Our Road Trips

9/13/2014

We took a ride along several Scenic Byways in the area. The leaves are starting to change, as it is the first day of Fall next week. The reds are pretty much everywhere, and a few yellows too. We were on one road yesterday and there must have been a million Birch trees...bet that will be a pretty ride soon. But we saw a lot of pretty spots along the way, took a hike or two and just enjoyed the gorgeous day. As you look at the attached pictures, notice how blue the sky was yesterday, beautiful.

First stop was Sundance Ski Resort, only 5 miles away. The ski lift was open so we took a ride to the top for $9 each...love the Senior pricing. It took about 20-25 mins. to get to the top. Bike trails were weaving back & forth for the younger crowd, and it looked like fun...to be 20 something again :). Once we made the top, we took a few pictures of the surrounding area and headed back down with a new view of the valley. Expensive houses with the woods right up to the wood walls made me wonder how much their fire insurance costs, or if folks who can afford these houses even care. But if a fire ever moves through, these folks will be on the nightly news wondering what went wrong.

Once at the bottom, we walked around through the Ski Resort buildings...cold sandwiches for $15 anyone? We read the history of the place on the walls...been there since 1910...lots of folks have visited since then. But we decided to move on...up the hill & through the woods. We end up at the top of a mountain with some very pretty vistas of the valleys below. Lots of people up there too for a weekday, some obviously getting ready for the weekend with ATVs in tow. We imagine what the area must be like in Winter when the snowmobile crowd arrives...like huge bumblebees buzzing.

After completing the Alpine Loop, we head down and stop at Cascade Springs, where water seeps out of the ground with enough volume to create waterfalls. We take a hike along a boardwalk that passes through the falls area. There were a few other people there, but not crowded, so it was a peaceful time to visit. We finish our trek to the valley floor. Where the road meets the bottom, they are renting ATVs...Sat & Sunday is probably quite different. As we travel through the town of Midway, I wonder if perhaps we are 1/2 way between Salt Lake City & Provo...playground for the city folks. It is also a farming type place. Small town with a tourist town feel, interesting place.

We head north on US 40 from Heber City and then east to Francis & Kamas and start east on UT 150, which is also called Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. We stopped at a general store and ask advice from the gal behind the counter, as it is getting late in the day. She advised we go at least as far as Mirror Lake and reverse our course. That sounded like sound advise, so we were on our way. It is amazing to us how many folks we see towing travel trailers and how many dry/primitive type campgrounds we see. Lots of folks getting ready to 'get back to nature' for the weekend. We stopped several times for pictures, including the very dry falls on the Provo River...seen a lot of that the last few weeks, hasn't been too much rain in this part of the country, and the rivers & reservoirs show it.

Mirror Lake is just below the Summit at over 2 miles up, 10,700 + feet, with a group of peaks 1-2000 feet above that. There among all that is this pretty lake and a bunch of empty campgrounds...guess the locals like camping without utilities better, Pretty place more or less abandoned..puzzling. We head back to civilization, make a few stops for pictures and drive the 32 miles back to Kamas and ultimately our campground. We actually got back just before sunset and see a train across the reservoir chugging along. We have reservations to ride that train Sat night on their anniversary and the price is right...$10 each. So I took a couple of pictures and we went back to the camper and lit a fire, The campground is full except for a few late arrivals. We sit by the fire and watch them come in after dark. There is always a bit of humor watching that circus, trying to set up camp in the dark.

It has been a very pretty day, lots of beauty in this area. Like I said, the trees are changing colors, so it is a fun time to drive through the hills & valleys on a gorgeous day. We have two more Scenic
drives to take on Saturday and a train ride at sunset in the evening, then move further south tomorrow. We are going to meet some friends from our Alaska adventure in Moab next week.

Steve & Barb Larson