Utah Cruisers Run: Great Salt Lake Ghost Towns, May 18th 2008

4209 Views 84 Replies 15 Participants Last post by ActionJackson, May 22, 2008

MoabRat

Discussion Starter · May 8, 2008 (Edited)

OK, it looks like we have a run coming together for May 18th. This will be a run around the Great Salt Lake starting near Wendover, NV. and ending at Promontory Summit North of Ogden. It's a REALLY full day. There are many ghost towns to stop at along the way and much of the run is on the wonderful and historically famous Transcontinental Railroad route, on the actual rail bed. So far we have:

MoabRat
Voodoogirl
ActionJackson
KBJames
Smigett and Mr. Tibbs.

This is a spectacular run around the western deserts of Utah and a fine time to do it and beat the excruciating heat that comes with summer. I'll use this thread to post some of the great history and stories associated with the area to whet your appetites and give you sense of the wonderful history out there, anyone else with info and preview pics please post, that means you Casey

I would also propose that this is going to have some relatively fast legs in between the towns, sometimes 35 mph or a bit more (trust me this can seem fast out there) Please consider if you will get queasy driving quickly on a 15 or 20 foot wide rail-bed that is sometimes 30 or 40 feet up above the surrounding countryside. I wouldn't want to push anyone out of their comfort zone and of course everyone is responsible for their own driving skills.

LOL, look at us, a disclaimer.

Rat

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MoabRat

Discussion Starter · #2 · May 8, 2008 (Edited)

If you can make out the dotted line, that was our route last year on this trip. It's a 360 mile or so trip for the day depending on were you start out. It's about 110 to the State line start and it was 258 from the start of the offroading to the return to S.L. via Brigham City. The total off road was around 180 or so. We didn't need our extra gas last year during the offroad section, but I will still bring an extra 5 gallons just in case. There is a gas station at the state line start, and of course in Brigham City at the end. Like I said, it's a long day. We need to start out from Salt Lake by 7 AM and we should be back by 8 or 9 pm. That's counting exploration stops and general unplanned fun. We did it in that time last year with stops at 4 or 5 ghost towns, exploration, and an unfortunate tire change due to an errant rail spike.

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mr tibbs

· #3 · May 8, 2008

Well, well, well, this ought to be a great time!! It was a blast last year and I'm really looking forward to this trip again. I'll try to dig up some info on the ghost towns that we will be visiting and get that posted.

Also, we are kicking around the idea of spending Saturday night in Bendover and losing some money that night and meeting up with you guys in the morning. Anyone else interested in doing this?

bluepete

· #4 · May 8, 2008

Have fun guys (and gals). I'm flying out that day for work. Hopefully I'll be able to join up soon.

ActionJackson

· #5 · May 8, 2008

just some quick info for the Mrs. she wants to know if there are any kinds of civilization along the way (ie bathrooms) she doesnt want to do any nature hangs. Im still going with or with out her but it would be nice if i could have her with me. and yes wether or not she wants to admit it she is a girly girl.

kbjames

· #6 · May 8, 2008

Thanks for putting this together Scott, looks to be a fun day. I'm also going to see if I can't get the wife and kids to come along as well seeing how it won't be so much about doing the bumpy stuff.

Mr. Tibbs, we might also consider doing the Wendover portion as well just to chop it up a bit more and use staying in Wendover as a carrot of sorts to get them to come along. And if I lose a dollar or two, oh well!!

AJ,

Seriously, do a google search on "******* toilet" and you should get plenty of ideas to accomadate the misses ... Just think 3 dollar toliet seat at walmart and a 5 gallon bucket with some spare plastic bags and your good to go.

You can even get sophisticated with it and find a creative way to firmly attach seat to bucket if her balancing skills are so-so.

MoabRat

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 8, 2008 (Edited)

ActionJackson said:
just some quick info for the Mrs. she wants to know if there are any kinds of civilization along the way (ie bathrooms) she doesnt want to do any nature hangs. Im still going with or with out her but it would be nice if i could have her with me. and yes wether or not she wants to admit it she is a girly girl.

There is really nothing out there. There is a gas station at the start and at the finish but she'd really have to hold it a long time. Mrs. Rat and Smigette could chime in, it wasn't that bad. It's really so very worth it for the scenery and she'd have other women there for support

. I know Mrs. Rat would really like to have her along. By the way I have Crohns so I really know about the need for facilities. I set it aside for adventures like this.

MoabRat

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 8, 2008

kbjames said:
Thanks for putting this together Scott, looks to be a fun day. I'm also going to see if I can't get the wife and kids to come along as well seeing how it won't be so much about doing the bumpy stuff.

Mr. Tibbs, we might also consider doing the Wendover portion as well just to chop it up a bit more and use staying in Wendover as a carrot of sorts to get them to come along. And if I lose a dollar or two, oh well!!

AJ,

Seriously, do a google search on "******* toilet" and you should get plenty of ideas to accomadate the misses ... Just think 3 dollar toliet seat at walmart and a 5 gallon bucket with some spare plastic bags and your good to go. You can even get sophisticated with it and find a creative way to firmly attach seat to bucket if her balancing skills are so-so.

I think your family would have a blast. Kid's love ghost towns.

smigette

· #9 · May 9, 2008

ActionJackson said:
just some quick info for the Mrs. she wants to know if there are any kinds of civilization along the way (ie bathrooms) she doesnt want to do any nature hangs. Im still going with or with out her but it would be nice if i could have her with me. and yes wether or not she wants to admit it she is a girly girl.

Ummmm, no. And at some points there aren't a lot of bushes either....

mr tibbs

· #10 · May 9, 2008

Alrighty, here is a little bit about some of the ghost towns we will be passing on the trail. My good ghost town site is down for maintenance so this is what I could come up with right now.

We will start off the trip at a gas station near Wendover and head a little bit north then east we go! The first "town" we come to will be Lucin, not much here (or anywhere along this trail for that matter). Next we pass about 7 old ghost town sites until we come to Kelton. If I remember this is where there is still a cemetery and some debris left from the old town. Pretty cool stuff to look at! After that we keep heading east traveling around the northern tip of the Great Salt Lake and if we have time I would like to make a small detour here to check out the Spiral Jetty. We missed this on the last trip, maybe we can track it down this time. And finally we end up going through Corinne. It may look like a nice quiet town now, but in it's hay day it was a pretty wild place! After that it's back to I-15 and back down towards home. I know it sounds like a quick little trip, but it is an all day event and should be a blast!

I did skip much of the history of this trail including Promontory Point, but I'm sure we can go over all of the details during the trip.:clap:

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BamBam

· #11 · May 9, 2008

Oh man, I should try to get in on this one. I teach 4th grade, and we cover Utah history. There are a lot of lessons I teach on those different places. If I can't make it, I would owe you folks big time for some photos of different places.

Corinne was indeed a wild place. It was a real boom-town. You could say it was Utah's version of Vegas as the railroad was being completed. It was also a haven for non-Mormons. As the railroad was finished the people moved out and Corinne went back to being a quiet little place. Many of the citizens moved on to bigger cities like Ogden and resettled. That is one reason why Ogden has a large and long established community of non-Mormons and folks who weren't descended from Pioneers, but have been here nearly as long.

There is most definitely a lot of history on this trip. I'm hoping I'll be able to take part. It sounds like a great one.

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MoabRat

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 9, 2008

BamBam said:
Oh man, I should try to get in on this one. I teach 4th grade, and we cover Utah history. There are a lot of lessons I teach on those different places. If I can't make it, I would owe you folks big time for some photos of different places.

Corinne was indeed a wild place. It was a real boom-town. You could say it was Utah's version of Vegas as the railroad was being completed. It was also a haven for non-Mormons. As the railroad was finished the people moved out and Corinne went back to being a quiet little place. Many of the citizens moved on to bigger cities like Ogden and resettled. That is one reason why Ogden has a large and long established community of non-Mormons and folks who weren't descended from Pioneers, but have been here nearly as long.

There is most definitely a lot of history on this trip. I'm hoping I'll be able to take part. It sounds like a great one.

Hope you can make it, it's really spectacular out there. By the way, suggestions for your rig:

Bonedaddy
Zero
or just Jack?

kbjames

· #13 · May 9, 2008

Corrine sounds like it was a hoot.

16 liquor stores for about 1000 people....thats a lot of drinking. Sounds like my kinda town.

Looking forward to this and still trying to see if I can get the whole family to come...for now just looking like the younger daughter.

dlister

· #14 · May 11, 2008

I'm interested in a time schedule for the day (I didn't see one in the post). The later the better for me but I have a feeling I would be more the exception rather than the rule.

Thanks.

ActionJackson

· #15 · May 11, 2008

dlister this is an all day run. leaving SLC i belive around 7 am and returning late in the evening. A few folks will be spending the night in Wendover so they will get a couple extra hours of sleep.

dlister

· #16 · May 11, 2008

We are meeting at 7am in Wendover? Wow that would be a long day. I'd love to go but I am not sure I can devote that much time to it especially since we are headed back to Moab the following weekend.

mr tibbs

· #17 · May 12, 2008

Yep, it is definitely an all day event, but it's going to be well worth it!:rocker:

mikesfj

· #18 · May 12, 2008

The wife and I may join. I have done the silver island mountain loop, there are lots of good side trails to explore there and lots of interesting geologic formations (volcanic), but not very challenging in the 4 wheel aspect.
Anybody bringing kids??? I have a 3 1/2 y.o. boy that is very adventurous. He sleeps very well on the long drives. We will most likely spend the night in Wendover. Since some are leaving at 7:00 am from SLC, are we all planning to meet at 9:00?

sublimespot

· #19 · May 12, 2008

BamBam said:
Oh man, I should try to get in on this one. I teach 4th grade, and we cover Utah history. There are a lot of lessons I teach on those different places. If I can't make it, I would owe you folks big time for some photos of different places.

My wife is also a 4th grade teacher. If we're able to make it we'll take a bunch of photos

kbjames

· #20 · May 12, 2008

Looks like I couldn't offer enough bait to get the family to go although my 10 yrd old may join me.

Dlister, just to clarify, we'll be leaving SLC at 7 AM, not Wendover at 7....which makes a big difference.

And AJ, just cause the folks staying in Wendover won't have to be ready till 9, doesn't mean they'll be getting more sleep

. If I choose to head out there Saturday night I'm sure there will be plenty of distractions.

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