Adventures with Dad 83rd bday

I took Dad on an adventure for his birthday it was on July 17th.  I picked him up at 6:30am and took off for the West Desert knowing he had never been out there it would be new for him to see the sights.  We followed the Pony Express Trail out to Ibapah and then headed north on 93 to Wendover.

Our first planned stop and visit was to be to get breakfast at Silver Sage in Vernon, much to my dismay it was closed when we got there.  This was to be a fueling and supply stop.  Not wanting to wait for it to open we pushed on.  Worked our way through the small little town on the edge of the west desert making our way to Lookout Pass.

We continued on looking at the change in landscape and looking for antelopes and wild horses on our way to Simpson Springs.  We seen a few goats but did not encounter any wild horses.  We pulled up to the north of Simpson Springs and I pointed out the new community that has sprung up just west of Dugway.  People in the UFO hunting world seem to think this is the new area 51, it weird how it has come to life over the past 5 years.  We stopped at Simpson Springs and took in some of the history on the plaques and signs and walked through the old station that back 1860 was used by the horse riders to exchange horses get some water and  food before continuing on.  We talked all day about how it must have been when they were riding through this country in the early days and laying down the trail.  This area if you have never been here is desolate, it is a true high mountain desert.  These stops were located at natural springs throughout the desert.

We continued west and more landscape changes,  I learned why my Dad is a "rock hound" his father, Grandpa Salmans was a rock hound as well each time he would come out and visit mom and dad in Colorado Springs he would find a few rocks he really liked and loaded them up and took them home.  Dad feels a connection with his Grandpa when he finds a "pretty rock" and takes it home.  We got to the turnoff for the "Dugway Geode Beds" I asked dad if he wanted to go out there, knowing he did, he said well if it's not to far out there.  I had only been there once before myself.  We took a little detour off the PET and went looking for geodes.  We got off the road a few hundred yards and starting seeing multiple holes dug out of hillsides, looked like a scene from the movie "Holes" kept expecting to see the lizards in the bottom of the digs.  We looked around for a little bit but didn't locate any rocks that look worthy of having crystals in the center of them.  We continued on west.  I kept showing dad other trails that went to other areas in the West Desert that held other secrets and stashes.  He was amazed at the vastness of it all.

We pulled up to the entrance of Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge.  Dad was shocked to find something of this nature so far out in the middle of nowhere.  I didn't say anything knowing what was coming around the corner.  Dad told me of the time he had a water witch on the property he used to own in Indianlola and how that he explained all the aquifers in Utah run east and west and that when the guy had found the river that ran under his property he told him he would never run out of water in the well.  He kept going to tell me about the guys who dug the well didn't believe him until they hit the river some 280 feet below.  The low water year has taken it's toll on the springs and the amount water that was out there.  The areas around the road that are usually filled were dry, Dad just thought that it was normal for the desert.  We continued on to the main visitor area and that is where Dad notice that this place was filled with pools of water.  We went on the tour for a short distance and seen 2 of the pools and the crystal clear water of Fish Springs, he was blown away, that the desert could hold such beautifully crystal clear water.  We seen some birds but not many.  We did see some red dragon flies that neither of us had ever seen before.  Seen a bunch of small fish in the pools, NO FISHING posted everywhere, too bad I had my poles with me.  We looked around for a little while and continued on our way on the PET.

Our next stop took us to Boyd station and then to Callao a very small town at the base of the Deep Creek Range on the west border of Utah.  These granite peaks are beautiful, with some of the best fishing in the state.  Our tour of Callao was short but again Dad was amazed that people lived out so far, I pointed out that Wendover was just few miles from where we were.  He still could believe that people lived there.

Heading north we stopped at Canyon Station and looked back at the valley's we had gone through that day. He was shocked to know how far we had gone.  You could also see the Slat Flats from the station.  This is however where we found his rock, the original rock was to large for either of us to move so he decided on a smaller one right next to it.  A black basalt lava rock with some cool lichen and moss on it.  We loaded it up in the truck and went on are way to Ibabpah.

Ibapah, an Indian reservation town on the west border of Utah.  I was in search of the trading post, remember we didn't get to pick up snacks and drinks in Vernon, ya we were hungry and thirsty.  Found the Ibapah Trading Post much to our dismay it was closed due to "competition" from a nearby store that opened up closer to "town".  We both had to laugh.  We decided that we were close enough to Wendover to just go  there.  While going north on 93 we passed a sign pointing to Blue Lake, I explained to dad that this is where we would come when we went scuba diving out there, again he was amazed that it was located in the desert.

Pulling into Wendover we filled up and went to get something to eat.  We ended up going to the Rainbow buffet.  Got our fill and left for the last stop of the day.  Bonneville Slat Flats International Speedway, dad if you didn't know is a huge race fan, being a dirt track race driver for many years.  He had never been to the actual site of the raceway, a bucket list item for him, I took him out to the marker of the starting area for the 15 mile long stretch of salt that is the Bonneville Salt Flats.  He was in awe of the expanse of salt and the beauty of the contrast of the whiteness and desert scape surrounding it all.  We will go back out to the raceway when the event is actually running this fall.  That is another adventure.  We left from there to home.  380 mile round trip with some side trips.  A great day with dad!  He told stories of his exploits of gold mining ventures to his race days.

Fishing with Parker and Syd

Well once again I haven't been diligent in keeping this up to date.  Parker and Syd wanted to go fish early July so we went out on Deer Creek and had a ball.  Syd caught her 2nd fish ever and it was nice bow.

We fished all morning and ended up with a few in the cooler, it wasn't hot fishing by any means.  We still had fun and shares stories with Syd of earlier exploits and laughed hard and often.  We missed a number of fish and had some to boat side and lost them making some great stories for us to tell later.  Parker got the most in the boat

Fishing Days

Been out a couple times since my last post.  Went with my good friend Bruce Gardner to Strawberry.   We took our tubes and got in the water.  I enjoy fishing with Bruce because every time I go with him it is like getting a free clinic on fly fishing he superb at throwing a great loop.  He hooked up very quick on a very nice Cutthroat just under the limit but a nice fatty.  He was running a purple woolly with a scud trailer, it hit the scud.  He played it for about 5 minutes not wanting to hurt it or lose it.  We fished most of the day bot fly and spinning tackle.  The wind came up and blew us off the lake.  Bruce did very well, but caught a load of chub as well.  I didn't fare quite as well.
The next day I went up to Silver Flat Lake in AF canyon and took my tube out again.  Flied for quite some time but couldn't figure out the pattern, tired of not getting something I broke out my super light weight rod and started casting KM's it took a little bit to figure what colors they wanted but finally coaxed a few to the tube.  It was beautiful morning and the lake is still very high.  I do like that they closed off the peninsula it is starting green back up, and it doesn't kill anyone to walk a few feet to the shoreline.  They were all small bows and finally got a small brook to hit the end of the line.
I went fishing in the Uinta's this last Saturday to a small lake called Blue Lake.  I am trying to hit as many lakes as possible in the Uinta range.  It is dedicated to a man that loved the Uinta's, my Father(-in-Law) I hate putting in-law at the end because he never treated me as son-in-law but one of his own.
Sorry no pictures from the last couple outings.  til next time keep smilin'

With Kelly on DC

 Fishing with my brother Kelly on Deer Creek.  Tried some new things out today and they worked okay not great.  Tried the area by the state marina and Wallsburg bay some interesting patterns.  Got a couple in the boat.  Got quite a few hits but were short strikes and could not hook them up lost a nice bow to begin the morning, got on a little later than usual.  The wind got to be unbareable so we got off by 11:30.  Went to Jose's for lunch and had a great morning fishing with my brother.

Spring Canyon - Blue Lake

Went to the Uinta's finally this year.  Finally got family matters in order and was able to get away.  Dropped off the wife at her mothers and continued into the wonderful Beaver Creek/Provo River drainage.  Drove approximately 17 miles to the Spring Canyon turnoff and went for a trail ride,on the Uinta trail system it is marked 041 and connects to Trial Lake. Today I was in the Jeep, so I brought along my light weight spinning rod with 2lb test. The trail is rough and needs a high clearance vehicle on the majority of the trail. I was initially looking for Alexander Lake just 4 miles up the trail and few hundred yards off the trail. I drove past the trail head not even seeing a sign for it. Ended up at a small lake about 6 miles up the trail.


The small lake gave nothing but took a favorite spinner, I figured a sacrifice to the Uinta's. Continued up the trail another mile and came to the fork of Buckeye and Blue Lake to the left, well marked with signs, this was at mile 7. Took the left hand fork and continued to Buckeye lake the first large lake on this trail, a pretty kettle lake in a meadow. I looked around for a bit but didn't see any movement or top water action and continued on. This trail is for high clearance machines only, seen a few atv's as well. I went approximately another two miles and started seeing water to the left of the trail. There were pull offs headed toward the lake and I took the 3rd unmarked trail that lead to a small meadow lake very shallow with nice camping. I went further in and came upon Blue Lake. A typical high Uinta lake with a steep hill or cliff bordering one side and shallow water on the opposite side. I stayed on the shallow side but could cast half way across the lake. My intentions were to hike to the deep side but there camps on both sides of me in the trail, not wanting to disturb them I stayed where I was. I actually couldn't believe I found this many people in this area, 3 camps in all, one had driven there in an Armada, might explain some of the fluids I seen on the way up. I fished for about hour or so, throwing all types of kastmaster and got a few brook trout to shore.

It was great outing glad I was in the Jeep, my Tundra would have picked up some pin-striping on the narrow trail. I returned on the same trail I went in on and got back on trail 041 and followed it the rest of the way to Trial Lake area. There are many lakes on trail 041 that I will hit this summer. I will return to Buckeye Lake and give it try as well. The trail is rocky and rough, but with enough clearance the most part of it can be done in 2WD, but I would recommend 4WD to get through some areas without beating up your vehicle.

Typical Brook trout of the Uinta Mtn Lakes.
Excellent colors and if you are camping make a fine meal.