The Undead

Yes, I know this sounds like a vampire story. Who knows, maybe it is…
The “Grave” marking on a Topo map for the Tabby Mountain area intrigued us, since we can’t recall seeing such a designation before. We decided to check it out. The immediate area is a checkerboard of fences and gullies, mostly covered in sage and cow pies. At the exact GPS reading, located at the lip of a 20 foot gully, was a hole in the ground with beams strewn around as if an old dwelling had decayed there.
Why was the “grave” marked on the map? The cartographer may have asked the locals if they knew of any springs or landmarks. With some prompting, perhaps someone finally recalled an old hermit who lived and died out there. And since the area is rather barren, the cartographer had nothing better to put down, so he shrugged and made the addition.
But if it was a grave, what happened to the body? Your guess is as good as mine.

Steve's Pot Luck Trail Rides

Once in a while, we hear about a trail from someone and try it out, but since we’ve been on far more outings than anyone else we know, most of the time Steve plots our adventures on his own.
How?

Well, one essential tool is a Topo! CD of Utah. He surveys BLM and National Forest land for areas we haven’t covered, or areas we want to cover more thoroughly. Depending on the time of year, he picks an altitude that won’t be too hot or cold, or where aspens will likely be changing, if it’s fall, or leaves coming on, if it’s spring, or devoid of snow, if winter has set in.

We check NOAA (national weather report) for temperatures and rain/snow probabilities at a given altitude to be sure the prediction is acceptable. NOAA isn’t always right, of course, but it’s better than nothing.
From our location in the Uinta Basin, an hour’s drive north toward the Uinta Mountains will take us to 10,000 feet. This makes for great riding on hot summer days.
The lowest elevation we can reach within an hour is 4800 feet, southeast on the Green River. (Our house in Roosevelt is at 5300 feet.) This area makes a good ride in early spring (February) or late fall (through November). Usually cold and snow shuts down our riding in December and January. No problem, though. The horses get a little rest while we keep in shape with cross country skiing.
In between the two extremes of elevation, we have plenty of intermediate possibilities down south toward the Book Cliffs. Those rides are excellent during the month of October and will be perfect again by early April.
Obviously we’re fortunate in our proximity to a vast array of public lands, and in the variety of ride choices. On still days, we can opt for ridges. When NOAA says 30mph wind, we go for the valleys and canyons.
In an area we’ve never been before, sometimes we find an unexpected patch of private land with a locked gate. Usually, though, there are roads or paths that go around.

Water is always a consideration, since much of Utah is dry country. If the outing is going to be more than 10 miles, we try to find a spring on the map and plan a stop there to give the horses and dog a drink.
Steve usually double checks an unfamiliar route on Google Earth, which will sometimes show roads or trails that are not on Topo!, or reveal that a Topo! trail doesn’t exist. A county road map is also useful, since it outlines obscure 2-tracks that may take us where we want to go.
Once we’ve decided on a route, Steve draws it out on Topo!, prints a map of the desired area, and loads the route onto his GPS.
And we’re off!

Disoriented, Not Lost

My friend Denise and I went on a grand adventure today. We trailered our horses from our separate directions (Vernal for her, Roosevelt for me) and met at the trailhead to Lake Mountain located off of the Paradise Park Road.
We did fine getting up there, well, if you don’t count my missing the Y turn that went in the Paradise Park direction and taking a little tour down Deep Creek Road. As soon as I realized nothing looked familiar and I wasn’t going toward the mountains any more, I turned around, went back to the Y, and continued to the trailhead. Even with the detour, I still reached the destination in about an hour total driving time. I beat Denise there by about 10 minutes. She called my cell phone from the Deep Creek/Paradise Park Y, also confused about the turn. Lucky for her, I knew the spot and prevented her from making my same mistake.
There was one more snafu. Denise didn’t have the key to her trailer tack room, so she couldn’t get to her saddle or bridle. Whoops. However, she was able to use Steve’s gear, so that problem was solved pretty easily.
Denise’s horse, Wystyrea, a beautiful rose grey Arab, has only been ridden for a couple of months. Even as a greenhorn, she’s a real sweetheart. No problems there. Mischief was way mellow, even more than usual, after the 30 miles he did last weekend. Thus, no one was jobbed in the dirt, always a big plus.
The wildflowers were predominantly lupine with some Indian paintrbrush at the trailhead. Wild roses bloomed along the creek. When we reached the top of the mountain, we found that Gull Lake was no longer a lake. There were a few ponds in the lake bed, but for the most part it was a vast green sedge meadow, probably marshy in the center. We didn’t see any elk or moose, and scared up only one deer.
We trotted around the lake. According to the GPS, our max speed was a respectable 9 mph. Since Denise and I were of differing opinion about where the Massey Ranch trail reached the top of Lake Mountain, we rode around a bit until we found it. We agreed that next time we’d use Marsh Peak to indicate the correct side of the lake.
I knew the approximate location of the path back to our trailer, but we had a little trouble locating the fence gap. Three riders were up there checking fences, and they pointed out where to look. I’m sure they spent the rest of their day chuckling over the two women trying to follow a GPS trackback instead of actually paying attention to landmarks. Oh, well.
This is reminiscent of other times I’ve gotten lost … er, disoriented. Tess and I took a walk around a Laundromat down in Florida, intending to circle the block and ending up on a couple of mile trek. Uhm, I think we forgot to pay attention. Likewise, on the same trip, we hunted around the airport parking lot at midnight in an attempt to find our truck. Tess was convinced the truck had been stolen, but it turned up, eventually, right where we’d parked it. And then there was the hike with my friend Kathleen to Cecret Lake, one of the most traveled and popular hiking destinations in Utah (part of the famed Albion Basin area near Alta) Well, we got to talking, took a wrong turn, and couldn’t find the lake! Oops.
Anyway, back to the Lake Mountain ride. None the worse for wear, two directionally challenged women (and their trusty mounts) returned home. And yeah, all the squiggly lines and loopy loops on my downloaded trackback map are a little embarrassing…
According to my GPS, we traveled 8 miles, 1400 feet elevation gain, in 2.5 hrs.