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Date:         Thu, 4 Jun 2009 16:57:57 -0600
Reply-To:     Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Circumnavigated the Great Salt Lake in Our Westy
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

>> >> For those w/time to kill, here's a report about our circling the >> Great Salt Lake over Memorial Day Weekend: >> >> http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=great+salt+lake+Utah&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.688845,78.310547&ie=UTF8&z=9&iwloc=A >> >> Original plan, trip to Kodachrome Basin in The Grand Staircase/ >> Escalante National Monument w/some friends & their 91 Westy. >> Friends' Westy started screeching on the way out of town, so they >> dropped it off at their mechanics to verify whether it was the >> water pump or a seized bearing in the case bottom, & went home for >> the weekend, too bummed to proceed w/us in our Westy. >> We review the weather forecasts for the area & decide to avoid the >> S. Utah area & head north where it was predicted to be drier. (Not!) >> >> The GSL is about 75 miles long x 30 miles wide, has mountains, >> desert, salt flats, restricted bombing testing ranges, really large >> pumps to drain the lake if it ever gets too deep again, world >> famous art objects & other interesting things along the way to make >> the trip several hundred miles long of which about 100 miles was on >> dirt roads. >> >> We began our journey headed north towards Brigham City 60 miles >> away, where we topped off the gas tanks, before heading west into >> the hither lands & the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge & Visitors >> Center. > > http://www.fws.gov/bearriver/index.html > >> Did the bird thing, then the Smith & Edwards Store nearby, where >> you can purchase surplus bombs, tanks, gas masks, & other military >> hardware for your collection. > > http://www.utah.com/schmerker/2000/smith_edwards.htm >> >> Now completely stocked up, we headed to Promontory, Utah where the >> golden spike was driven in 1869 to celebrate the joining of the 1st >> transcontinental railroad tracks at that location in the middle of >> nowhere. 2 replicas of the original steam engines, Union Pacific's >> #119 & the Central Pacific's Jupiter are facing each other on the >> track ready to collide at any misstep, but unfortunately they >> missed each other when fired up to stretch their wheels. >> >> Interestingly enough, the railroad crews racing to meet each other >> from Omaha & Sacramento, passed each other & laid grade for >> another 250 miles because of a lack of a decision on the final >> route & the incentives by the government to the team laying the >> most track. Hmmm, have things changed any since 1869? In fact >> towards the end, the Central Pacific crews laid 10 miles of track >> in 1 day to win a $10,000 bet from the Union Pacific President that >> they couldn't lay more than the UP which had laid 7 miles in a day. > > http://www.nps.gov/gosp/ >> >> But I digress, & we actually stopped at the potential Train Wreck, >> then decided to go down 16 miles of dirt road to the Spiral Jetty, >> a world famous land sculpture by Robert Smithson, & hit the train >> stuff the next day. We arrived at the Spiral Jetty late in the >> afternoon, did our ooohing & awing, walking on the jetty , taking >> the required photo opportunities, then made the decision that since >> it didn't say we couldn't camp there, that we could spend the night >> in our Westy & probably have the whole place to ourselves for >> sunset & sunrise, which we did. Once the final visitors left before >> dark, we had the whole place for miles in any direction to just us. > > http://www.spiraljetty.org/ > >> The weather was moving in & out, the colors & clouds changing in >> kaleidoscopic patterns, only matched by the pelicans floating & >> soaring in front, above & beyond us, eating who knows what, as >> there are no fish in the GSL, it being too salty for anything other >> than microscopic brine shrimp. The Spiral Jetty was built in 1970 >> & consists of volcanic rock placed from the shore out into the lake >> bed for 1500 feet in a spiral pattern. it is about a front end >> loader wide, which was the equipment used to place the stone, & the >> rock has become slightly disorganized over the years after the GSL >> rose to record elevation in the mid 1980s & flooded the jetty, thus >> requiring the huge pumps(11' dia.) to lower the lake I mentioned >> earlier. These pumps were run for a while after installation, but >> lo & behold, they do not work well in the extremely salty/cold lake >> water during winter. Who would have thought? >> >> Squatting at the Jetty left time for us to hike the area, watch the >> birds, see/barely hear trains running across the lake miles away, >> bake a pineapple upside down cake in the Dutch Oven, explore some >> stone foundations left from buildings used by Smithson(?), etc. >> Very relaxing at this time of year, but YMMV during the summer >> months when Brine flies, other nasty bugs might be out in force. >> Our Great Pyrenees dog, Carl, enjoyed the lake but quickly stopped >> drinking the water! >> >> We considered staying another night at the Jetty, but the rain had >> started to seriously fall, & we headed for the Train Show. We >> then decided to take the dirt roads, now mud bogs to Locomotive >> Springs & across the desert north of the lake almost to Idaho & >> west to Nevada to see the next art piece. This piece was called The >> Sun Tunnels, & was created by Smithson's wife, Nancy Holt. We >> thought we would squat there for the evening to gaze at the >> constellations through the holes in the 4-8' dia. concrete tunnels >> strategically placed in the middle of nowhere on the West side of >> the lake. > > Before getting to the Sun Tunnels we went thru beautiful Lucin, Utah > which is actually just a spot in the desert where the original train > route around the GSL was diverted in 1905 to cross the lake itself & > save about 40 miles of track & some mountainous grades. "The Lucin > Cutoff" as it was aptly named was an amazing feat of engineering in > that they built a 12 mile long wood trestle across the lake. > > http://www.trestlewood.com/story.jsp >> >> >> On the way to the Tunnels, we had to navigate across many dirt >> roads which had now become mud w/the torrential rains. We slid >> past Locomotive Springs, aptly named as a stopping spot for the >> steam engines to water up the 2000 gallons they needed every 15-20 >> miles. Headed towards Kelton, which turned out to be 2 small >> trailers at a turn in the road. We decided to take the long way & >> diverted 7 miles north from Kelton to a paved road because of the >> mud, & once on Highway 30, sailing was smooth thru very scenic high >> desert farm country w/lush fields, trees, mountains beyond w/snow >> still on the North facing peaks, and lots of ATVs. In fact the >> only folks we saw out there were either camping & riding or heading >> to or from Church in their Sunday finest & nicest pickup truck. > >> It's a good thing we were driving in the daylight as the Sun >> tunnels are not well marked & would be difficult to find in the >> dark w/o being able to see them from a mile away w/binoculars. >> Needless to say, there were no stores, gas stations, motels, or >> anything else to serve the public, so don't plan on staying around. > > http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/UT3126/ > > The Sun Tunnels were cool, but the idea of camping there w/cloud > cover was not very intriguing, so we decided to plod onward to the > South towards Wendover, Nevada on the state line, & hoped to find a > nicer camping spot before cocktail hour. NOT! > > Drove 56 more miles of mostly dirt roads, & didn't see any really > decent potential campsites, but then we were getting worried about > running out of gas, so we ended up getting gas east of Wendover, > Utah & slightly west of the Bonneville Salt Flats: > > http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htm > > BTDT w/the Salt Flats, & it was very windy/warm, so we decided to > keep heading south, now in Nevada along Alternate Highway 93 towards > Ely, NV, 118 miles south. After a couple of false attempts to find > a decent camp site for cocktails/tin foil dinners on the fire, we > ended up about 30 miles south of Wendover over the top of White > Horse Pass at about 6000' elevation, turned off the highway onto a > section of the old road, turned off again on a dirt track towards > the mountains/trees/view/etc. & the Westy came to a halt over > looking a large valley w/views of 30-50 miles in several > directions, on a completely level section, & the vanagon died & > would not start. We are out of cell coverage, 1/2 mile up a dirt > road from the highway w/traffic going by maybe every 15 minutes, & > the nearest town 30 miles away. No problem, time to set up camp, > cocktails & dinner. The wind was calm in this area, the sun was > getting low in the sky, the views were phenomenal, & dinner was > cooking. What else could you ask for? The dead Westy in the back of > my mind, I decided that if I left it alone long enough, it would fix > itself, or we would spend M-Day fixing it, or getting help, if none > of the spare parts, including new water pump, 2 kinds of fuel > filters, new fuel lines, spare fuel, oil, hand tools, etc., solved > the problema. > > After a cocktail or 2, I couldn't stand it any more, & tried to > start the vanagon. It fired up but died immediately & wouldn't > start again, so I figured it must be fuel related & I would check it > the next morning. By the next morning, I had isolated the problem in > my mind to the fuel pump, & lo & behold, when I looked under the van > at the fuel pump, the electrical wire connection to the pump had > been knocked off by a sage bush immediately behind the westy, so I > pushed the connector back on, & it started right up! Well so much > for that problema. After a nice hike in the area, & finding a 1963 > Utah truck license plate on the ground, the same plate as I have on > my 63 DC, we headed off to explore a dirt road that had its nearest > destination as 23 miles away. Moseyed down the road looking at > birds including a red tailed hawk, western meadow lark, & western > king bird, then 4 wild horses, we headed back towards Wendover & a > journey across the salt flats to Salt Lake City. > > But not before passing another Utah art piece, The Tree of Life: > > http://www.utah.com/amusement/metaphor_tree.htm > > About 16 miles west of Salt Lake City, we drove by our last & most > seen part of the The GSL, the South shore of the lake itself. The > marina was busy as dozens of sailboats were plying the lake in the > mild breeze, but thunder heads were building & the lake could turn > nasty in no time. Besides the sail boats, up to about 35', numerous > rowing skulls, outrigger canoe paddlers, & a few motor boats ply the > lake. > > http://www.utah.com/stateparks/greatsaltlake.htm > > We were now on the home stretch, & the only problema in the world I > still had was how to get all the mud off the Westy, & where did that > last SA mud flap fall off? > > Keep driving & enjoy the ride! > > Mr. BZ > >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >


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