Ghost Towns & Railroad Run 4-19-08

[sami]

With the purchase of the new rig comes the immediate desire to get out on a dirt road somewhere. Buying my 4runner on a Monday was torture, as it would be 6 days until I could get out for an adventure.

I picked up my fiance Jacey at 9:30am, and boogied north to Brigham City to meet up with Paul R and his wife Mariko, heading down from Logan, and John (SLC97SR5) and his wife Brooke coming from Kaysville. We grab some gas and grub at the Flying J, and a last minute stop to buy a replacement CB antenna, then we're off to hit the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Point.

We grab a map or two, and triple the pictures. We use facilities and gear up for a fun day down the original stretch of the transcontinental railroad that ran along the northern tip of the Great Salt Lake.

"Completed on May 10th, 1869, at Promontory Summit, the transcontinental railroad shortened the once expensive and arduous cross-country journey to four days at the relatively cheap cost of $100"

"In 1902, the Southern Pacific Railroad decided to shorten the route by crossing teh Great Salt Lake, which meant laying an additional 102 miles of track between Ogden and Lucin, including 12 miles of trestle over the lake. The route was not only shortened by 44 miles, it made the railroad track more level, saving fuel costs."

We headed out along the lake north, and north west. Along the side of the road lay countless railroad ties. Also littering the road, i mean everywhere, are big RR spikes, and nails left over from the RR that we would otherwise be driving on 139 years ago.

On down teh trail, we run onto a main road and get a bit dissoriented. We find some cattle ranchers, who were of absolutely no help at all. Paul did his best to explain to them where we were going, to which all they would say is that we were trespassing, which we weren't. Anyways, a quick look at our books, maps, and GPS had us back on track(no pun intended) in no time.

 

[sami]

We came up to a cool picture oportunity at a big rock sticking out into the salt flats... Paul or John might be able to add more about some history in this particular area.

The ladies in the crew.. Brooke, Jacey, Mariko

We move on, passing up on Locomotive Springs to make it further down the trail. Bombing down the original track, now road, we get outgunned by a Dodge Caravan doing land speed records, forcing us to eat his dust. Not be outdone for coolness, we posed for pictures on some of the cool bridges that are found along the way. These were super rad at first, but really you'll see them atleast every 10 minutes, usually more

 

[ttora4runner]

Never made it there last year. Looks like it was a good time.

 

[Paul R]

Sweet pictures and a good description! I'll wait for you to finish it all out then I'll add the few pics I took and any other info
A great trip

 

[sami]

We made it to Kelton, which started out as a camp of Chinese workers. Later transforming into an important junction between the east-west rails and northern coach trails. This town prospered in the 1800's, to be later cut off in 1904 as stated previously.

The only real remnants of Kelton are some building foundations, and the Kelton cemetary.

From here, we looked at the time and the maps to see how we were doing. With only 1/4 of our journey over, and itabout 3-4PM Jon decided it best to cruise back home to make it to work rather than call in. So we escorted him about 5 miles out to Utah 30.

Thanks for joining us Jon!!!

 

[sami]

Paul coming around the corner on the start down Red Dome. There is a 'Y' section of track that was laid here for the helper engines that would aide freight trains up the long pass.

Finally we reach the anticipated stop of Terrace. Terrace was home to many settlers and permanent facilities before the Lucin Cutoff dealt the Local economies their deathblow.

To back up for a second, the Lucin Cutoff was an $8 million project enlisting 3,000 men and a year and a half to complete. When finished in 1904, it signaled the demise of the original line that ran around the northern rim of the lake. Though this line was not the primary route, it did see occasional service during bad weather. The tracks were pulled for scrap metal to aide in war efforts in 1942.

Terrace thrived in the latter half of the 19th century, also serving as the Salt Lake Division of the railroad company as a repair headquarters. Terrace was one of the last towns to be built along the transcontinental railroad. Water was piped in from the Clear Creek Range, supporting the town. An eight track yard, 16 stall roundhouse and thousands of occupants used to be found here. This was a big town in the middle of nowhere.

The tracks out of Terrace heading West.

 

[sami]

After another 10 miles or so of high speed desert action, we came to Lucin. Lucin began the same as so many other towns, alongside the transcontinental railroad as a work camp, then into a flourishing town. The town moved 2 or 3 times over it's history finally resting on the west side of the tracks a few miles from it's original location. Lucin was renamed Grouse, and later dismantled and deserted in 1907. Suprisingly a couple moved back in who had grown up in this small rail stop, moving away in the early 90's. Not much is left of this town, but there were some intersting items to explore.

Two grain cellars are still in tact.

An old telephone booth still stands...

Aired up here, and caught Utah 30 about 5 miles away. Paul and I both had about a quarter tank of fuel, and no spare fuel cans. I know, I know we should've brought some, but neither of us really thought that in depth i guess. I know everytime I saw a 5 gallon can in my garage I had the thaught to grab it.

The GPS showed 70 miles to the nearest gas up spot. So, on we cruised for the 70 mile trek running on fumes. My gas light popped on about 15 miles into the paved road adventure portion of our trip. At about the point my gas light came on, we passed the cattle ranchers that we'd seen earlier who wouldn't help us with directions. So I wasn't going to stop and ask for a gallon of gas even if my motor died right there. Not knowing the acccuracy of my gauge, I knew i'd be lucky to make it under my own power.

On 'E' for nearly the entire time we actually make it to a gas station, where i filled up with 15.04 gallons. If i'm not mistaken, my '99 4runner has a 15.4 gallon tank? So, yeah we cut it close.

Awesome day trip! I think the next time we do it, we'll make it a two day'er. Camp near Lucin, and head south to Wendover via the dirt tracks, with loads more history.

Overall I put a total of 455 miles on the odometer this trip, 130 miles off-road. I averaged 16mpg on the trail, and tracked 22-23mpg on the way home from Tremonton.

**My historical "knowledge" was pulled from the book, Utah Backcountry Adventures - The Ultimate Guide To The Utah Backcountry For Anyone With A Sport Utility Vehicle. Written by Peter Massey and Jeanne Wilson... Great book, complete with GPS waypoints, pictures, descriptions, and maps..

-Jason

 

[Starscream]

Looks like fun, I'm glad to see you're enjoying your new 4-Runner!

-Matt

 

[Paul R]

Great report
Here are some of the pics I have...

Near Red Dome

Jaw bone of a sheep near Red Dome

Terrace Cemetary

Lizard in Terrace

Pile of spikes near Lucin

 

[Paul R]

Over all it was ~130 miles off road most of it was narrow raised railroad beds.
Here is the path we took via Google Earth Highlighting...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great report suckers

 

[Supergper]

Looks like a killer trip. Please tell me you stopped by the Spiral Jetty since you were right there That's pretty cool if you haven't ever seen it before.

FWIW, those road weave in and out of private property (Church owned), I've never had any issues from them but you very well may have been on private property. Those Ranchers have always proven to be worthless (but better than the sheep herders on the other side of the lake). I used to live during my fishing season up at Black Mountain in the bay there with Locomotive Springs.

 

[Maximus Ram]

Great pics..thanks for sharing.
I never could understand why people seem to think they need to "kill" a sign.
Wast of ammo and ruins it for the next traveler:gunt:

 

[Paul R]

Looks like a killer trip. Please tell me you stopped by the Spiral Jetty since you were right there That's pretty cool if you haven't ever seen it before.

FWIW, those road weave in and out of private property (Church owned), I've never had any issues from them but you very well may have been on private property. Those Ranchers have always proven to be worthless (but better than the sheep herders on the other side of the lake). I used to live during my fishing season up at Black Mountain in the bay there with Locomotive Springs.

We actually didn't go down to spiral jetty we talked about it, but decided that we would rather get on the trail since time was an issue... I want to go back and see it sometime...

It was a road that goes from Park Valley down to the tracks... I'm not sure if it was private property or not, but I was asking them how to get back to the tracks which are BLM and they just kept laughing and told me we were trespassing I told them I was sorry, and asked again how to get back and all they would say was I was trespassing. Lame!
It never ceases to amaze me how stubborn people can be...

 

[sami]

how many years did you do that Caleb? Next time we go i'll let you know. That way you can end up with a white DC taco, just like i ended up with a white 4runner ... it'll help appease some of these 'ExPo white' guys i kid i kid. That was a shot at Paul.

I too think it's stupid to blast signs. Alot of signs had the BLM logo blasted off of them, wierd... someone's runnin around with a 12 gauge and a vendetta..

-Jason