Visiting with Friends in the Greater Salt Lake Area

August 4, 2011, Golden Spike RV Park Brigham City, Utah.
Over the last few days, Joyce and I have had the opportunity to reconnect with friends that have settled in the Greater Salt Lake area.
I got in touch with my former high school buddy David Espinosa. We had gone to Layton High School together way back in 1977 and hadn't seen each other since. We both lived on Hill A.F.B. at the time, sons of military fathers. David's family settled in the area and he found work and his beautiful wife in the Greater Salt Lake area  while I moved away to Florida with my family.
David and his wife, Vickie met us at Golden Spike RV park and together we went out to dinner and got caught up.

David and Vickie Espinosa

After dinner, we went back to our place and poured over photos of our travels and had a good time getting to know each other. Afterwards we made plans to get together again later in the week.

David and I

Joyce connected with a former friend and co-worker from Florida, Cindy. Joyce and Cindy made plans for us to meet in the town of Eden. We drove to Eden traveling through some beautiful canyons and mountains to get to the valley town and the only restaurant in sight, Carlos and Harleys.

Cindy came with her boyfriend and we all had a great time catching up and discussing our travels. Cindy's boyfriend, Bill is a photographer and he showed us some spectacular photos on his I-Phone that he had uploaded. He had taken the photos throughout the region to include Yellowstone and Grand Teton N.P. and they were spectacular.

Joyce and Cindy

Yesterday evening, Joyce and I were invited to the Espinosa residence for an enchilada dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and got to meet David and Vickie's two daughters, Valerie and Melanie. We also met Valerie's husband and newborn baby Addyson. Melanie also introduced us to her boyfriend.

The Espinosa Family

David and his wife have a beautiful family and home and they certainly made us feel welcome. We look forward to staying in touch as we continue our journey.

Today we stayed around the campground and made preparations to move on tomorrow to Idaho. We are experiencing problems with our main A/C again as it occasionally trips its 20 amp breaker. Also the condenser fan motor is making a shrill noise.  I'm sure we will have to deal with all this sooner than later.

Hike in the Wasatch Mountains and Willard Peak

August 2, 2011, Golden Spike RV Park, Brigham City, Utah.
Today we decided to take a ride and hike up to Willard Peak.
Willard Peak is the highest peak in Weber County, and generally considered the northernmost peak in the Wasatch Mountains.
The start of the climb to Willard peak via 4x4 vehicle is via the town of Mantua. We drove to the small town just a few miles west of Brigham City and got on Willard Peak Road which became a dirt ATV 4x4 road at the base of the mountains. We took the rough washed out forest road up the mountains and stopped at about 7K feet.

We did about a 2 mile hike checking out the surrounding mountains and deciding if we wanted to press on further up the mountains on the rough road.

Across the valley we could see the peak that we thought was Willard Peak.

We could see part of the road that would take us there.

Jeep/ATV  Road

Perry Reservoir

Even though we weren't at the summit of the highest peak, the views were spectacular but hazy.

Pineview Reservoir in the distance.

We decided to press on up the road over the sharp rocks and ruts in the washed out narrow ATV/Jeep road.

The Jeep road we traveled in the distance.

We made to Willard Basin and thought we could hike to the peak from there.

We took off on another 2 mile hike up one of three ATV roads...

 Destination was the peak in the distance.

Gorgeous wild flowers.

As we grew closer, I stopped to talk to these two ATV riders who informed me that what I thought was Willard Peak actually was something else. We had been hiking in the wrong direction! Willard Peak was across another valley in the opposite direction.

We hiked back to Willard Basin and then decided to try and drive up the 4x4 road to the summit.

We made to about a mile from the summit when we came across this log in the road which prevented us from going any further due to the steep drop-off at the edge of road. So I was forced to do a multipoint turn with Joyce spotting me to get turned around.  

We should have hiked from this point but there was no where to park the Jeep and it was getting late. We were a bit tired from our two previous hikes so we turned around and headed back down the mountains.

The ride down was as rough as the ride up. We passed a few ATVs and motorcycles going up the mountains as we were coming down. We had a good time and gave the Jeep a workout. It needs a bath now but it looks good dirty!

Travel Day to Brigham Utah and Golden Spike RV Park

July 29, 2011 North Salt Lake City to Brigham City, Utah.

The last couple of days we did some very domestic things like shopping and cleaning. While walking the dogs last evening, we tried to put a finger on just what we didn't like about Pony Express RV Resort. We decided it was the sterile commercial feel created by the concrete sites, paved roads and lack of mature trees. Coupled with the fact that the sites are very close together with perhaps only 12ft. between the concrete driveways.
Anyway, today was a travel day. We were only traveling about 50 miles north to Brigham City and Golden Spike RV Park. After taking our time getting ready to go we finally got on the road around 10:00. We headed north on Interstate 15. I gotta tell ya, I-15 in Salt Lake City and the metropolitan areas is not a fun route. The road is rough with 4-5 lanes and traffic zipping everywhere and construction for miles and miles. The worst part for me is when I try to stay in the right lane, I suddenly find myself in an exit only lane as we round the next bend! Anyway, we made it safely!

View Larger Map

Golden Spike RV Park is not a large park. We were pleasantly surprised that we had a shady pull-thru site waiting for us. By early evening when I took the pictures, the sites around us had filled. The sites in the sun were the last to fill up.

Small grass field in front of our site

We were fortunate that the park allowed us to wash the rig. So I washed the Jeep, fifth wheel and the truck before the sites around us filled up.

The sites are gravel, the roads paved but there's lots of grass and mature trees. The power is good and so far at least, we like this park. We paid $201 for a week with 50 amp full hook-ups, strong WiFi and cable.

So, we will spend the next week exploring the area and catching up with some friends.