BCNHA Pre-Trip 2010

This weekend was the annual pre-trip for next year's BCNHA field seminar. We have decided to concentrate on the natural history of some selected locations in the Salt Lake Valley. We were supposed to leave Cedar City at 10:00 AM, but we were a little slow getting out of town. We drove the back roads from Cedar City, along the Cricket Mountain highway north of Milford and into Delta where we stopped for lunch. We then drove north to Eureka, Goshen, and on into Santaquin. We picked up the "other" Larry Davis in Orem, and then went to Sandy after a stop at Cabela's.

On Saturday morning, we drove west into Herriman and Kenticott Copper. The mine is quite impressive, nearly three miles across and 3/4 mile deep.



There is a very nice visitor's center with a museum and gift shop. There are also some great outdoor exhibits and a mine viewing area. Bubb wanted her photo taken by a tire from one of the haul trucks they use to bring the ore and overburden up from the mine. They have to remove two tons of overburden to get a ton of the low-grade copper ore. The trucks run 24 hours a day.



There were several benches in our view that had been drilled for dynamite, and we hung around to see if they would set one off, but alas, it didn't happen. Bubb had a great time in the museum.



When we left the mine, we drove north to Clearfield and the causeway that takes you onto Antelope Island and the State Park there. The bugs were amazing and voracious, but we had fun anyway. We saw antelope, deer, shore birds, and, of course, buffalo. I couldn't get this guy to lift his head for a photo. They are very impressive animals.



After leaving the VC, we drove along the east shore of the island to the Fielding Garr Ranch house, which has been preserved. It was quite an oasis on the island, even more remarkable because it was in full spring beauty.



Bubby wouldn't get out of the car at this site, because of the bugs. They do love hairspray! I took lots of photos of the spring flowers for her, including this shot of some tulips that seemed just past their prime.



We filled in the rest of the afternoon we a variety of activities, and had a nice dinner in Sandy. On Sunday morning, we drove to Red Butte Garden's to take a look at Red Butte canyon, which lies immediately east of the garden. We will try to make arrangements with the Forest Service to get access to the canyon when we bring the participants next June. It has not had livestock grazing in over 100 years, which makes it a great range comparison because of its pristine conditions.

When we had dinner on Saturday night, Bubb announced to the waiter that Dr. Bowns was having a birthday. They sang to him, trotted out a saddle on a stand for him to mount, and brought him some ice cream to eat. Of course it wasn't his birthday, and he wouldn't have appreciated the attention if it had been. He looked Bubb dead in the eye and said, "paybacks are hell!" She spent the rest of the trip trying to schmooze him. I think he will wait for just the right time, and then exact his revenge. Of course I will continue to remind him that he owes her every chance I get!



Red Butte was absolutely beautiful. The spring flowers were impressive. I got lots of photos.

We drove south of SLC without a stop at the Utah Museum of Natural History, because their hours didn't match ours. We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon, which we will include in our trip. We stopped at In-n-Out in AF for lunch, dropped Larry off in Orem, and drove him via Thistle and Sanpete Valley, arriving home about 6:30 PM.

It was a great trip. Good fun, good friends, great weather. We always look forward to these outings.

Buboppy