We saw Heyburn in the mirrors as we departed that ordinary place. There was a truly beautiful sunset last night which did not show up until after I posted my blog so maybe that place does have some admirable features. We headed south on I-84 from Heyburn towards Logan, UT. Peggy and I were last in Utah 35 years ago and we imagine there may have been some fundamental changes. One thing has remained unchanged: the scenery is gorgeous.
We started the day at about 4200′ elevation and I-84 took us on a steady climb to around 5500′ at a pass near the Utah/Idaho border and continued to have a few more rises up to over 5000′ elevation before we dropped down into an enormous basin where Peggy spotted a big section of dry lakebed of the Great Salt Lake west of the interstate. We continued until we turned north on I-15 for a few miles. We then turned east on UT-30 and made another climb from the basin up about 500′ over a ridge before making our final descent into Logan, UT. The view as you drive over the ridge into the valley where Logan is situated is spectacular; meadows and wetlands in the foreground, the city in the middle and a sharp rise east of town to a line of snow-capped mountains.
We pulled into the Traveland RV Park and right into our pre-paid, assigned spot. The park has a laundry, wi-fi and full hookups but no pool, lodge or gates. It is behind a Comfort Inn motel which pretty effectively blocks the sound from the four-lane highway passing on the other side. Since we traveled almost all the way on the interstate system, we arrived early in the day and had time to fool around after setting up our mobile estate.
Just east of downtown Logan some pretty impressive mountains spring from the flat valley floor. From the center of town the deep gorge of the Logan River runs between between two of the monsters and we took a drive up Logan Canyon, following the River. The change from bottomland to gorge is very abrupt and the walls are very steep consisting of almost entirely jagged rock except where bits of tenacious vegetation like small pines, junipers and aspen trees have gained a foothold. The road closely follows the river and climbs steadily to about 7600′ at the Bear Lake overlook. The view from this spot is pretty breathtaking with a big azure lake in the bottom and the Rockies on the top.
We lingered at the overlook for a while before turning around and heading down the canyon, watching the river cascading along and stopping at Rick’s Spring which is an enormous eruption of water about 10 feet across but not really a spring. It is actually an alternate route for some of the river’s water. They discovered this because folks used to come here to fill water containers with what they believed was absolutely pure spring water. When an ice dam blocked the river during a harsh winter, the spring fired up very early in the year and the believers all got sick from giardia which exists in the river. Fnork.
There are some active springs emanating from the gorge walls and they create some nifty waterfalls. The drive up and down Logan Canyon rates a 9.7 out of 10 on the Mystery Meter of Metaphysical Impossibilities.
Some pictures of the drive from Idaho and the trip up Logan Canyon can be seen by clicking here