It was a challenging day as far as timing goes; however, I managed to get three things checked off of my list today, granted the items were pretty low-hanging fruit, but I'll take almost any kind of win today.

I've been asked to do a video conference presentation a few weeks from now, and unfortunately, my brain has already slipped into preparation mode. I say, unfortunately, because my brain seems to believe it does its best thinking at 4:00 am. So, after tossing and turning for half an hour, I finally rolled out of bed and turned on the computer. I make a few notes, and after about an hour, I crawl back into bed, sleeping until 8:40 am. It's a weird schedule, and I'm sure I've pinned enough on these pages for you to understand.

The temperatures have dropped dramatically within the past week, dropping snow and freezing gardens and orchards. These transitional weeks between hiking and skiing always make it challenging to get a handle on where exactly to go hiking; however, today, I've decided to head south. The temperature in the St. George area is supposed to be mid 70's, and I have two peaks between St. George and Beaver Dam, AZ, that I have already scouted out during a road trip after knee surgery.

It wasn't until I saw the first "road closed" sign that I realized my mistake in trying to exit onto St. George Boulevard. For the second time, St. George has been selected as the location for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships. The event drew massive crowds, and traffic reached a standstill with significant city arteries blocked for the race. An alternate route exists; however, I must make it through town and back onto the freeway to drive to my intended hiking location. The detour takes me almost an hour.

Driving the alternate route takes me into Arizona and the Virgin River Gorge. The gorge is a beautiful stretch of a highway if you enjoy desert mountains. The freeway follows the deep valley cut by the Virgin River through a geological Armageddon. It is difficult to imagine the sheer amount of energy released during the upheaval that created the Tetris of mountain-sized blocks. I've climbed most of the peaks on the freeway's western side, and the sharp angles and fault lines are a wonder to behold.

Another slight delay as I passed road construction on one of the bridges, and I'm glad I was not in the northbound lane as traffic was backed up for several miles. I exit from I-15 just past the bridge construction onto old CR 91. Before Arizona decided to build the freeway through the gorge, CR 91 was the main route to Las Vegas. This gentle hill I'm currently driving up was referred to as Utah Hill and probably caused more truckers' death's in its day than any other location. Southbound, the slope is deceptively shallow until speed and brakes are overwhelmed. Technology has dramatically changed the trucking industry, and runaway trucks are uncommon today.

“OHV trail view of West Mountain Peak” copyright BrickBarnBlog2022

The dirt road west sits at the apex of a turn making the lane crossing dangerous until the last minute; thankfully, no one is behind me as I slow down and turn onto the unspecified but well-maintained gravel road. Signs point the way to Lytle Ranch and a hunting preserve; however, I'll only be heading a few miles to UNP4186. The route travels through a high saddle which should make the ascent up this unnamed and unranked peak pretty straightforward.

Hunters. Two hunters are sitting under a tree near where I was going to park to start my ascent. One hunter watches the hillside of 4186, and the other watches in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, I had forgotten it was deer season, and I needed at least a stitch of orange on me to go trapezing around in an area where high-powered rifles exist. So I follow the road west for a while before turning around and heading back to CR 91.

I take the backroads through Gunlock instead of backtracking to St. George for fear of more road closures and stop in Veyo for some pie (check one). Thankfully UT 18 appears to be moving traffic in both directions, and I travel north to Enterprise, where I eat a hamburger at Marv's (check two). By now, it's almost 2:30 in the afternoon, and I text Linda to let her know everything is okay. Generally, I would have texted her by now, informing her of my location before starting a hike. But instead, I told her I was eating a late lunch and would be home soon.

I have seen the old wooden sign pointing down the dirt road toward a Jefferson Hunt monument for years, and today I decided to make the short drive and see what the fuss is all about (check three). Jefferson Hunt was a pioneer, frontiersman, brigadier general, California state assemblyman, and Mormon. [1] He has monuments scattered throughout the area and along the Spanish Trail. This monument marks where a wagon train Hunt led split with all but seven wagons electing to go in a different direction. A placard states that the wagons who left Hunt became part of "the epic story of the Death Valley 49ers." [2] I've never heard the story, but it sounds exciting and something I'll want to read about further.

I finally arrived home around 4:00 pm. I'm tired. However, it always feels good to get out of the house and see some fantastic sights in my own backyard.

Written October 29, 2022

References:

[1] Jefferson Hunt. (2022, April 25). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Hunt

[2] Death Valley '49ers. (2022, August 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_%2749ers