cruiseroutfit
Well-known member
What a trip!
~200 miles in the dirt... plenty of laughs and lots of neat sites in Utah's lonely West Desert.
As a note, the Cedar Mountain Wilderness area was designated by Congress in 2005, sadly miles and miles of clearly historical roads have been closed to motorized access. With the exception of Rydalch Pass and Hastings Pass, there is no motorized entry to the entire range. We did skirt around the perimeter of the entire range, worth the drive but sad the spurs are all closed.
I can't help but feel a bit cheated, and disappointed at my apparent priorities in life. I did visit the Cedar Mountains in 2003, but it was a fast-moving trip and we stuck to the majority of the same roads we did this past weekend. Now, just a few years later all of the roads that actually pierce into the depths of the mountain are closed. I spent some time on GoogleEarth this morning looking at all the roads... amazing how far in some of them went, some looping back, inter-connecting. It was the last Wilderness designation in the United States, and was pushed through primarily to prevent high-level waste from being stored in Utah, a sad but ironic trade-off. I don't oppose Wilderness at all, I think this area deserves the protection, rather I wish they would have "cherry-stemmed" the existing and historic roads into the Wilderness. I believe it would have done little or nothing to the health of the Wilderness and the seclusion it would have offered would have been un-paralleled.
The highs and lows
High:
Bacon Cheeseburger at the Silver Sage Gas Station
Passed 3-4 vehicles and 2-3 other campers in the entire range
Good times spent with good freinds
Brats with sautéed onions
Low:
$4.26/gal gas in Delle, Ut.
$2.79 ice cream sandwich in Delle, Ut.
No gas in Vernon, Utah, out for a couple days
Having to leave for home
~200 miles in the dirt... plenty of laughs and lots of neat sites in Utah's lonely West Desert.
As a note, the Cedar Mountain Wilderness area was designated by Congress in 2005, sadly miles and miles of clearly historical roads have been closed to motorized access. With the exception of Rydalch Pass and Hastings Pass, there is no motorized entry to the entire range. We did skirt around the perimeter of the entire range, worth the drive but sad the spurs are all closed.
I can't help but feel a bit cheated, and disappointed at my apparent priorities in life. I did visit the Cedar Mountains in 2003, but it was a fast-moving trip and we stuck to the majority of the same roads we did this past weekend. Now, just a few years later all of the roads that actually pierce into the depths of the mountain are closed. I spent some time on GoogleEarth this morning looking at all the roads... amazing how far in some of them went, some looping back, inter-connecting. It was the last Wilderness designation in the United States, and was pushed through primarily to prevent high-level waste from being stored in Utah, a sad but ironic trade-off. I don't oppose Wilderness at all, I think this area deserves the protection, rather I wish they would have "cherry-stemmed" the existing and historic roads into the Wilderness. I believe it would have done little or nothing to the health of the Wilderness and the seclusion it would have offered would have been un-paralleled.
The highs and lows
High:
Bacon Cheeseburger at the Silver Sage Gas Station
Passed 3-4 vehicles and 2-3 other campers in the entire range
Good times spent with good freinds
Brats with sautéed onions
Low:
$4.26/gal gas in Delle, Ut.
$2.79 ice cream sandwich in Delle, Ut.
No gas in Vernon, Utah, out for a couple days
Having to leave for home
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