I take my father on a ride for his birthday, and each year I try to find something that will blow his mind. In the past I have taken him into the Manti La-Salles, through the San Rafael Swell and into Goblin Valley. Each place he had never been to and was curious about it. This year was something unknown to both of us. I knew about hot springs being in the west desert outside of Meadow, UT and I was curious to see if they were as neat looking in real life as the pictures showed. The area west of Meadow and Fillmore UT is laden with volcanic cones and lave runs, and I had never ventured into that area. They have lava tubes and cinder cones pocked all the way through the basin and they did not disappoint. We traveled overall 330 miles and 2/3 of it on dirt back roads. We found a mountain of pure white sand dunes and more sand dunes all the way through the trip. We took side roads leading us to nowhere at times and then sometimes some amazing scenery. Dad is not in the best of health nowadays, he has hard time getting around and especially in and out of the Mule, so most of the trip he stayed in the truck which meant I took some risks I might not have in other circumstances trying to get him the best view of the areas we were visiting.
Let’s get started, I picked dad up at 7 am he was waiting in his willow chair that Don De St Jeor made for him. We loaded up and took off for Fillmore. On our way dad asked about Burraston Ponds, so that was our first pull off and look around. This is how it all started, we were on a ride and he said that looks cool and I pulled over and now every time he asks or says that is cool we stop and look around. So first stop Burraston Ponds, it had been a few years since I had been there and it has changed in some ways, and not in some ways, it is still trashy but they have put in more spots and tables for people to leave their crap around. Stopped at Nephi to get breakfast at the “One Man Band” it was okay but the biscuits were frozen and not fresh.
We loaded up and headed south, we talked and he slept a bit an hour later we were pulling into Fillmore, UT. Stopping to top off the Mule it was $3.99/gallon at the North end of town, we pulled under the freeway into town and it dropped in a matter of a few hundred yards 15 cents, we left town on the south exit and it was $3.71/gallon. All I am pointing out is fill up at the south end of town it is nearly $.30 cheaper/gallon!!! Okay off the rant, we pulled into town and went to the “Territorial Statehouse Museum” dad likes old building and history but in his current state of mobility he didn’t feel he could make into the museum, but if you park at the North end of the parking lot the walk is cut significantly shorter. I went in and asked around about some things and the receptionist was very nice and helpful. We took some pics and went to the market at the south end of town and got some supplies, water, snacks, etc. and left for Meadow a small town off the freeway and at one point and time we had a number of relatives that lived there, but they have since moved on.
We pulled off and drove through Meadow just outside of town to the south there is a road that heads west and goes over the freeway. We took that road in quest of the hot springs, having never been there I google earthed it and found them and thought I knew the way. However I was just a little off and went south before I should have, but it was okay we went through a huge outcropping tufa rock, spring rock, and I got dad a nice piece that was orange in color. We got back on the original road and went to the end of it and what do you know, there were the springs. The sign is funny!
I opened the gate and drove through to the hot spring in that complex. It was as pretty as the pictures showed it to be and it is the perfect temperature for just lounging. I tried to get dad to take of his shoes and join me in a soak but he refused to. This place I will return to, we only seen the one hot pot and there are several in the area that are bigger. After looking around and enjoying the springs we loaded up and headed north to our next destination.
The Lava Tubes was our next stop. We drove along the Pahvant Valley Heritage Trail and along the way ran into a mountain of white sand, looked like a beach right out of Florida! We continued to the turn off to the Lava Tubes, from there it is 2 miles to the tubes. As we drove down the road we started seeing what looked like old asphalt everywhere but it was lava rock that was heaped up and cracked. We arrived at the tubes and I got out and looked around and took pictures into the tubes and surrounding area. Dad again was not wanting to attempt walking on the rocks. We drove along the trail a bit further and found the caldera of the Lava Tubes, this is a very cool area. The walls are about 40 feet straight down to the floor of the caldera which had fissures running through it and you could see down into them. We stopped and looked around for a bit then headed back out to the trail. This is totally an area I will return to, not in July but in a cooler month, maybe the transition months between ice on or ice off.
Making it back to the Pahvant Valley Heritage Trail we made our way North and then came upon an interesting sign, “Hole in the Rock”, well you know we had to go investigate this. We drove 9 miles through desolation and came to a sign marking the “Hole in the Rock” I ventured through the tumble weed infested fence line and went to the top of this hill and seen nothing! No hole in the rock nothing! We were dumb founded that they had this marked not having researched it or knowing what we were looking for. This is why they have it marked but I could not see any of the art, I will need to go back now that I know what I am looking for. Hole-in-the-Rock Petroglyph Site - Connect to the past and imagine the future on a trail that winds through a large rock art site and ends at a panoramic view of the 2007 Millford Flat Wildland Fire, the largest fire in Utah history. Please stay on the trail to avoid damaging fragile rock art.” Back on the trail to Pahvant Butte this is a few miles down the trail.
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We could see the butte in the distance and just drove toward it. We made it about a half hour later to the base of Pahvant Butte. There are remnants of an old, very old, wind farm on the ridges. We drove up into the caldera of the butte but only made it a little ways into the trail and the truck began to sink in the soft black sand, and dad was getting very nervous so I turned around and went back to the main trail. We went to the north end of the butte where we found the “Lace Curtains”. This area was the final stop on our tour of the Pahvant Valley Heritage Trail, and it was a great end to our sightseeing.
This place is totally unbelievable. First it is out in the middle of nowhere and nothing around it. It is the remnants of the volcanic rock that spewed from the butte, as it cooled, the rock melted into this eerie looking form of dripping rock formations. Totally awesome!! We spent a good hour looking around this area and just admiring the beauty of it. Dad is going to paint one of the pictures I took. He was blown away by this sight. The best way to end our tour!
We left the Lace Curtains and headed for what I thought was the road to Delta. Yep took a left when I should have stayed right, I could see the highway about a mile north of us and figure hey the road is heading toward the highway it has to end up there…..famous last words. We got to the end of that road out in the middle of a salt marsh. There was a road heading east, looked like a good road so we took it and drove for about 4 miles and it ran into a sand dune that was 4 feet high and filled the road completely to the point you couldn't see the road anywhere. We turned around and took another off shoot road that headed toward the highway. Yep same deal it just ended in the middle of nowhere. We turned around, by now dad was a little nervous….lol. I got us back on the road that we took east and went to a turn off that headed back toward the butte. We ran into our original road that took us into the marsh and went back to the main trail and turned east on it, it followed the power lines back to highway 100. Along the way we ran into that sand dune, it had the road covered but this time I told dad to hold on and floored the Mule, it fish tailed a little but got through okay. We managed to finally land on pavement and headed toward 50. We went to Delta and got a bite to eat finally, it was 3 pm the snacks had worn off a while ago. We ate at the local burger shop, loaded up and headed for home on 6/50 going past “Little Sahara” I asked dad if he wanted to stop and he was fine not seeing any more sand dunes. We arrived home around 5 pm. What an adventure!! We saw things neither of had seen before and enjoyed our ride.
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