While the 2 liters drain in like 2 minutes I hustle around doing all sorts of things, or just REST…rather than pump or squeeze! 

 Here I’m using the adapter to a typical chocolate milk bottle…that costs nothing and weighs less! I take 3 or 4 of them with me.  Enough of that….ON THE TRAIL FOR THE 2ND DAY!

 Soon I see my first human beings…until then I could only see one horse track up the trail this year.

Meet Dallas Burton who says he gave up backpacking some years back and went for horses.

....and Dan Jenkins. They were heading for Tworoose Pass and lakes in that area.

 Dallas and Dan became another couple of High Uinta Friends and wished me luck.

I’ve always wondered at how the horses manage these rocky trails….especially the impossibly difficult ones like up Roberts Pass above the Chain Lakes.

 At about 5.5 miles I come to what I call the “shortcut to Atwine Lake,”  that requires fording Brown Duck Creek.  

I look for the spot where the stream widens out making shallower water.

  It shouldn’t be any kind of a big deal but 11 years ago early in the season I was returning from Reconnaisance Lake taking the straight route that led me to Rock Creek when the run-off had the stream running high.  It was late afternoon and the ford was in the shade making seeing well the footing a bit difficult. I didn’t have experience fording streams and just carefully went for it, but half way across I stepped on a large boulder slanting down into deep water that just sucked me in and there I was trying to swim with pack on  back, camera around waist.  I finally made it to the other bank soaking wet…worried for my survival. but also for my Nikon film camera and equipment.  I made it out, but lost the camera.

Since I have learned to ford streams and tackle them always with caution, but without fear.

When I’m going to have to ford a stream or two I bring along my wadding slippers, and very important, look for a sturdy pole to steady myself as I cross. 

 Socks stuffed into boots and the boots sent flying across the stream…....

 .….and they made it.  Do you see them?

There they are….but in making sure I threw them far enough …..I had made one hard discus like throw….and lost my balance, and got up with arm all banged up…I should have taken the photo with the blood all over the place!  With another such experience or two, I began recognizing that my balance was not like it used to be…..not good for boulder hopping!
I’d do the anti-biotic treatment in the evening once setting up camp.

 Once again “ye old red bandanna” came to the rescue to bandage my arm.  A bandanna is one of the essentials, used for many things on a backpack.

I crossed the stream and hooked up to my boots to get moving again up the Short cut.

While getting my socks back on, let’s mention other keys to me never getting blisters anymore.  You’ll notice I first put on each foot a blister preventing sock that you can get from REI or Amazon–they are called Cool Mesh Wright Socks,”  you can get them clicking on that. They are easily worth their weight in GOLD!   Next, notice that on my right foot I put on a running sock because that foot is just a tad smaller than the left. This is the equalizer that makes both boots, or shoes fit perfectly.  Last comes a fairly thick hiking sock on each foot. 

Each boot has one Dr. Scholls gel insert with a hole cut out for the ball of my foot, then the regular insert over that…where for years I suffered metatarsalitis that clear back in 1994 had a specialist recommend I not do half marathons or backpacking anymore.  I found a way to solve that problem on my own and it has worked another miracle….with 13 more consecutive International Half Marathons, and now over 1,600 miles of backpacking. 


 From the creek the trail went up and up, and up to skirt around the edge of Round Mountain.

 There we see the first mushrooms just beginning to grow.

Of course we see many lichens of the 8,000 varieties in the Rocky Mountains  seen on the rocks and  trees.  Remember lichens are a life form that develops out of a symbiotic or partnership relationship between an algae and a fungus, each contributing for the survival of each other.

 Along with so much of life that is sprouting, growing and blossoming, we find in many places WILD RASPBERRIES, that in late summer will be a good food for animals, including bears.

In one  photograph we see widely differing rocks that represent vastly different evolutions of time and earth forming conditions.  On the left widely spaced layers representing changing seasons.  On the right another sedimentary rock with much closer layers.  See them close below. 


 Sprouting everywhere is the ground cover that grows in many of the forested portions of the Uintas.


Then there’s the TRAIL!  
WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

This trail I call a “short-cut to Atwine Lake” is on my old NGS High Uintas Wilderness Map, but it isn’t on the new one, and the forest service only maintains the trails on the new map….so there is no hope for this trail and it will disappear.  In fact in many places it is disappearing….here into a tangle of downed timber.  You have to go up to the right, or down to the left to get around it, and then hope to find the trail again….TIME, AFTER TIME, AFTER TIME, ETC.

 Literally hundreds of times the trail is blocked, then lost.  The couple of miles on the trail evolves into at least 5-6 miles that totally wore me out.  This was probably my fourth time using the trail….and will be my LAST!

A tree killed by lightening. 


 Here we see a strange kind of lichen.


 UP THE TRAIL! ??


Only abundant deer, and especially elk keep the trail open.  


Finally made it to Atwine Lake.  I was supposed to go on to Clements Lake,  but I was totally worn out, so set up camp.

Atwine Lake is at about 10,150 feet .  I was going to have a cold dinner that didn’t require cooking so set up my camp about 200 feet from the lake.

I was totally fatigued.  My experience in recent years has shown me that to have two consecutive hard days had the potential of hurting me–especially in the early season before I got in shape.  But, I set up my tent and prepared  everything  for the evening and night.  Then, all of a sudden I was overwhelmed with a deeply congestive cough!  My lungs were all of a sudden struggling.  This reminded me  of one of the other times when I began having High Altitude Sickness. 


I hung my food in a tree, just in case.


Then rested for half an hour while taking the supplements I have found help me recover from a difficult day, and prevent getting sick.


 I noticed nearby a tree that had been scraped, likely last year as it was too early for this season, most likely by a bull elk rubbing the velvet off his antlers.


After about half an hour I was feeling a bit better except for the deep cough, but I had to go for water, so took along my fishing gear to at least catch a fish or two.

Sure enough the lake seemed to only have brook trout,  several  caught and released. 

For dinner I had chocolate egg nog, and cold mashed potatoes with bacon bits, plus vanilla pudding.  I took the supplements necessary when one feels “imbalances in your well being.”  Then my last couple of Acetazolamid, for high altitude sickness, and the regular things I take every night.  I had slept pretty good my first night, and did my second, too.  I was very grateful that even though the day was hard with a complication or two, I had done it, recovered and slept well.

But with signs of High Altitude Sickness, the only effective cure is to “GO DOWN” to lower elevations.  So I decided it not wise to follow my schedule which had me going higher to Clements Lake higher at 10,444 ft. and from there go off-trail to explore higher lakes, but all below 11,000 ft. timberline, meaning the hikes would all be in coniferous forests like we see below.

 Much of the exploring planned would be winding my way through downed timber that had become very hard for me, and I just wasn’t willing to tackle that.  

I’m well known for constantly bringing up Winston Churchill’s call during World War II, but as explained in my Coalville Speech I’ve had to fudge just a bit and add a word as seen below.


It’s been a 1,625 mile effort to not “GIVE IN…..EASILY!”  but it seemed to me that the wisest route right now was to cut back a bit, dedicate more time to research, and get to writing….while daily exercising, and frequently doing short trips with my buddy Ted and family and friends. All of that was going through my mind as I got comfortably through the night at Atwine Lake.

Yes I would have to “eat crow”  some, and find a nice way to avoid everyone thinking that I was completely just “SO MUCH HOT AIR!”

Then it came to me:  HAPPINESS & SUCCESS as we grow older and unable to perform as before, requires us simply to LOWER OUR EXPECTATIONS!  So, no matter what happens from here on, I’m going to be a lot more realistic and  INCREDIBLY HAPPY & SUCCESSFUL!

 But, before any hard and fast conclusions, I still had to get down the 12-13 miles of trail to my car and comfortable little Cabin trailer.  So off I went headed for  Brown Duck Lake.


Another of the first mushrooms of the season….which I wasn’t about to eat! 



I passed by no-name X-45 lake which was too shallow for fish.

This is what I would have been fighting through to explore all the off-trail lakes I had wanted to visit.

You won’t recognize it, but this is my bridge across Brown Duck Creek just after it leaves the lake.

 Just up the trail from the crossing I hit the main trail with this sign, and had a rest before going over to Brown Duck Lake to test the fishing.

Brown Duck Lake is at 10,186 ft. so about the same as Atwine Lake.  From here on the trend will be down.

 A few casts quickly produced several regular sized Native Cutthroat trout which of course were released.

Lots of dandelions with which I could have enhanced my soup and Rice’A Roni….cooked in my campfire 1/4 of a mile from the lake.


In its shadow you see a plant with tiny little white flowers.

Now,  DOWN THE TRAIL!

Admiring the “TEXTURES OF NATURE”

Oh, and Wild Strawberry blossoming all along the trail.

 I passed the “short-cut” and kept trudging along soon passing the Wilderness boundary and nearby set up my camp for the night.  The next morning I was on my way, seeing some “Visions of Nature” that had gone unnoticed on the way up.



Then all of a sudden more new High Uinta Friends out for a Sunday ride.

 First a friendly resident of Altonah, CINDY WARR who has already emailed me and received pictures of them, and said, I checked out your website last night. It’s cool, I would love to sit by the camp fire and hear some of your story’s, sometime.”

 And friend, PETER from Kamas.


Now in the lodge poles I’m getting close.

 “You’re getting close!”  
was the shout from Bryan and Marsha Broadhead from Roosevelt. I must have looked bushed and they thought I needed some encouragement.

……and their dog.  Sorry I forgot to get the name…as I was deliriously “bushed!” 



 WOW….SALVATION IN SIGHT!

No campfire, but I did have propane and had a great early dinner after getting to Duchesne and cell phone and internet reception at the Public Library parking lot where I listened to ESPN radio and the USA vs PORTUGAL game that was ALMOST INCREDIBLE!  …..well, it was for Portugal, as in soccer even a 2-2 tie is wonderful!   

By then I learned that my wonderful daughter, Mahana, during my backpack had given birth a month early in Provo to handsome little Ryan Andersen Craig and I had to get home quick…but.to be safe for an old guy, getting a good night’s sleep first.


I believe the count is now:  15 children, 38 grandchildren (with 2 more to go for this year), and 10 great-grandchildren.


Today, Tuesday, June 24, 2014 I finally got this report finished and will now post it on my website.  Tomorrow I go to Provo to do a bit of baby sitting, and climb up to the Y or something to not lose what conditioning I acquired on Trip #1, then a few other family chores, and hopefully a short trip into the Uintas for the weekend.  

 Keep an eye on my website and I will finally let all know WHAT NEXT?  

Will it be the Forest Gump move?  

Whatever, I still have a lot of living to do, with important initiatives in sharing with all my High Uinta Friends tiny gems that might just make your outdoor experience more exciting,  inspiring….and safe.