Kevin – Friday. After yesterday’s miracle putting us in contact with some property owners between Muddy Creek and Bear River, I decided to hold a more in-depth survey for another time later this year. We still haven’t had personal contact nor do we have a contiguous route yet. That’s going to take some time – time we don’t have right now. The ‘finishing’ schedule is more critical, especially since the trail is well known through this section.
BUT … (there’s always a ‘but’) … we had another small miracle this morning. As we were gassing up, another customer pointed to a rear tire on our truck and warned us we were headed to a flat tire. Curses!!! It was fine last night when we checked pressures. Honest. So, we high-tailed it over to Big-O Tire here in Evanston. It would be at least a couple hours manager Chad said. Oh, heck. Then again, Chad had us out the door in less than an hour – maybe 35 minutes or so. Thanks Chad!
We drove south out of Evanston on WY-150 to where the trail crosses. Picking up a public road, we drove east – backwards of the direction the pioneers traveled. Hey, it’s the only way in for us at this time, but we have great expectations we will do better later with the help of the new contacts.
We could only make about 3 miles before a set of locked gates prevented further travel. These folks are SERIOUS about not letting casual travelers through their property. There were at least 8 padlocks on the chain. Sheesh!
Back on WY-150, we attempted to contact the property owners of where ‘Brigham Young’s Oil Well’ is located. No one was home. Another time. If you don’t know the background, one of the pioneers with Brother Brigham was examining the area after their camp was set on July 12, 1847. About a mile south of camp (WHY would someone hike ANOTHER COUPLE MILES after setting camp?) he chanced upon a small spring – which had a layer of oil seep on the top. The story is that the Saints would gather some and boil off the water leaving enough oil to grease their wagon axles.
While up canyon, I had come across an exploratory well sunk back in 1986. I presume they were looking for oil. After all, southwestern Wyoming has lots of oil wells. Remember the World’s Largest Butane Lighter from last week? We passed scads of oil pads just 45 miles back on the trail.
We checked out some of the historic markers in the area, then tried to follow the trail going west of Bear River. Sadly, the first property gate was closed and also marked “No Trespassing.” Frump.
Well, at least we have permission to travel across properties owned by another landowner. To get there we had to drive back to Evanston, then take WY-151 a little further west, then south again and started following Yellow Creek. Don’t ask me why it’s called Yellow Creek. It isn’t yellow at all.
This was by far the most sketchy, dangerous 2-track we’ve taken the pickup on. The cut on the side of the hill – WAYYYY up on the side of the hill – was VERY NARROW. I had complete confidence in Denny’s off-road skills. Wolf Ceek was a LONG WAY DOWN on some stretches with wash-outs in places. ME? APPREHENSIVE? NOOOO.
At 1.3 miles east from HW-151, you come to a LDS site of interest. A tall set of peaks lie in close proximity to the 2-track road. They are ‘The Needles’ – and Brother Brigham camped nearby in 1847.
Brother Brigham was seriously ill at this late stage of the pioneer experience. He’d contracted Rocky Mountain Fever presumably from a tick bite. Others in the company were sick too, but none as bad off as Brother Brigham. I believe he stayed here a couple days to recover some. A couple of the Battalion boys were with him. The majority of the pioneer company went ahead.
We found a couple of the OCTA white fiberglass markers along the stretch we drove. At a distance of 2-3/4 miles from the highway, we came to another cattle gate. On the other side (east side), the 2-track road essentially disappeared. No sand visible. Just grass. We can see the route plainly in the satellite imagery, but with just one vehicle and so far off the beaten path (pun intended), we decided to not pursue the trail further today. More to do when we return later with some other folks.
Returning to WY-151 we were running late for our Friday night date. We skipped a short-cut over to Echo Canyon – our task for tomorrow. Yes, Dear Reader, tomorrow we will be in Utah and very near the end of our little excursion. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as we have.
Date night, you ask? Well, we found a Chinese buffet in Evanston Wyoming. Who could resist? And then we took in the Evanston Rodeo Friday night lights. Who could resist? And, a second small miracle to end the day; Chad from Big-O Tires was in the same section we were going to sit in. He recognized us from this morning and asked how we had made out for the day. We were so pleased to have him notice and ask us. We were effusive with our appreciation for his help this morning.
And my final task for the day, and Denny’s is to write and post for your enjoyment. We hope you do. We certainly have.