UTAH - Oquirrh Mountain Snow Adventure

Coyote Canyon Limestone - Oquirrh Mountains

On the west flank of Utah's Oquirrh Mountains, there are several little known canyons where you can go exploring year round if you are willing to sweat a little. This area is BLM Land and part of a wilderness study area. There are no developed trailheads here but if you hike up the slopes here you will be rewarded with outstanding views of the Great Salt Lake to the north and the Tooele Valley to the west. The Tooele Valley you look down on from these slopes has been witness to the incredible saga of western emigration of this country back in the 1800s. Jedediah Smith, John C. Fremont, Langsford Hastings, The Donner Party, and thousands of emigrants and 49ers traveled the California Trail passing by Adobe Rock which is visible from the west Oquirrh Bench. The slopes of the mountains in this area are cloaked with gambel oak, sagebrush and cheatgrass. Higher up on the north east facing slopes, mature aspen / fir forests cling to the steep mountain sides. There are rocky shelves of limestone stacked upon one another in precipitous vertical relief. All along the knees of the mountains, the shoreline of ancient Pleistocene Lake Bonneville is cut into the strata. Over 10,000 years ago, a lake over 1,000 feet deep and the size of Lake Michigan filled this corner of the Great Basin rendering dozens of desert ranges into islands. When a heavy snow hits this area it is transformed into a winter wonderland. The Oquirrh Mountain west bench looms over the communities of Lake Point, Stansbury Park and Erda in Tooele County, Utah. This is a storied, rugged and picturesque land that offers unmatched sunset vistas over the Great Salt Lake. If you are ever in the area, this author recommends that you get off of the interstate and as John Muir once said "Go to the Mountains and receive their good tidings". The following are pictures from a Christmas Break 2015 adventure with my trusty companion - the 100 lb Black Lab - "Duke"

Snow Mobile Rider taking advantage of heavy December snow on Oquirrh Bench

Gambel Oak - These trees form thickets that are formidable obstacles for persons traversing this terrain. 

Gambel Oak remnant - Coyote Canyon - Oquirrh Mtns., Utah 
Frosted Fir Trees in upper Coyote Canyon - Oquirrh Mountains, Utah

"Duke" after trying to root a varmint out of deep snow

Good times! - Oquirrh Mountains, Utah

Duke and I enjoying a fresh winter snow - Oquirrh Mountain west bench, Utah

Just about got stuck here - Stansbury Island & Great Salt Lake in the background

Duke taking a break - Oquirrh Mountains, Utah

"DUKE"

Duke on Alert - Stansbury Island and Great Salt Lake in the background

Upper Coyote Canyon - Oquirrh Mountains, Utah

Almost back to the truck!

Gambel Oak Trunks

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