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The Oquirrh
Mountains (page three)
Tooele County, Utah
Feature by Jim Drysdale
Led
Zeppelin on Lion Hill,
a Real-Life Hero, and The (Still) Hidden Stonehouse - Ophir
Most hikes start out slow and just drag on with tedious thoughts banging around in ones' head. Along these lines, I've been stuck at times with bad, bad songs - of which I could never seem to shake. Try this little evil trick to a hiking bud sometime… Sing out the cheesiest of songs at the start and see if it doesn't stick to their brain like glue. Anything from the Partridge Family or Carpenters will surely make them crazy. Save the Brady's theme song for someone who really deserves it.
On this note and purely out of shear luck, my little jaunt up Lion Hill (just above Ophir) was fortunate in that I passed a small group of campin' white boys (Utah's only breed). Seems as though they were ringing out Led Zeppelin, loud and clear through their big 'ol pickups' bathtub-size speakers. And this was indeed a blessing to me on this sacred Sunday morning. For I was a privileged man of the sort - being subjected to only the most select cuts from Houses of The Holy, Led Zep III and then IV.
Continuing up the mountain with only good thoughts bouncing around, I was quickly expunging the previous day's failed bit at mountain biking in Ophir. Following a sizable spending spree in attempts of upgrading my rig, only to flounder with screwed up shifting linkage and fight through the final insult of a chain that snapped and damn near lurched me over the front end, I was a defeated MTB-er. That baby's' going' to the shop (or over a cliff) real soon. All was not awash though, for on that previous day I met up with John Skinner. He's kind of a local hero in that he saved a boy who had been lost in one of the Oquirrh mines for 5 days straight! The sheriff had given up, and had a dozer poised and ready to close off the opening for good. They had written the missing child off as dead and thus gave up on the search. But John stepped up, and as the dozer waited, found the poor lost and scared trooper-of-a-kid… alive! The local news did a piece this year (now several years later) to see how this now grownup kid is doing. It turns out he's fine, and definitely owes his life to John Skinner. Note: John is a historian and a photo-collecting aficionado of the old times. Sometime in the near future, expect to see a book(s) authored by him on the various old mining towns of the Oquirrhs. I told him I'd be the first person to purchase one.
Buckhorn Tram house area from across Ophir Canyon. Note: steep
tailings slope that Julie took me straight up!
These photos were
taken on Sundays' hike up to an old stone shelter, of which I could
not locate. As you can see, springtime in the Oquirrhs is quite beautiful.
The flowers are here in full bloom. The aspens are a rich green and
the weather, perfect.
l
The riding looks great in this area. Climb - long and tough, but doable. I shall return here later and am stoked on the downhill bomb off this mountain. I can picture it now…two hours up, ten minutes down… Sweet! Happy Exploring.
Atop Lion Hill, just to the south of Ophir - but way up above.
The old stonehouse is to the west, down the ridge, and through thick
brush and very steep drops... It is virtually undetectable (without
the aid of someone who knows the area well).
Return
to Oquirrhs, page 1
Return
to Oquirrhs, page 2
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