Chapter 6

The glory of U.S. 89 is its unmatched diverse scenery and the access it provides to some of the most spectacular landscape Mother Nature has to offer. The stretch of the highway that runs along Utah’s Wasatch Front is different altogether. Here, the highway becomes “State Street” for a series of communities and cities as it runs essentially parallel to Interstate 15 (and occasionally merges with it) from near Brigham City to Spanish Fork, a stretch of about 120 miles.

The metropolitan areas of Greater Ogden, Greater Salt Lake City and Greater Provo/Orem offer pretty much anything a metroplex of nearly 2 million people offers, from dining and culture to traffic and smog. It’s also served by the Salt Lake International Airport, a major Delta hub and easily the largest airport near U.S. 89.

Founded in 1847 by Mormon pioneers led by Brigham Young, Salt Lake City remains the worldwide headquarters of the church, now numbering more than 11 million members. Once settled in Salt Lake, Brigham Young sent out a series of groups to settle much of the rest of the Great Basin. Young envisioned a territory, called Deseret, that would stretch from Utah to California. Indeed, Mormon colonists eventually settled much of this territory, stretching all the way to present-day San Bernardino, California. Eventually, opposition to the church’s practice of polygamy caused new trouble for the church. It officially abandoned the practice in 1890 (though it wasn’t completely eradicated until the early 20th century, and renegade offshoots of the church practice it to this day), a prerequisite for statehood, which was granted to Utah in 1894.

Today, the state remains about 70 percent Mormon, though Salt Lake City is perhaps only half Mormon and has a non-Mormon mayor. The state legislature and Congressional delegation are almost entirely Mormon, which gives the church enormous indirect influence in the state’s politics. To this day, Utah remains one of the most confounding places to understand liquor laws, though it’s actually relatively simple to get a drink if you really want one and are willing to jump through a hoop or two.

Since the focus of our travels along U.S. 89 is what it offers to nature-lovers, we’ll leave it to others to provide details about the civilized offerings of the Ogden/Salt Lake/Provo metroplex, focusing instead of what wandering opportunities await nearby, running north to south.

In May of 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads came together at Promontory Point, about 55 miles northwest of Ogden in a desolate stretch of desert north of the Great Salt Lake. The completion of the transcontinental railroad meant the end of wagon trains crawling along the Oregon and California trails, where one in 10 travelers didn’t live to see the end of the trail.

The site is now home to a visitors center that features railroad memorabilia, open daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During the summer, visitors can see replicas of the two engines that came together when the two railroads met at Promontory, Jupiter and #119.

While we’re talking about trains, downtown Ogden features the largest historic district between Denver and Sacramento, Historic 25th Street, which runs adjacent to the old Union Station. The area has unique shops and restaurants, and Union Station houses several museums, including one featuring firearms created by local resident John Browning, who died in 1926.

First things first. Ogden City is in Weber (with a long “e” – Weeber) Valley. Ogden Valley is a short drive up Ogden Canyon east of Ogden City. Got it? Ogden Valley, then, is a mountain valley home to some of the alpine events for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Emerging from Ogden Canyon, you’ll come into the pastoral Ogden Valley, surrounded on all sides by the Wasatch Mountains, with the Pine View Reservoir serving as the centerpiece. This section of road is designated the “Ogden Canyon Scenic Byway” by the state of Utah.

Ironic for the heart of Mormon Country, Ogden Valley is home to the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity monastery near Huntsville. The monastery is known locally for its creamed honey, which is available in 14 flavors at a gift shop on the premises. Other products for sale, all prepared by the monks at the Abbey, include two-grain cereal, peanut butter and wooden bowls. The Abbey also offers on-site retreats for men only.

There are three ski resorts in Ogden Valley – Powder Mountain, Nordic Valley and Snowbasin. Not as well known as the resorts at Park City or up Salt Lake City’s Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, the resorts are locally popular and less pricey than their neighbors to the south.

Before leaving Weber Valley on our way to Salt Lake City, it’s worth mentioning one other stop – the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base. Just off of I-15 south of Ogden, the museum takes up 50 acres on the edge of the base, with both indoor and outdoor exhibits covering virtually the entire history of aviation. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is no admission charge.

The base is home to the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, and the base also does a lot of repair for a variety of aircraft for the U.S. and its allies. Air force jets regularly streak in and out of the base. Oh, yes, and Hill is Utah’s single largest employer with an annual payroll of $500 million.

U.S. 89 hugs the foothills of the Wasatch as it leaves Ogden and heads south. This vantage offers spectacular views of the Great Salt Lake to the west. At sunset it’s a particularly breathtaking site. This is probably as good a time as any to talk about this inland sea, whose myth may have outgrown its reality.

For example, tourist guides still say you can “float like a cork” in the lake’s salty water. Well, that may or may not be true, depending on when you visit. The saline content of the Great Salt Lake varies from about 5 percent, which is just a little higher than the ocean, to as high as 27 percent, which will truly make you bob like a cork. The lake’s salinity depends on how much water it contains. During high water periods, such as the mid-1980s (see Chapter 7’s section on the Thistle landslide), the saline content drops. During drought periods, the salinity increases dramatically. If you really want to try to float in the Great Salt Lake, try its north arm, which is saltier than the south arm.

The lake is salty because it has no outlet, so minerals that drain into the lake are concentrated as the water evaporates. A remnant of the ancient Lake Bonneville, the lake contains no fish, just tiny brine shrimp. When the wind comes up in the summer, the lake emits an unpleasant “rotten eggs” odor caused by decaying plant and animal remains.

Still want to visit the lake? Well, it does have a certain allure. If you’re determined to tell the folks back home that you went to the Great Salt Lake you’re best bet is the Great Salt Lake State Park, 16 miles west of Salt Lake City. It includes a marina and the old Saltair resort. Saltair was the place to be in the 1950s, when it hosted dances and other events. Flooding in the mid-1980s seriously damaged the resort, and it’s now run by the state. The park includes picnic facilities and some concessions, so if you want to see the lake, do it here.

By now you’re wondering about the Bonneville Salt Flats, the scene of many speed records at one time, and still the site of the “World of Speed” races every September. To see this site, head west on Interstate 80 for 90 minutes and you’ll find the Bonneville Speedway just before you get to Wendover. While you’re out there, sneak across the state line to West Wendover, Nevada and have a go at the slots or blackjack tables.

Back on U.S. 89, the highway descends from the foothills and merges with I-15 near Farmington, which is home to Utah’s only amusement park. The park is open weekends in April, May, September and October, and daily through the summer. You can take the interstate on into Salt Lake, but we recommend one brief detour – a stop at Nielsen’s Frozen Custard stand in Bountiful. You actually take the Woods Cross exit and go directly east, through several stop lights. As you head up a hill into the town of Bountiful, Nielsen’s will be on your left. It’s built like a 50s malt shop and offers a full menu of sandwiches, but you’re here for the frozen custard. They’ll have a featured flavor of the day or two, or you can order a “concrete”, a mixture of frozen custard and other goodies. Trust us, this is a rare experience – savor it. You’ll be back for more.

On down the road, U.S. 89 separates from the interstate just as it enters Salt Lake City, eventually becoming State Street as it heads south through Salt Lake City and its southern suburbs. Downtown Salt Lake is tucked against the foothills on the northern edge of the valley. The streets are numbered starting with Temple Square, where you’ll find the famous tabernacle (yes, of Mormon Tabernacle Choir fame), a couple of visitors centers and the granite-spired temple. Just up the street to the north is the state capitol. The downtown is pleasant and easy to walk, with two major shopping malls and a good variety of restaurants and other shops.

But the real objects of our interest are the mountains to the east of Salt Lake, rising nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, more than 7,000 feet above the valley floor. Jutting into these mountains is a series of canyons: Emigration, Parleys, Millcreek, Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood. The latter two provide access to four of the area’s largest ski resorts: Solitude, Brighton, Snowbird and Alta. Parleys Canyon accommodates Interstate 80, which provides quick access to Park City and the Utah Winter Sports Park, plus other ski resorts. The public lands in this area are managed by the Wasatch-Cache and the Uinta National Forests and have more than a thousand miles of hiking trails. A drive up any of these canyons is a pleasant diversion on a summer afternoon, or it can lead to some great backcountry hiking. Here’s a list of some options (as always, inquire locally and have a good topographical map before taking any backcountry hike):

Albion Basin. Well-known locally for its early summer wildflowers, this area near the Alta ski resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon is accessed via a two-and-a-half mile dirt road from Alta. From the basin it’s a relatively short hike to Cecret Lake, a beautiful small mountain lake.
White Pine Lake. The trailhead is about five-and-a-half miles up Little Cottonwood Canyon. The nine-mile round trip and climb of more than 2,000 feet to the lake affords views down into the Salt Lake Valley and beyond.
Desolation Trail. For a fairly easy hike that ends with great views of the Salt Lake Valley, try this one in Millcreek Canyon. Less than a mile into the canyon, the trailhead is across from Millcreek Inn restaurant. It’s a pretty steep climb of more than a thousand feet in less than two miles, but it’s a slow and steady series of switchbacks and pretty manageable.

This is just a sample of the hiking options along Salt Lake Valley’s canyon areas, which also offer some forest service roads for four-wheel-drive wandering in the summer. The Forest Service has maps and additional information.

For another type of outdoor experience, pay a visit to the world’s largest open pit copper mine on the west side of Salt Lake Valley. The Kennecott Copper Mine has an observation deck accessible via State Highway 48 (7800 South), open April through October.

Park City is on the backside of the Wasatch Front, an easy 30-minute drive from Salt Lake City. It’s easy to spend a day or two or a week at Park City, any time of year. The former mining town specializes in skiing and winter sports, of course, and was the hub for the 2002 Winter Games. It’s a great place to visit the rest of the year, too. Lodging ranges from standard motels to very expensive condos and homes. You can visit many of the venues for Olympic events or simply walk the town’s Main Street, lined with typical resort shops and restaurants. As is the case at most resort towns, it’s hard to go wrong when picking from among the hundred or so restaurants.

If you’ve got the time and inclination, there’s another wandering opportunity east of Salt Lake – the Uinta Mountains. The only major North American mountain range that runs east and west, the Uintas are tucked just under the Wyoming border in Utah’s northeastern corner. With peaks as high as 13,528 feet, the Uintas are Utah’s highest range. You can take an interesting loop drive out of Salt Lake for a daylong adventure to the Uintas to give you a taste of these spectacular mountains. Take I-80 east up Parleys canyon past the Park City exit to the turnoff for U.S. 40/189. Take this south to State Highway 248, which takes you west to Kamas. >From there, State Highway 150 (Mirror Lake Highway) takes you into the Uintas for the next 60 miles. There are many jumping-off points from the highway to take hiking trails or do some four-wheel-drive wandering. Probably the most popular destination is Mirror Lake, right off the highway about midway through the Highway 150 portion of your drive.

We’ll recommend one hike, though there are dozens of possibilities. About 11 miles outside of Kamas you’ll come to the North Fork of the Provo River. There’s a terrific trail that follows the river all the way to Crystal Lake, a distance of nine miles. Crystal Lake is very near the Mirror Lake Highway, so you can make it a point-to-point hike by starting at one end and arranging for a car at the other. (If you start at Crystal Lake it’s a downhill hike.) If you don’t want to hike the entire way, the hike along the river passes several waterfalls as it gradually heads uphill toward the lake – you can turn back any time.

You can make your drive through the Uintas a loop by taking the Mirror Lake Highway all the way to Evanston, Wyoming (where you’ll stop for dinner), and then catch I-80 for a 90-mile trip back into Salt Lake.

As you approach the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley, U.S. 89 – after taking you through the heart of the valley – connects with I-15 again to take you around the “Point of the Mountain.” Here, the Wasatch Range juts westward and separates the Salt Lake Valley from Utah Valley, and is the site of Utah’s largest prison. It can also be murder to negotiate on snowy days.

Just off of I-15 on Utah Valley’s northern edge is Thanksgiving Point, developed by one of the original founders of WordPerfect. Thanksgiving Point features a Johnny Miller-designed golf course, a world class dinosaur museum, a large-screen indoor theater (showing IMAX-type films), a restaurant, snack bar and a store selling a variety of home items.

U.S. 89 doesn’t re-emerge until you get to American Fork, about 15 miles north of Provo. From there, it runs through the middle of Utah Valley’s series of towns until turning south into Spanish Fork Canyon about 25 miles south of American Fork.

Utah Valley is home to Mormon-owned Brigham Young University, the largest private university in the country. It’s also a growing influence in the high-tech world as home to Novell, and was the place where WordPerfect was founded. There’s an enormous “Y” on one of the mountains east of Provo, the official symbol of BYU. The valley also is a significant fruit-growing region, particularly in the southern part of the valley near Payson and Santaquin. At its center is the shallow and murky Utah Lake. Many local residents head to more distant lakes and reservoirs for their water sports because of Utah Lake’s less-than-crystal-clear contents, though fishing for catfish and walleye is popular. Provo and Orem have a good variety of restaurants and lodging options. There’s a large water park in Provo and the valley has nearly a dozen golf courses.

Just as in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Valley has a series of canyons that are worth exploring, including American Fork, Provo, Hobble Creek and Spanish Fork. American Fork Canyon is the start of the valley’s best wandering opportunity, a loop drive that will emerge at the mouth of Provo Canyon. This is known locally as the Alpine Loop, a route that travels the backside of Mt. Timpanogos (referred to locally as “Timp”), an imposing 11,750-foot monster that dominates Utah Valley’s northeastern border.

To get to American Fork Canyon, take the State Highway 92 exit off of I-15 (this is before U.S. 89 splits from the interstate north of American Fork). The highway heads due west straight into American Fork Canyon. After just a few minutes in the canyon you’ll come to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Heavy use now makes it necessary to reserve a time (for a $6 fee) to hike to this series of caverns 1,100 feet above the canyon floor. Paving and many switchbacks make for a pretty easy hike despite the thousand-foot climb. Once inside, guides will take you through a series of rooms with amazing formations. The round trip is less than two miles.

Back on the road, you wind up the canyon until it forks. The left fork takes you to Tibble Fork Reservoir, a small, high-mountain reservoir with numerous campgrounds. We’re staying to the right, which takes us to the backside of Mt. Timpanogos. The road begins a serious climb now through aspens and coniferous forests. The aspens and scrub oak make for a spectacular show in the fall.

Just before the summit of the loop road is a turnoff to the Timpooneke (inexplicably pronounced locally as “timp-a-NOO-kee”) Campground, which also serves as trailhead to the Timpanogos Summit trail. Timpanogos’ summit is accessible to anyone in relatively good shape via an 18-mile round-trip hike and a climb of nearly 4,600 feet. The hike is pretty simple, requiring no special gear or training – just strong legs and lungs. By starting in early morning and carrying an adequate ration of food and water, the hike can be done in a single day. Some hikers climb the six-and-a-half miles to Emerald Lake to camp, then push onto the summit the next day.

Back on the loop road and just past its summit is a turnoff to Cascade Springs. Take this spur road to the springs, where you can enjoy a pleasant walk on wooden planks, asphalt and maintained dirt trails right through the springs, which emerge from the ground and begin a descent toward the Provo River.

Back on the Alpine Loop, we arrive at the Aspen Grove area, which is owned by BYU. Nearby is a public parking area and picnic ground that also serve as the trailhead for the most popular hike in the area, to Stewart Falls. Less than six miles round trip, the hike is pretty easy and ends with the payoff of a double-cascade waterfall and great mountain views. Go in the late spring for wildflowers or early fall for the reds and yellows of oak and aspen. The hike also can be a loop that ends at the Sundance resort if you have someone who doesn’t want to walk and can drive your car from Aspen Grove to Sundance. (Aspen Grove also is an alternative trailhead for the hike to Timp’s summit.)

Sundance, owned by Robert Redford, is a ski resort in the winter and a favorite place for dinner and live outdoor theater in the summer. There’s also a store selling some of the items from the Sundance catalog.

From Sundance, the loop road runs down a narrow canyon to Provo Canyon, where it connects with U.S. 189. For a pleasant diversion before returning to Utah Valley, turn left (northeast) and follow the edge of Deer Creek Reservoir into Heber Valley. This high-mountain valley has several small towns and resorts, including a couple of superb golf courses, one public and one private. Sundance also owns some acreage near Charleston here where it grows flowers and sells seeds and other tree-hugger goods.

In Heber City, check out two longstanding local favorites: Chick’s Café for good old-fashioned country café cooking, and Granny’s Drive-In for milkshakes. There’s an increasing number of high-brow restaurants in Heber Valley, but Chick’s and Granny’s will be a true taste of local culture. Heber City has an old train station where the Heber Valley Railroad runs. This 100-year-old steam engine railroad runs year-round from Heber through most of Provo Canyon and back, and has basic rides up to dinner trips.

To get back to Utah Valley and U.S. 89, head southwest out of Heber on U.S. 189. You’ll go past the turnoff to Sundance and on into Provo Canyon. About halfway between the Sundance turnoff and the mouth of the canyon is Bridal Veil Falls, a gorgeous double cascade just off the highway. There once was an aerial tram to the top of the falls, but it was wiped out in an avalanche and has not been rebuilt. Just before arriving at the mouth of Provo Canyon, look for a road on the left of the highway to Squaw Peak, a great drive that eventually turns to dirt and winds behind the mountains that carve out the eastern boundary of Utah Valley. The views are spectacular from many viewpoints along the drive, which is suitable for passenger cars until the pavement gives out.