Adventuring: Take 3

Today Chelsea and I went on another adventuring trek. This time we brought her friend Carlee and my friend Caleb along. We started out early in the day so we would have plenty of time unlike last time.

We started out at the north end of the Utah Lake and drove south along the highway on the west side of the water because the first item on our list was to see what was directly on the other side of the lake. Even though I have lived in the valley my whole life, I’ve never been to the other side of the lake and the curiosity was killing me. We learned that there isn’t much to see. Actually, there isn’t much there period. It was fun to see Saratoga Springs though.

The next item on our to-see list was the ghost town of Dividend, UT. Dividend is an old mining town nestled up in the hills along a small, winding highway. The only people we encountered there were men employed by a drilling company who were there to work; they didn’t bother us though and we were free to explore. We were able to explore a few cement building remnants and some other remains of civilization. There was quite a bit to see.

After Dividend, we continued along the highway up into the hills. We encountered quite a few dirt roads that looked promising to explore but with the higher altitude, we also ran across snow so we weren’t able to go very far on any of them.

The road came out into Eureka and we found a gas station (a different, larger, and friendlier one than last time) and stopped for lunch (there weren’t any restaurants or fast food chains). After eating, we explored the city of Eureka. The main drag through town along the highway was lined by a few businesses and historic, mostly vacant, storefronts. Beyond the main drag, haphazardly laid streets ran with a combination of houses, churches, and trailers sprawled out along them. We started with the store fronts. All but one sat vacant except for storage. One almost looked to be set up like a museum so we talked to the only person we saw—a woman who worked at the only open shop, an antique store, who sat out front of her shop on a smoke break—to find out more information. She told us all of the buildings were owned by a man named Billy. Billy was planning to fix up the shops and open them for business, but he had a disagreement with Eureka’s mayor and is no longer allowed to renovate anything. The woman we met introduced us to Billy and he was super friendly. He gladly gave us a personal tour of a couple of his shops and told us many stories from his life, Eureka’s history, and about his stuff. One of his hobbies was exploring and he was also quite crafty. He’d taken things like an interesting tree trunk and carved it into a lighthouse with a race car track spiraling around the outside or some Native American artifact and found a beautiful way to display it. He was also a painter and some of his original artwork was displayed in one of the storefronts. Among the objects that weren't crafted by him included pictures of Eureka during its glory days and other antiques such as a fortune telling scale, an old bank counting machine, sleds, skates, a baby carriage, and many other treasures. One of the store fronts even had a water well right in the middle of the floor. During prohibition, it was a bar and the well was used to lower alcohol (brewed behind the false wall at the back of the building) into when the police came. We spent a good deal of time seeing what Billy had to show—it was so fascinating! It was more than we could have even hoped to come across!

After exploring the downtown, we perused the rest of Eureka. There was an abandoned house behind the store fronts that had a front door that hung open and we were actually able to explore the interior. On the south end of town, we explored some sort of blasting/mining site and also the Eureka cemetery. Overall, it was fascinating to see the different lifestyle of the area.

Further along the highway, we took the turnoff to Mammoth, UT: a semi-ghost town just minutes south of Eureka. Mammoth was a small cluster of houses and trailers, many of which were abandoned. We explored a trailer with a collapsed roof which was interesting but, because the town was so small, it was obvious we were outsiders and basically the whole town knew we were there (you could easily see from one end of town to the other). By the time we stopped at the next house, a resident of the city got upset at us so we left. Of particular interest in this town for me was the site of the Tintic Hospital. The hospital no longer stands, but a monument and this plaque mark the spot:

The next town we hit was Silver City. We were getting pretty lazy by this point though so we didn’t get out of the car but just observed from the vehicle and then continued north along the highway. We stopped in the town of Faust briefly to see a marker for one of the Pony Express and then in Rush Valley just to see what was there.

Our final stop on our list was Ophir. I was expecting another ghost town but was surprised to actually find more of a once-ghost-town-now-summer-tourist-trap/vacation-spot. Everything was closed and we were running out of time and daylight so we left for home with plans to visit again next summer. It looked like a quaint little town to visit with quite a few fun things to do.

Adventuring to Warm Springs

My friend Chelsea and I decided to explore/go off-roading. Our first trip wasn’t very successful since we began our questing so late in the year. We went exploring in Provo Canyon and, seeing as it was early November, many roads had been gated, especially in such a large, well-known, and well-traveled canyon. It was fun though; we saw a lot of roads that looked promising, explored the quaint little cluster of houses outside of Vivian Park, and got in lots of girl talk.

Our second trip was much more successful—we only wished we had more time! We set out to explore the ghost towns around the Eureka, Utah area with one of Chelsea’s friends named Brandon. We went south on I-15, getting off at the first Santaquin exit onto Main Street and just followed that West. Just before we hit Goshen, we saw the cement remains of what looked to be some sort of abandoned mine or processing plant. We drove towards it to see how close we could get and soon turned onto a dirt road. Our passage, at least by car, was soon halted due to a gate across the road. The area, labeled Warm Springs, was closed due to high levels of heavy metals such as iron. We ventured on foot (taking note to avoid the water) and were able to reach the remains. The walk didn’t take too long and it was worth it! The cement shell was incredibly fun to explore and climb on and it took us probably close to an hour before we reached the top of the structure. (The building was built on the side of a hill.) 

On our way back to the car, we noticed a bird/duck on the other side of one of the pond that, although he was on the edge of the water, could not manage to get himself out. Brandon and Chelsea were able to cross to the other side of the pond over a river and approach the bird. As I watched from across the water, I was amazed to see that the bird didn't even panic as they approached and then picked up the bird. It was obvious that this was one ill bird. When Brandon and Chelsea crossed back over the where I was, they reported that there was another bird lying on the ground dead. It was obvious that the bird we were attempting to rescue couldn’t move his legs so we thought that the heavy metals in the water may have poisoned him. Brandon sacrificed his shirt to wrap the bird in and we took him with us. We had no plan in mind and honestly, it’s not something I would have ever done myself. It was going to die anyway though so we thought we may as well try to do something.

We continued on our travels toward Eureka to continue our adventures/find a gas station to clean ourselves up at. We found two in Goshen…but they were closed. One of them was worth stopping for a picture:

There was also a gorgeous sunset:

The first gas station (that was actually open and operating) we encountered was in Eureka. We went in to use the facilities but a sign read: “Customers Only”. We weren’t sure if we really needed a bathroom and after much indecision, Brandon bought a couple of (overpriced) items and we washed up.

(The bird was just chilling in my car on the passenger’s seat the whole time.)

By the time we came out of the gas station, the last bit of light was fading into night and we had to terminate our travels and return to civilization.

We took the bird back to Brandon’s roommate, Steve, (who wants to be a veterinarian and has worked at a veterinarian’s clinic) who took a look at the bird and found a puncture wound on the bird’s back behind his left wing. We guessed it to be the result of a small bullet or pellet. We also confirmed that the bird had no control over its legs but I observed that he could still wag his tail. Very intriguing. We borrowed a roommate’s stethoscope and listened to his heart. I learned that birds lungs don’t work in the same way as humans so it is very heard to hear lung sounds. I, of course, only think through medical problems in terms of humans and wanted to listen for a pneumothorax. I think I remember Steve saying that a pneumothorax can’t occur in birds due to their different respiratory system.

After finding the puncture wound, we tried to find someplace we could take the bird. We found a wildlife rehabilitator but both of their numbers on their website appeared not to work. (Although this could have been due to the fact that it was a Saturday night.) We considered keeping the bird at my house until Monday and then trying to take him in, but then the concern of infection was brought up and we realized this bird probably didn’t have much of a chance anyway. Brandon took the sad responsibility of putting the bird out of its misery and that was the end of that. Poor bird.