Kevin – Saturday. On occasion, we’re visited by friends, family and folks who have lively interests like us. Today we hosted three of the Day family from South Jordan, Utah. They’ve been trying to get with us for some weeks and today turned out to be the day.
They had told us not to arrange anything special – just to go about our daily routine of hiking, biking or whatever. As you know from reading our prior posts that there is no ‘routine.’
Yesterday we finished the section from South Pass to where the old trail crosses today’s WY-28 a few miles east of Farson. Our next planned stretch is really ‘out there.’ It’s a 17-mile stretch of no water, hardly any green stuff (except sagebrush which barely qualifies as green) and dust galore. More than anything else, we’d be in dust.
We just couldn’t do that to the Days. No one deserves to be introduced to the trail that way. So, after talking it over together, Denny and I decided to backtrack, letting the Days hike South Pass and move on to a few more key sites. Then, for the afternoon, we’d drive the 17-mile ‘next stretch’ which Denny and I haven’t seen in person yet.
Starting at 7AM, the Days’, Denny and I headed back out east on WY-28, checked out the Sweetwater River near where the trail departs from it, then drove south to Twin Mounds where trail swales are easy to become acquainted with. For trail newbies they learned quickly to spot the swales.
We hit South Pass again. Rachel observed, ‘South Pass isn’t much of a pass.’ Well, yes; it really isn’t impressive as passes go, but that’s what the pioneers and early journalists said too.
Pacific Springs and the green, lush grasslands watered by the springs along with the remains of a few log cabins were our next stop. The drastic change from the grasslands to the sagebrush desert environment just a few yards away is a testament to how the land out here could support so much more … if it only had water.
Our next stop was to a gravesite recommended to us by a historian. Charlotte Dansie died on the trail near Pacific Springs due to complications of childbirth. Randy Brown, the historian of all things on the Oregon-California-Mormon-Pony Express Trails complex wrote an excellent article about Charlotte and her family. Her story is too lengthy to relate here. Please read Randy’s article. The link is: Link to Article
For our afternoon, we followed the trail north of WY-28. This took us out to three rivers (so called). The Dry Sandy was up first. It was both. Dry AND Sandy.
The trail through here is suffering from the elements and a degree of neglect. Flash floods are doing the most damage, creating gullies across the trail in many places. Some trail work to prevent such would go a long way to preserve the historic trail. As it is, only a 4WD vehicle or motorized dirt bike should venture out into this area between WY-28 and the Little Sandy. It wouldn’t do to get stuck out here. The historic journals are replete with stories about horses, oxen and cattle that died, their carcasses littering the sides of the trail. It’s still tough and deadly out here. And remember Charlotte Dansie.
All told, it took us about 2-1/2 hours to make the 17-miles back to Farson. In all fairness we stopped for photos and documenting trail marker conditions. One spot of interest to David was the Parting of the Ways – the Sublett cut-off. Near the end we crossed the Little Sandy. It also was both.
Our final task for our day with the Days was to finally examine the legendary ice cream scoops provided at the Farson Mercantile. We arrived about 3:30 PM amidst a youth group returning from Martin’s Cove and a pioneer trek event. The line wasn’t too long and the scoops we are happy to report live up to their reputation.
