Summer 2023, Day 33: Little Grand Canyon, Bukhorn Wash

Posted on July 30, 2023 by Ben

Here in The Wedge in the San Rafael Swell, I rode to the Little Grand Canyon overlook, then rode the Good Water Rim Trail:

I then drove into Buckhorn Wash to check out a military tunnel:

Interesting formations at Ruin Arch:

1000-year-old petroglyphs at Ruin Arch:

I tried to not fall into the water at Furniture Draw slot canyon:

I shook hands with a dinosaur:

Checking out some 2000-year-old pictographs:

I eventually emerged from the Buckhorn Wash and headed east to Green River, Utah, where I’m overnighting on a concrete pad that used to house a military barracks in a now-abandoned missile base:

Drone view of the abandoned base:

See the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2023, Day 31: Timpanogos Cave NM

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Ben

I visited Timpanogos Cave National Monument:

The cave is accessed with a 1.5 mile hike with 1000′ of vertical:

The cave was small but fantastic:

I then headed southeast to the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry:

I then continued south to The Wedge in the San Rafael Swell for Shabbos:

Good Shabbos! See the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2023, Day 29: Ogden Bike Park

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Ben

I went mountain biking at the Ogden Bike Park:

I then relocated to the Chabad of Salt Lake City for Tisha B’Av. The Chabad has a food truck on site, which was a pleasant surprise:

I’ll be in place tomorrow for Tisha B’Av.

Summer 2023, Day 28: Testing out the new SUP

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Ben

Utah, where a Walmart can be a foreground element in a landscape photograph:

After my stand up paddleboarding experience in Minneapolis, I decided to purchase my own stand up paddle board. Someone had told me FedEx allows packages to be redirected in transit, so I ordered a stand up paddle board to my home address. What I didn’t realize is that the redirect of the package to a new location costs money unless the location to which it is being redirected happens to be local relative to the original shipping address, so the cost of doing the redirect from New York to Utah was almost the cost of the stand up paddle board, so I decided to allow that SUP to continue on to my home. I then ordered another stand up paddle board from the same company, this time specifying that it be shipped to a FedEx store here in Logan, and it was indeed shipped FedEx. I then redirected it to the local Walgreens where I picked it up this morning. Quite the ordeal!

I tried out the new paddleboard in Logan’s Cutler Marsh:

I then headed south to overnight at the Walmart of Harrisville, Utah. See the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2023, Day 27: Seedskadee NWR, Fossil Butte NM, Golden Spike NHP

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Ben

I woke up before sunrise, and could see the fires from a distant helium plant:

So long, great location:

I continued west to Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, where I checked out a replica Oregon Trail ferry:

I accompanied the refuge biologist checking bird traps and banding birds:

I continued west to Fossil Butte National Monument. We’ve been here before, but it was on the way:

I continued into west into Utah to visit Golden Spike National Historical Park, where the two halves of the transcontinental railroad were joined at Promontory, Utah:

Quick hike on the original rail bed. Central Pacific and Union Pacific were creating rail bed and laying track from opposite sides of the country, and Congress had not specified where the two competing companies would stop, so in an effort to claim as many land subsidies by building track as possible, the two companies simply built right past one another. Centered here in promontory Utah, there’s about 200 miles of parallel grades , one made for each companies track. Here’s Central Pacific’s “Big Fill”. Union’ Pacific’s “Big Trestle” was parallel to the Big Fill, about 100ish yards to the right: