Wasatch Cruisers -- West Desert Run -- 1/8/05

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Wasatch Cruisers headed out into Utah's west desert on Saturday for some mild wheeling. We met near Wendover Saturday morning at the exit for the Bonneville Salt flats and started out on the Silver Lake Mountain trail and went out to Mudflats to screw around on the muddy lakebed. We had mostly 80's in the group with a lone 40 and 62, a lone 100 series, and the bastard child Ford truck that somehow came along as well as Our leader Dave Connors in his Tacoma.

There were a few inches of new snow on just about everything that made for some ggod times. I think I averaged about 35-40 mph down the main roads hitting as high as 60 mph on a few of the straights. There were some slightly out-of-control slides through a few corners, but that made it fun. The lake bed was a blast and as soon as we hit it, our single file line of cruisers busted out in all directions throwing roosters of mud in all directions. My highlight was a 300' drift before my 80 finally changed directions. Ray Connors gut stuck early on in his 62 and we had to enlist Troy Demill and the winch on his 40 to get him out. I think everyone had aserious coat of mud once we left mud flats.

We made our way back the same way we went in and then got on the Wendover to Lucin trail. Lucin is now a ghost town but in it's existence was a railroad town that sprouted up when the central pacific railroad and southern pacific railroads were building the transcontinental railroad. Near the turn of the century the Lucin cutoff was built. This was a new stretch of railroad that covered about 200 miles and was built above the great salt lake. This new line was much faster and the old line that went around the west end of the lake was abandoned. As a result Lucin was deserted and now there's not much left at all. As for the old railway, it was torn up during the 40's and the iron was used to support the war effort. The railroad grade is left and the remnants of the railroad ties are still there off the side of the grade.

So after we hit Lucin he got onto the old tanscontinental railroad grade that continues north and east until Promontory where the Golden Spike National Monument is. From there it was back to I-15 and home. The railroad grade was really cool but a little nerve racking since there was snow and I was afraid of getting sideway with no room to correct and then going off the side of the grade. We all made it out without much trouble. From my house near Layton, Utah I travelled a total of 350 miles on the trip, with nearly 200 of those miles on dirt roads through the west desert. The other 150 miles were on the highway getting to Wendover and then back home after reaching the highway near Brigham City. Definitely a cool trip.



Sunrise on I-80 headed west to Wendover.

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Here's a satellite image of the area we covered. You can see the great salt Lake and there is an orange star near where my home is on the right hand side of the lake along I-15.

I-80 heads west just south of the lake across what was ancient Lake Bonneville (where the Bonneville Salt Flats speedway is now).

The orange line tracks our rout from Wendover north and east around the end of the lake past Golden Spike National Monument and back to I-15. All but about 3 miles of this was on dirt roads and railroad grade.

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Playing around at mudflats.

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One more from Mudflats and a good drift I had going. Not as long as my 300' one but it was still decent.

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Ray Connors stuck in his 62.

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Wendover to Lucin trail

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My boys chillin in the back of the 80 during one of the stops. They had a blast on the highspeed stuff and playing in the mud. Just like their dad.

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This is the sign when he got on the railroad grade around Lucin.

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While we were travelling down the railroad grade, we saw a sheep camp and Michelle asked me were all the sheep were. Within about 30 seconds we came around a bend and there was a huge herd of sheep with 3 big Great Peyrenes dogs keeping 'em under control. It was cool to watch the dogs move them across the tracks and out of our way.

[JasonH]

Cool. I'm jealous. There's no public land like that in Texas where you can just go explore.

[4x4Poet]

Wow! A mudrun, expedition trip, and historical exploration all in a day. Thanks for the good look. I was able to read most of the BLM sign.

[4x4Poet]

For the skeptics:

HISTORIC CENTRAL PACIFIC
RAILROAD GRADE 1869-1942

THE ORIGINAL GRADE OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD (THE PROMONTORY BRANCH) MAY BE FOLLOWED FROM HERE TO THE EAST, AROUND THE GREAT SALT LAKE TO GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, .. AND TO THE WEST ABOUT A MILE TO WHERE IT JOINS THE LUCIN CUTOFF AND THE REST OF THE ORIGINAL LINE TO CALIFORNIA. THE COMPLETION OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD AT PROMONTORY SUMMIT MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WESTERN EXPANSION OF OUR COUNTRY. IT LINKED EAST AND WEST, OPENED UP VAST AREAS TO SETTLEMENT, AND PROVIDED EASY ACCESS TO NEW MARKETS.
THE TASK OF CONSTRUCTING THE RAILROAD WAS ENORMOUS, REQUIRING SEVERAL YEARS AND UNTOLD HARDSHIPS. THIS 90 MILES WAS THE LAST STRETCH OF ALMOST 800 MILES OF CONSTRUCTION FROM SAN FRANCISCO. IT HAD A NUMBER OF DIFFICULT GRADES WHICH REQUIRED EXTRA ENGINES TO PULL HEAVILY LOADED TRAINS. THE LUCIN CUTOFF, CURRENTLY IN USE, WAS COMPLETED IN 1904. IT CROSSES THE LAKE BY TRESTLE AND BUILT UP GRADE, SHORTENING THE ORIGINAL ROUTE BY 40 MILES AND ELIMINATING THE DIFFICULT GRADES.

FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF THE CUTOFF,....

OK, so I couldn't read all the fine print.

[4x4Poet]

Originally Posted by JasonH

...There's no public land like that in Texas where you can just go explore.

Not even around Bib Bend Natl and State parks south of US90

[JasonH]

That's true, there are a few roads in the Big Bend parks. I've never been - it's on my short list of things to do soon. It's over 10 hours to get there from here though, so it's not really a weekend trip. Another cool trip is the Texas coast. You can drive along the beach for a long way.

I shouldn't say there's none, but there's not much.