Last Day of Fall

With a storm approaching Utah and other states, and the end of our Indian summer, I decided to go riding out by 5-mile as the weather was suppose to be in the high 60's or low 70's. I asked Brad Harris if he wanted to go and he jumped at the idea. But when I got to his house, I told him that we could go to the desert all during the winter but not the mountains. He wasn't thrilled about the desert either and so we decided to take a ride up Lake Fork Rd. (south of Thistle). Brad had never been there so it was a new experience for him.

One of the many camping spots along Lake Fork Rd.

It was a little cool but the perfect day and perfect weather to be in the mountains 4wheeling. From Lake Fork we headed up to Smith's Reservoir. It was very muddy and slippery. There were several people out with their families and on one of the hills a guy on a banshee had to get a running start to get up. Mud was flying all over and it was fun to watch him and his kid get pretty muddy but they made it up to Smith's Reservoir. When we got to the reservoir there were already a few groups up there. We decided to ride around the pond and eat lunch on the north west side.

Smith's Reservoir west side

After a few groups left, we headed to the south west side up in the trees to get out of the wind and take a power nap. It was the perfect place to be away from civilazion and just kick back and relax for a short time.

Brad taking a power nap

 

Visitors on the south end of Smith's Reservoir

After Smith's Reservoir we headed back to the main road and started cleaning our 4wheelers in the creek. It didn't do much good but it was fun to play in the water.

We next headed up the road to the junction. North east was Dairy Fork road (comes out by Sheep Creek), south goes to Indianola. We headed south for a few miles to the top of the hill and looked down into Indianola but did not go any further. We turned around and headed back to the junction and decided to take another power nap. It was so quiet and peaceful and most of the people had left.

I did check on a few of my caches along the way, those that I remembered where they were. The others I will have to check on another time if the weather permits. Lake Fork road looked a lot different this years as the Forest Service has been cutting trees and removing brush on both sides of the road. They have really been busy. It would have been nice to take a load of wood home.  As ill as I was, it was a great day to be out. I may pay for it tomorrow but it was worth every minute to be out in the hills with friends.

Brad just north of Smith's Reservoir