Heber City, Utah. That’s where we are. If you don’t know where it is, don’t feel bad. I didn’t either until I discovered it had an excursion train called the Heber Valley Railroad. It is south of I-80 and east of Salt Lake City. But more about that later.
When last we met we were in Elko, Nevada. Wednesday morning we drove 9 miles back west to visit the California Trail Interpretive Center. Most of the wagon trains went through this point. If fact they told us a lot of I-80 is on the old wagon road. The Oregon Trail split off before reaching this point.
The Center is very well done with lots to see and hear and touch. The dioramas were were compelling like this one where they are trying to persuade their dying ox to get up and move.
It was hard to imagine the hardships and uncertainty these pioneers experienced. Four percent of them perished on the way (2% would have died anyway even if they had stayed home). Imagine coming upon this vast expanse of white salt in front of you. It took days to cross and often they got stuck in boggy places where it tired the all-ready tired oxen?
This what we saw and only took about 45 minutes to cross the salt flats. This is the area of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
We crossed into Utah but it was getting close to evening rush hour in Salt Lake City and that didn’t seem like a good time to hit their freeways. We found this “real fancy” RV spot behind a motel for the night.
The next morning we traveled through Salt Lake City and on over the Wasatch Mountains. This was on I-80 so they weren’t steep. In my last post I mentioned going up a very steep hill in northern Nevada. Joyce took this picture out the pickup window. The road is the diagonal line going up the side of the hill. I figured it to be a 10% grade.
Anyway we landed at Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber about 1:00 Thursday. It is VERY nice. One side is less than a year old and the side we are on has only been open one week. And not very expensive as RV sites go.
Our first side trip was a drive up Provo Canyon to Utah’s version of Bridal Veil Falls.
There is a pool at the base with about a hundred large Brown Trout. For 25 cents you can buy food to feed them. No wonder they are so big! We met a guy today who said he saw a bear there yesterday – after we were there.
Joyce is fascinated with the mountains around here. They are rugged, steep, and still snow capped.
This is Mt. Timpanogos. One of the highest (maybe the highest) in Utah.
Today it was ride the train and then do a little housekeeping around the homestead. I was hoping we would get the old steam engine to pull us but it is still being converted from coal to oil. Something about being ecofriendly.
All in all it was a nice 2-hour ride along Deer Creek Reservoir and back.
Except for the train robbery!
But he and his companion seemed more interested finding the strong box than finding our wallets. Whew!
Tomorrow we are on our way to Vernal and the dinosaurs. Blessings.
1 comment:
Looks like fun.
Roy and Twyla
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