The plaque usually has a quotation from someone's journal that is appropriate to the site. As usual, once you see one, you start to see more and more of them. With a little assistance from the googler, I learned these were installed by the Utah Crossroads Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association. Turns out their mission is historic trail preservation. They identify and mark the significant emigrant wagon trails.
I have been collecting these in photographs as I find them. Many of those have been on the Hastings Cutoff Trail. It is infamous for the Donner Party's disastrous trip to California. The Cutoff was supposed to be a shortcut across Utah. But I digress.
In May, I like to the do the big loop: Salt Lake to the west side of the Stansbury Mountains, south down Skull Valley to Dugway, east over Johnson Pass to Rush Valley, then back north to Tooele on the west side of the Oquirrh Mountains, or if I have the time and energy, I'll continue on to the east side of the Lake Mountains and take the Utah Lake route back to Salt Lake.
On the first leg of the trip there are rail signs at Timpie Springs and Horseshoe Springs for the Hastings Cutoff.
Last week, as I was headed south through Skull Valley, I decided to take the dirt road up to 8 Mile Spring. I hadn't been there and thought, why not?
You look at this landscape and wonder what the emigrants were thinking. Miles of scrub with yet more mountains to cross on the other side. Eighty miles of desert to cross with no water.
The mountains in the background are the east side of the Cedar Mountains.
The following day I traveled further west on I-80 out to Aragonite looking for a Hooded Oriole. The surprise of the day was finding a small herd of wild horses.
It didn't dawn on me until I got to the top of the pass from the west that I was looking down on Skull Valley, where I was the day before.
Today, I went east from Salt Lake up Big Mountain Pass to East Canyon Reservoir then over to Henefer and Morgan.
Here is the terrain they had to manage in wagons to get down to the Salt Lake Valley.
About 12 miles to the east is another marker.
I have found about eight markers on the Hastings Cutoff so far.
For those who enjoy following my Desert Rat routes, here is a map with some of my most traveled/favorite west desert routes marked with a yellow highlighter. And no, you can't drive it in a single day.
I enjoy these adventures. They are a combination of birding, geology, botany and history. Fun stuff however you look at it.
