Maxterra's adventure pics

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Some pics of last week's run with just my son and I thru the Uinta mountains to get out of the heat!

Stopping along the UT/WYO border to air down.
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Hi-Five tree
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Deer
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Nate says "What a view!"
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Nice and cool up here, How high?
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Moose
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Had the go-pro running time lapse, but apparently I had it configured to erase at start-over when full , GRRR.
I'll get it figured out. We had it running on some really gnarly stuff too....
 

Roninjiro

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Austin,TX
omg i miss utah... I used to live in vernal.... and the country from where i lived and Wyo was breath taking.... :weep:
 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
I'm lucky to be in such a great location with so much public land so close by.

Any direction in 45 minutes, and I'm in the mountains or deserts and away from it all.

Only a few hours from Moab too!!
 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
I hasn't been on here much this year.
Pretty much building bumpers nonstop since December, and just finally getting caught up enough to do something besides work 14/7.

Got around to changing oil today after finishing up bumpers this afternoon.

Whilst finishing up bolting the skids back on, thought this looked like a good pic from this angle.



Notice the XN decal... :)

 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Took more of a local trip with my Dad on the 4th, just to get out of town and the heat before we needed to get to the family BBQ in the evening.
Went up Farmington Canyon, which accesses the huge mountain range that parallels Utah's Wasatch front.
From that road, you can go up to the top of the mountain range to Francis and Bountiful peaks which are almost 10k ft.
The Farmington canyon has been closed for a couple of years due to landslides in the wet spring of 2011, so I've been anxious to get back up there again as it just opened.

Near the top of the canyon, looking out across the valley to the Great Salt Lake (very hazy day)


On top, looking east towards Wyo.


Looking west at the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, etc.


I live about in the middle right of this pic


Right up against the cliff looking east over Mt Green.


From the same location, looking west at the FAA?USAF radar installation, and the little trail we came in on.


And looking further north where we're going next.


Made it down to the little lake


On the way back out, lots of flowers




Looking off of Bountiful Peak into the lakes below where we just came from


And the road we just came from, and you can just see the radar site at the summit.


Made for a great 4th of July, and to spend some precious time with my dad who is suffering from dementia. He's been wanting to go back up there for a while, so I was happy to oblige!


Just finished up a short gopro timelapse video of the trip up Farmington canyon. 5000 ft elevation change in a couple of minutes..

 
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Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
On a couple of trips last month in NE Utah, I came across an airplane crash site I'd heard about, but never really knew where it was.

This description from another blog best describes it:

In January 1953, the Korean War had been blazing for two and a half years; a cease-fire would not be signed until the following July. Thousands of American soldiers had been fighting and freezing in Korea since 1950, and now some of them were coming home. In Seattle, returning soldiers were sorted into groups according to their final destinations, and with military efficiency they were marched aboard charter flights in alphabetical order. A C-46 transport plane designated as Trip 1-6-6A was headed to South Carolina; its 40 seats were assigned to men whose last names began with H, J, and K. A flight crew from San Antonio – a pilot, a first officer, and a young stewardess making her very first trip – were assigned to the flight, which left Seattle’s Boeing Field on January 6.

The C-46’s flight plan called for the plane to fly southeast across Idaho, over the Bear Lake Valley, then east over Rock Springs, Wyoming, to a refueling stop at Cheyenne. In an age before radar covered the vast reaches of the American West, pilots checked in by radio as they flew over landmarks, and the C-46 ’s pilot reported in regularly. Just before 4:00 a.m. on January 7, the pilot radioed that he was passing over Malad, Idaho; he would check in again over Rock Springs at 4:45 a.m.

But he didn’t.

As the hours passed with no word from the overdue plane, search planes were dispatched along the Utah-Idaho-Wyoming borders. The territory was rugged; the weather was brutal. A snowstorm from the northwest limited visibility, and flights were grounded on January 8. Ground crews struggled to investigate the flares a Paris, Idaho woman reported seeing in the mountains near her, with nothing located; a fire reported in the foothills above Kemmerer, Wyoming, turned out to be only a shepherd.

Finally, on January 12, Richard Burt, a search-and-rescue pilot based at Ogden, spotted something above Fish Haven, on the Idaho side of the Bear Lake Valley, that didn’t look quite natural. He flew lower, and spotted a wheel protruding from snow-covered wreckage. Burt flew to Hill AFB and picked up two paramedics. Returning to Fish Haven, the two paramedics parachuted to the site, then radioed to Burt that there were no survivors.

News of the search for the missing plane had been followed throughout the country, including, of course, in the southern hometowns of the missing men. Now the news of finding the wreckage was broadcast in grim detail: “Para-Medics Find Death on Hillside” blared one headline. A military inspector announced that “It was a miserable sight, seeing only small parts of the airplane and tiny segments of human bodies.” Hal Schindler, later to become author of Man of gobble, Son of Thunder, the biography of Orrin Porter Rockwell, but then a staff writer for the Salt Lake Tribune, hiked to the crash site, reported it as “grisly,” and wrote a chilling description of the loneliness of the site and the unbelievable destruction he had witnessed.


Here's the original granite memorial:


Crash debris that people find and place at the base of the memorial:


The more recent sign placed by the Boy Scouts:


A larger piece of debris hanging under the sign canopy:


Me and Maxx hiking up the canyon bottom:


Then back down the canyon, but up on the NE canyon side, Lots of flowers!


Nar this closest tree on the left, on a ridge above the memorial, there is a slightly flatter area where I found all kinds of old cans & tins rusting away, along with faint fire ash residue all around. I'm assuming this might have been one of the military guard posts location that was stationed here from January till june. They had to guard and protect the site until June when they were finally able to get in there and remove the remains and plane debris.






Little valley below the site


And a beautiful little creek


I wanted to hike much further up the mountain to where I believe the impact occurred, but the wife didn't want to (nor did the dog) and we had a couple hundred more miles to go.
I'll be heading up there again to do more exploring this summer. A really intriguing site and history. Did a lot of internet searching and found a few links below.

I'll say it wasn't creepy or ominous there, but EXTREMELY quiet! Not a bird or squirrel to be heard at all. My wife was uncomfortable, and the dog got that way later and both really wanted to leave.

Anyway, we proceeded up into Idaho and back down another loop, taking mostly dirt roads and back roads. Was a great day and covered a lot of country. Fun to set the garmin onto shortest route instead of quickest route and see what it comes up with.

Historical links on the crash.

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/a...cle_968e6935-b3be-566f-9a39-31124ad89434.html

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19530107-0

http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/03/laura-rees-merrill-replacing-fear-with-peace/

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...3xWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DuYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7266,5750934

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4513
 

KBTerra

Bought an X
Location
Gray, GA
Thanks for sharing, Maxterra. Those are georgeous photo's. I envy many of you guys with the awesome trails you get to explore on. I don't think there is anything like that in Ga.
 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Thanks for the comments.
I feel lucky to be just a few minutes from so many different roads & trails.
Go east and I'm in the mountains. West to the desert. South to Moab. North to Idaho.
 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Took another trip back up the mountain with some friends from UXOC and another friend from work (the jeep guy).
Everybody wanted to see and photograph the flowers before thy were gone.

Went up Farmington canyon, North to the towers. Further north to the Smith creek lakes. Fun and challenging trail. Then back across skyline drive and dropped back down into Bountiful and home.

Stopped several times and took lots of pics. Got in a pretty heavy rainstorm on the way back out with some close lighting (not a good thing when on top of the mountain).

Great afternoon with great friends!!





Awesome van (I want one!)













Getting dark as the rain comes









 

gorillamel

Lockers Installed
Founding Member
Location
Idaho!
Great photos! I love the history of the plane crash site. Glad they keep its memory going. We have a site like that in Idaho. Immediately after WWII (I think), a B-25 crashed in remote country N of McCall, ID. You can hike in to see the crash site along Loon Lake. It is utterly beautiful out there and totally worth the 7-mi one-way hike in.

I hope the weather is agreeable for me while I explore the wonders of N UT. Thanks for all the ideas!
 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Took the newly titan swapped X out for a shakedown run before a couple of upcoming trips to Southern Utah this fall. Wanted to make sure everything is ok and see how the ride is with the new suspension.

Myself, Dave (Blind Io) and Rob (IM1RU) and our SO's headed out on about a 250 mile run thru the beautiful Uinta mountains of Utah and Wyoming.

Stopping to air down right on the SW corner of Wyoming's border with Utah.
"Rains a comin!"



Stopping in a meadow for a break. Rain just starting.



Where we're going



Obligatory splash thru the stream pics




Stopping at a ranger station on Mirror Lk Hwy for lunch out of the sprinkles


River crossing








Spectacular views



On the way back, My turn.









And Rob









Some of the old cabins at the commissary







Apocalyptic looking pic... WYO windfarm off in the distance



Back where we've come from, looking at north slope of the Uintas





Old charcoal Kilns of Piedmont Wyo.



What little is left of the town of Piedmont







 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Took a trip out to our barren west desert last sunday. Myself, Blind Io, IM1RU and cobraNutt from ExpeditionUtah headed out to a basically a large mountain range "island" out in the mud flats remnants of lake Bonneville from 14k yrs ago.
The Newfoundland Mountain range has only one access, as the mud flats are typically impassable and bottomless, unlike the famed Bonneville Salt Flats.
That access is via the Lucin Cutoff which goes across the Great Salt Lake and all the way to Nevada to the west. Very remote and seldom explored, caution and preparedness is crucial. No cell phone coverage out here!

Heading out across the causeway from lakeside. To infinity and beyond!


Stopping by the Hogup pumping station, that was used to lower the Great Salt Lake in the 80's at it's highest levels by pumping the water out into the vast west desert mudflats to evaporate.


Further west to Nevada.. Flat as flat can be.


First stop at the foothills of the Newfies, staying off all the surrounding access roads that are almost at the mudflats level, wet from recent rain.



Trail up one of the small canyons where silver mining occurred throughout the early 1900's and again in the 50's.



A look back from where we came from


Ever see the movie "tremors"? I think I found one of their carcasses...


Up another canyon with "Rain's a comin!"



Quartz mine



More recent mining camp, equipment.




This mine was up in the cliffs, and they had an overhead tram & ore bucket for transport. Started hiking up, but the rain started coming down very heavy and it was time to go.


Back out at the access road, a few lbs heavier with all the mud accumulated that was not a problem going in a few hours earlier. Slid off the road twice in slo mo with the chocolate donut tires....


A few miles north in Big Pass on the summit, and the cloud cover just cleared so we could see.


Earlier pic in the fog




Monument point in Promontory. The transcontinental RR running a few hundred yards behind us. The Golden Spike monument is just on the other side of the opposing mountains.
To get to this point, part of out route of about 20 miles was over the actual transcontinental railroad bed. This route was abandoned when the lucin cutoff was built across the lake (where the earlier RR pics were taken from) so it shortened the route about 50 miles and got rid of some steep grades for the locomotives.

Yes, those are pink clouds, probably reflection off of the lake which has a red hue in many places



Looking north from Monument point north into Idaho



Great trip with great friends. About 300 mile round trip to circumnavigate the great salt lake, and about 12 hr day.
Lots more to see in the Newfies, but we need to make it a two-day trip and do a day on each side to explore all the mines and sights. I still have not seen it all.

Dave
 

Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Still processing photos, but have a few done now (mostly X related one so far).
Awesome trip, spectacular scenery and weather. Some trails still a little tore up after the couple weeks of monsoon and flooding they experienced (so glad I didn't go then as originally planned).

Up on Lake mtn overlooking most of Capitol Reef




Beautiful fall colors fully present



Waterpocket fold along Notom/Bullfrom rd


Grand wash



Near the onion beds along burr trail



Cathedral valley loop



Old well drilling rig








 

Ocala X

Test Drive
Location
Middleburg, FL
I was in Capitol Reef a couple of years ago, w/o the X :sad:...I was just there a day and just like all places in southern Utah, I wish I could have stayed longer...just incredible beauty. Thanks for sharing Max.
 
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