Northern Landscapes

Exploring Cache Valley

/ Andrew McAllister / 6 Comments

Cutler Dam area, Cache Valley Utah. Taking advantage of a winter storm that was blowing into Northern Utah I revisited some areas that could benefit from some drama in the sky. Between Gunsight Peak and the northern end of the Wellsville Mountains is an area with dramatic cliffs with velvety hills and washes. The landscape of this area has fascinated me since moving to Cache Valley. Unseen from this view is a large dam and power plant tucked between the cliff and the river. The area has walk-in access for hunters, I need to find out if I could walk-in for photography or wildlife observation. If not maybe I could get a hunting license, register to walk-in and then “hunt” for photos and “shoot” them. Until then I’ll respect private property and stay on the road.

Technical info: Images captured with a Nikon D300s and 45mm PC-E lens and processed in Lightroom 4.

Soundtrack for gloomy weather photography: Crime and the City Solution and Nick Cave and the Badseeds.

The West Hills in Northern Utah

/ Andrew McAllister / 1 Comment

The West Hills of Northern Utah

The West Hills are just north of Tremonton, Utah and cradled by I15 and I84. The gorgeous rolling hills have many photographic possibilities. I’m glad that I live close to this area and look forward to visiting then in different seasons. The route I took was 30 west out of Logan to Riverside and then up north toward Plymouth and then west again toward Nucore Steel. From there the road changes to compressed gravel and you enter Johnson Canyon. The canyon is basically a route through the gently rolling hills, nothing like Logan Canyon or anything in Southern Utah. The area is a Cooperative Wildlife Management Area with No Trespassing signs about every 100 yards, must be a popular hunting area. After a short drive you arrive in Whites Valley. At the only intersection you choices are head West to go to the Let The Good Times Fly Hunting Club or head South and end up at Exit 32 (Ranch Exit, no services) on I84. At that this point I could have gone south on I84 toward Tremonten and then back to Cache Valley via Riverton or Brigham City. I chose to back track to get a second look at Nucore Steel and drive a road that two old guys I talked to earlier in the day suggested. That road is Short Divide and it crosses Gunsight Peak on the north end of Cache Valley. From that road there are some good views of the Wellsville Mountains. I was lucky that the road was open as it is listed as closed winters and it was clear most of the way. A few stretches that get no direct light had some serious ice to contend with. I’ll defiantly be back when it warms up. This area has some hiking possibilities.

Camera: Leica M8 w/ Zeiss zm 50/2

©2011 Andrew McAllister (text and images)

That big smiling face above Logan Utah

/ Andrew McAllister / 6 Comments

This past summer as a new resident to Cache Valley someone pointed out to me a passive repeater above Logan that had been painted with two eyes, a smile and a mustache. It’s one of those things that once I know it’s there I’m either seeing it or looking for it. As it happens this object is about  3/4 mile away and 1,500 feet above where I live. The repeater is on Saddleback Mountain on the Eastern side of Cache Valley in Northern Utah near the USU Campus and the mouth of Logan Canyon. This smiling radio reflector with the ironic mustache has been challenging me to go visit it and see what it’s all about.

For whatever reason things like this attract me. Possible reasons include; because it’s there, it looks different and someone else climbed up there. Deeper thinking reveals reasons like; being subjected to the landscape of post industrial Akron Ohio as a young artist I have a predisposed interest in scraps of industrial hardware cluttering up an otherwise pristine landscape. Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that it looks really cool and is a popular subject / object in contemporary landscape photography that I participate in. Whatever the reason, I decided that a cold grey and foggy day in December would be the day I made the trek.

Ever since the thought of going up Saddle Back Mtn. to visit the smiling reflector I have looked for possible routes with no obvious conclusions. The only thing to do was just do it. The first section of the hike was following game trails out of a wash on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Very steep with loose rock everywhere.  The game trails look easy to follow from below but you quickly realize the advantage 4 legs and pointy hooves. Once past this steep area the land leveled off in an area of burned out Juniper. It is here that I came upon a group of deer about 30 strong. Needless to say we were both surprised. Being a fan of the Mule Deer I stopped for sometime and watched them before taking out my camera to photograph them. Not wanting to scare them away, after all I’m in their neighborhood, I altered my route and walked slowly as I wanted to get closer for some more pictures.

Looking up into the fog above I tried to figure out the best possible route up the increasingly steep mountain side. Unlike the beginning of the hike, the Juniper in this area were all dead and weathered due to a fire a few years ago. So in addition to the steep incline and loose rock now I had to figure the best way through fallen down Juniper. I might add that at this point I am in the fog bank with just a few hundred feet of visibility. Looking up to my destination, nothing but white. Looking back where I came from, nothing but white. At this point the hike started to take on a sublime feeling with fog above and below, hoar frost with really large crystals on plant surfaces and feeling that I was being watched.

After carefully checking my surrounding for any critters that may be watching I pressed on up the mountain into even thicker fog. From my research looking at maps and Google Earth I knew that I may be getting close to the destination. However with the fog who could tell. Something about the density of the fog in front of me gave me hope that I might be close. As I stood there I could just barely  make out a strait vertical edge. Something man made in the fog. Then it disappeared. With the optimism that I was close I moved forward through the thick fog. Eventually things cleared just enough to confirm my suspicion that this was the reflector I was searching for. The ground quickly turned to compacted snow about 12 or so inched deep as I neared my destination. Success!

So there I was in front of the large smiling reflector with the ironic mustache. The object I had focused on for the past few months was now less of a mystery. As expected, I found a good bit of graffiti on the backside of the reflector. Names and dates of others who made the trek. Most of whom I’ll guess were teenagers from Cache Valley. I’d like to thank Cody who visited on 10/14/10 for the fine job he did writing his name on the rock outcropping directly behind the reflector. Your work really adds to the experience. Who knows, maybe Cody’s fine signature will inspire others to make this place look like the rocks at the base of Parlays in Salt Lake City. Personally I hope not.

Checking the time I figured I had over an hour before it would become dark. Not knowing how long it took to get here was a minor concern, but then going down is faster. Well, yes and no. It seems the fog had become a bit thicker for one then there is the issue with all that loose rock. Just watch your step and you will be fine.  Since this whole hike was a bush whack there is no defined return path. So time to start picking a route. Not as easy as it seems as the way down presents its own issues. Since you are moving faster it’s much easier to slip so you need good footing (assistance from a good hiking staff helps too). The terrain looks different too. The chute I was following at one point became filled with a thick fog a totally disoriented me for a few minutes and I had to backtrack a bit. Being able to keep it together and being rational helps in those stressful moments when you think you are lost. In my case the thick fog gave me doubt of where exactly I was and how much time had passed. I had to force myself to go back and follow my intuition of where I had come from on the way up and not just react to what I was seeing visually. After maybe 50 yards I recognized my original route. The Mule Deer were still in the area and the fog was thinning so I could now see a much greater distance. Relief.

After spending some time watching the deer I started toward my final decent to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. From my location I was treated to a scene that reminded me of the Bruegel painting The Hunters in the Snow. Stopping to take this in was a treat. So much to see from this elevation. The last part of the hike was just as bad as the first part now in reverse. Very steep and very loose rock. I took as fast a necessary and as slow a possible. This area required thinking out the route carefully and throughly. In the future I’ll find a route that bypasses this area.

In conclusion this little trek was 3/4 mile one way with a 1,500 Ft. gain in elevation. 100% bushwhacked and 100% worth it. Parts were literally sublime. The natural world as beautiful and frightening at the same time. As I write this a day later SaddleBack Mtn. is still socked in with thick fog and I am planning my next journey. This time to the top and not one but two repeaters.

 

Update: As of June 2012 the smiling passive repeater has been removed from the mountain.

Camera: Leica M8 w/ Zeiss zm 50/2 & zm 35/2

©2011 Andrew McAllister (text and images)

First Snow

/ Andrew McAllister / 2 Comments

After months of sunshine finally Northern Utah had a few days of rain and clouds in the forecast. A storm coming up from the south decided to bring some cold temperatures and snow at higher elevations. As it started late Wednesday I took a quick drive up Green Canyon (I’m based in Cache Valley) to see what was happening at the higher elevations with regard to weather and road conditions. The next afternoon as the cloud cover started to pull back a bit I could see that indeed elevations above 6000 had snow cover. I decided to head out to Blacksmith Fork Canyon and see how the snow was mixing with the fall color and the cliff faces. I found a few good spots to photograph along the way toward Hardware Ranch. About half way there the clouds and cliff faces were looking good near the Left Hand Fork of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. I decided to check it out and maybe go as far as the old ranger station that I had photographed this past summer.

Road conditions were generally ok for the weather. A little sloppy in areas but those spots were few and there were a few ranchers working in the area with much larger vehicles and trailers so I figured the roads were acceptable. Stoping for photographic opportunities and the occasional group of cattle in the road we made it to the old ranger station in good time. After a few shots I decided to go to up to the junction of Herd Hollow and see how that was. At this point the the roads were in good condition, compacted dirt and gravel mix with larger rocks here and there and not sticky at all. Now this area is listed on some maps as a 4×4 road and on a ShoShone Trail map from the Forest service it is listed as most difficult but not ATV only. I decided to give it a go, soon I came to a sign saying that the road was not suitable for passenger cars 6 miles ahead. Since the Nissan Xterra has higher clearance than a passenger car we kept going. Now this road passes two springs and runs along the base of Boulder Mtn. ending at the junction of trail 3 (Shoshone trail map) which is rated easiest. If we could make it to the junction and the steep hill out of the canyon was passable this could be a round trip to Hardware Ranch. But was not to be the case this time.

A few miles up the road I came to a point where it looked like trouble could be ahead. I got out and walked the road for a bit and it appeared that no full size vehicle had bee through there in some time. The good part of the road had been used for ATV “cars” that have a sightly larger wheel base than an ATV but smaller than a truck. The trail had a steep bank on the left side that a truck could drive on without tipping and the right side had pretty thick cover of vegetation. Now this part was technically doable albeit with some major scratching on the right. The situation as I saw it was there was no way I was going to back out of this spot should the road be not passible up ahead as the sign at the trailhead had suggested. It was just me and my dog Mirabelle, and there was nothing she could do to help in a situation should one arise. Had I been traveling with another vehicle or at least another person experienced in off highway driving maybe I could do it. Oh yeah and it was starting to snow again. Time to back out of here and stay on a more defined and better maintained road. We had seen plenty of gorgeous fall color and snow caped cliffs, had a nice drive and we not looking to do any camping do to getting stuck.

Back at the junction of Herd Hollow Rd. I had a decision to make. Either head back on the Left Hand Fork which I knew was solid or take Herd Hollow and end up in Logan Canyon. So the plan was to take Herd Hollow as far as we could and if passible end up at some nice locations to get shots of the snow and fall color. A short distance up the road and past the first cattle gate I came up to another truck. That’s good news. Some one else on the road should we get stuck and track to gage the road condition. Now I’m new to 4 wheeling and this was going to be the first time I heard the slipping indicator in the Xterra. The first sticky spot was just a dozen yards long so it was a bit of a warning of how the Xterra would handle these sections of the road. When on sold ground I stopped to take a few shots of the landscape and the road and pressed on. By the time we made it to the junction of roads to Logan Peak and Old Ephram’s we had driven a few more of these really slick sections. Not quite white knuckle but definitely not a casual drive. Having the tracks of the truck in front of me as a guide of where to go and where not to go was helpful on this first trip through the mud. I kept the truck moving a good speed so not to sink or loose grip but just fast enough to keep it under control. I wanted to make it though wile doing minimal damage to the road. I’m not a fan of people that just blast through these areas just to get the truck muddy and mess up the road. I also did not want to drive off the road surface and make the road wider than necessary.

The road down from the junction to Logan Canyon was well maintained and uneventful. A nice change and appreciated. From there we headed toward Tony Grove taking plenty of stops along the way to photograph the landscape covered with a thin layer of snow. Though this subject matter has been done before by many photographers it is such a nice visual that I just give in and go for it. Overall this first snowfall and our journey to look at it was a success. New places, experiences, appreciations and few good images along the way to remind and inspire more exploration of Northern Utah this winter.