Miller Flat Group Site, Utah

     Also known as Lake Canyon Rec Area, Miller Flat Campground is in Manti-LaSal National Forest. Take 400 North East of Fairview. This turns into UT-31 E/Canyon Rd. Follow UT-31 about 17 miles. Huntington Reservoir will be on your right. About 1/2 mile past Huntington Reservoir will be Miller Flat Road on your right. Turn here. There are lots of campsites in this area, 11, 17, 24 and 41 are reservation sites, the rest are first come first served. Long trailers can be parked at many of these sites. Here is the link: http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Miller_Flat_Group_Site_A_Ut/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=75005
     The roads in this campground are wide gravel roads, fairly easy to navigate with large trailers.

Gooseberry Campground, Near Fairview, UT

     Gooseberry Campground is about ll miles east of Fairview. From Fairview on US-89, turn east on 400 north. This is UT-31 E. Go about 9 miles, turn left on UT-264 E at the Scofield sign and just to your left will be a large staging/parking area for North Skyline Dr. Drive north through that area and a sign says North Skyline Drive. Make a slight turn right after you enter Skyline Drive. Gooseberry Campground is about 2 miles down a winding dirt road. This is a small campground with vault toilets and potable water. It has 11 sites, 10 which are first come, first served and one (site # 4) is a reservable group site. The link is http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Gooseberry_Group_Ut/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70825&topTabIndex=CampingSpot
     The sites are pretty small. If you have a large trailer, sites 2, 3 and 4 are possibly large enough pull-throughs. Be sure to remove your trash as there are no trash receptacles there. If you don't want to camp in the small campground, there are areas just off North Skyline Drive where we saw some people camping just off the road.

May 27 Ride 14 miles Northeast of Simpson Springs

Carpet Phlox (Phlox hoodii)

The dirt road leading north from the Pony Express Trail Rd. we chose was at approximately N 40 degrees 08.452' W 112 degrees 36.221, elevation 5485 ft. This was a road that full sized vehicles use. On our way north, we passed a family camping near a hill with ATV trails going up and down. We rode for a few miles then went right on a smaller ATV trail toward the east. This area was mostly flat, gradually leading to foothills. We saw a herd of antelope feeding on lush meadow grasses on this trail.

Foothills Death Camas (Zigadenus paniculatus)

Vernal Daisy (Erigeron pumilus)

Milk Vetch?

Western Wallflower (Erysimum asperum)

May 27 Visit to Simpson Springs

Simpson Springs Recreation Area Sign

 
     (All information in this posting of our blog is found on signs at Simpson Springs) In 1845, it took six months to get a message from the east coast of the United States to California. By the time it arrived, the news was old. In the late 1850s, a half million people had migrated west, and they wanted up-to-date news from home. Something had to be done to deliver mail faster and to improve communication in the expanding nation.
     Competing with time, distance, harsh climate and hostile Indians, the Pony Express carried important communications from the East and the West across 2,000 miles between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California in only 10 days. The "Pony," as it was called, is an outstanding example of American Courage, endurance and determination in the westard expansion of the Nation. Speeding mail and news across the country, the Pony was then a vital lifeline of the nation. It is credited with playing an important part in preserving our nation by keeping California in the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War.
     Completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph Line in October, 1861, put an end to the Pony Express. The "talking wire" met the need for urgent communications and the Overland Stage served for general letters. Despite its high prices (up to $5.00 an ounce at its peak), the Pony Express was a losing enterprise from its beginning. Receipts were often high, but expenses were enormous. In spite of its contributions to the Union ant the westward expansion, the the Pony never received any financial assistance form the government.

Yet its founders, WH Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B Waddell felt the need was important, and the Pony Express operated in the red until it went out of business on October 28, 1861, four days after the first coast to coast telegraph message. The Pony Express captured the admiration, imagination, and hearts of people.

      Pony Express relay stations were from 10 to 35 miles apart along the route and each had two to four men and extra horses. About 500 of the hardiest western mustang horses were bought at prices up to $200.00 each. A healthy horse could run at a full gallop for only 10 to 12 miles, so the Pony Express needed to build many new stations in remote areas across the Great Basin. There were about 80 riders in all, and they were recruited from the most daring, determined and toughest “wiry young fellows” in the West. Lightly equipped and armed with a Navy Colt revolver, each man rode at least 35 miles in each direction, changing horses at three relay stations along the way.

      Over his saddle the rider carried the mochila, a leather cover with four mail pouches of letters. He wasted no time at the relay stations, stopping only for water and to transfer the precious mochila onto a waiting horse. Day and night, good weather and bad, winter and summer, the Pony Riders covered 10 to 15 miles an hour on their routes. Surprisingly, over the 18 months the Pony operated, (April 1860 to October 1861) only one mail pouch was lost and service was held up for only one month during the Indian Wars.

      Mark Twain wrote in “Roughing It,” published in 1872, about his encounter with a Pony Express Rider in the summer of 1861: “Every neck is stretched and every eye strained...Across the endless prairie a black spec appears...In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling – sweeping toward us – growing more and more distinct, and the flutter of hoofs comes faintly to the ear – another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm.”

Pony Express Monument at Simpson Springs

Pony Express Monument

    

     This monument shows the dates of the first and last couriers to visit Simpson Springs: "One of the important desert stations on the Pony Express and Overland Stage route...The first east-bound Pony Express Courier halted here about 5 P.M. April7, and west-bound about 2 A.M. April 10, 1860. The last riders passed about October 22, 1861..."