I love going and observing out on the Wasatch National Forest Land south of Vernon, Utah. I've been going out there for over 15 years now. When I first went it was sparse, a few RV's and a few ATV's. I could usually find my favorite spot open, especially if I get there early. During the week, it has always been empty, especially from September through April except for the deer hunt and spring break. I still will go there during the week when I take a day off work to go out and observe. However, I am now on the hunt for a couple of new observing areas that are about the same time away and either the same in terms of darkness or darker.
So this last Wednesday, I finished my work at around 2 pm and I headed out to Utah's West Desert. Specifically I went to a location that I have observed several times in the past. It has been a while since I've been out there and I just wanted to see what, if anything has changed.
This area is the Cedar Mountain Wilderness. The Cedar Mountain Wilderness is a wonderful area to both observe, to hike and/or mountain bike. The Cedar Mountain Wilderness is located in northwestern Utah, United States, just south of Interstate 80. The vegetation on the upper elevations of the Cedar Mountains is dominated by junipers (referred to as "cedars" by early pioneers). The foothill and valley regions include mixed desert shrubs. Cheatgrass is prevalent over large areas burned by range fires. The remains of an aragonite mining camp can also be found in the foothills.
The Cedar Mountain Wilderness was officially designated by Congress and the President in January 2006 and is the newest wilderness area to be designated in Utah in over 20 years. It encompasses approximately 100,000 acres of public land 70 miles west of Salt Lake City, just south of Interstate 80. With the mountainous topography and large size of the new Wilderness Area, there are many opportunities to enjoy solitude, wild landscapes, and primitive recreation. Because of its location in the Utah West Desert, the Cedar Mountain Wilderness is often accessible even when other wilderness areas east of Salt Lake City are buried in winter snow. Visitors can see spectacular views of the Great Salt Lake Desert, Skull Valley, and the Stansbury Mountains. The more distant Deep Creek Mountains, Bonneville Salt Flats, Pilot Mountains, and the remote Newfoundland Mountains can also be viewed from higher elevations.
The Cedar Mountain Wilderness provides visitors with an excellent example of the Great Basin ecosystem that stretches from the Wasatch Front in Utah to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. This arid desert mountain range forms the western boundary of Skull Valley and got its name from the area's juniper trees which are sometimes referred to as cedars. Vegetation on the Cedar Mountains transitions rapidly from Great Basin salt desert shrub covered plains at 4,600 feet to sagebrush/juniper woodlands and native bunch grasses at elevations over 6,000 feet. Topography generally consists of flat plains and benches that rise rapidly to higher elevations characterized by rounded slopes and shallow canyons. Maximum elevation is 7700 feet. The wilderness area is long and narrow, running north to south for 32 miles along the length of the Cedar Mountains with a maximum width of only 7 miles. There are natural springs that support both native wildlife, livestock, and wild horses.
The Native Americans lived in and used the Cedar Mountains for hunting and gathering food for centuries. The first white European visitors were most likely trappers exploring the area around the Great Salt Lake. The first documented visit occurred with the John C. Fremont expedition sponsored by the U.S. Government in 1845. Lansford W. Hastings would later identify a portion of his shortcut route on the California emigrant trail across the northern portion of the Cedar Mountains, lending his name to Hastings Pass. This was an crucial part of the route of the ill fated Donner–Reed party and is an important section of the California National Historic Trail. The last water available to pioneer parties before the 80 mile waterless crossing of the Great Salt Lake basin to Donner Spring is located in the Cedar Mountains. You can actually drive up with a high clearance car up to Hastings Pass and see the wagon trail from these early Pioneers.
The Cedar Mountains wild horse herd can be found within portions of the wilderness. There are approximately 250 head of wild horses that frequent the area, mainly in the south. This herd is known for its physically large horses and for their beautiful colors. More info on Wild Horses. The Bureau of Land Management fills watering troughs for the horses when springs dry up in the summer. This artificial water supply benefits other wildlife species such as pronghorn antelope
Other wildlife found in the Cedar Mountain Wilderness include golden eagles, bald eagles (seasonally), mule deer, pronghorn antelope, ferruginous hawk, Swainson’s hawk, spotted bat, black tail jack rabbit, desert cottontail, bobcat, mountain lion, badgers, and the Skull Valley pocket gopher. I've copied this information from BLM website LINK.
The drive out from Salt Lake is on I-80. I get there by taking U-111 up to U-201 and then heading west on the 201 until it intersects with I-80 west bound. This is 24 miles. Once on I-80 I go west to Exit 56 which is 45 miles to Aragonite and then take that exit. Go to the end of that exit on the frontage road for .4 mile and then turn left and follow that road out to the Aragonite plant as you see in this image. Don't go there and if you do it is too far.
Here are some images of Hastings Pass.
This is at the top of Hastings Pass. The wagon trail you'll see in the photo's below are to the left. You can observe from a higher point up the road a ways.
This photo is looking down the hogs back ridge where the trail comes up from the east. The valley is Skull Valley and the snow capped mountains are the Stansbury Range with Desert Peak on the right. There is a place to observe up behind this to the right that is a little higher up and not on the wagon wheels.
This is the summit of Hastings Pass, after coming up on the summit the wagons had to turn and go down on the ridge of the summit just left of the big cedar by the right margin. You can still make out the trail which turns to the left by the 3 trees in the center of the photo. The emigrants had to build a dug way down past the 2 trees down into the canyon which is left of center then on down the canyon.
Some actually mountain bike the Cedar Mountain Road starting on either the west side or the east side and travel it in a full day ride. This give you a view of what the top of Hastings Pass is like and yes, there is a spot that you can observe up there without impacting an historical areas.
Okay, enough of that fun historical detour. Once your turn right unto Cedar Mountain Road you now drive 14 miles to Quincy Springs/Quincy Springs Road. Here is what the drive out looks like.
The road is very silty and is very fine. It is similar to the Lakeside Observing area I've gone to in the past. This fine, silty sand/dirt tends to get into everything. I should have taken pictures of my car, I had to run it through the wash twice and use my compressor to get the dirt out of the door frames.
When I observe out here I take extra precautions to ensure that the scopes are safe. I use a larger tarp or ground cover to stop the dust from getting into the mechanical parts. The next day after I am finished observing, I do a through cleaning of the scope and other items I use in my observation. The other issue with this is when this dirt/sand gets wet, it is very muddy, slippery and hard to drive in. If you do not have 4WD or AWD you stand a very good chance of becoming stuck.
Roading heading out and climbing
Up and around this turn and we come to Cedar Mountain Wilderness West Site 1. I'll call it CMWW Site 1. It is about 14 miles south from the turn unto Cedar Mountain Road. It takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get here.
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