My brother and I had an interesting adventure last night. We originally intended to go to the Spanish Fork Municipal Airport to take some pictures of a plane that was for sale and then return home. On the way back we decided to drive up left hand fork of hobble creek canyon and look at some of the monster, million dollar houses that’ve been built recently. Eventually we reached the end of the paved road. Neither of us had ever been up the left hand fork dirt road nor did we know where it came out (right hand fork comes out at Strawberry Reservoir).
Feeling adventurous we decided to follow the dirt road and see where it came out (we were guessing it’d be somewhere in Provo Canyon). The road actually wasn’t too bad considering it was a dirt road but we were still only able to go about 10 or 15 miles/hour. At that speed it takes a while to go any significant distance. After about a 20 minutes we saw some tail lights up ahead. It was a large dodge ram pickup and pulled off to the side to let us pass. My brother had the bright idea to ask the people if they knew where the road came out. As we pulled along side we found a crusty looking old lady in the drivers seat and some other guy on the passenger side. My brother asked if she knew where the road came out, she scowled and said “How the hell should I know?” We both looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and drove on. The more we thought about it, the more it pissed us off. Would it have been so difficult to say “I don’t know?” In all defense of crusty old utah women, who will at least make a brief effort at being pleasant, the truck had Idaho license plates.
So we drove on and on and on. We were almost to the summit when I noticed some headlights coming towards us. This time it was my turn so I rolled down my window as a guy on an ATV pulled up. I asked him if the road came out anywhere. He just stared at me with this blank look and didn’t respond for what seemed like eternity. Finally he said, “Well, [pause] it does if ya know where you’re going.” I wasn’t quite sure how to handle this response. When I asked the question I expected 1 of 3 possible answers: yes, no or I don’t know. Instead he was giving me a maybe. Apparently the destination of the road was conditional upon whether you knew enough about it. Not feeling satisfied I asked if it came out in Provo Canyon as we suspected. Once again, a long pause and then he said “Well, I think it either comes out at Strawberry or Spanish Fork Canyon but it’ll be a few hours before you get there. [pause] If I didn’t know where I was goin, I’d turn around.” We decided to do as he suggested and make our way back down left hand fork.
As we were driving I thought about his comments and came to the conclusion that he has no clue where the road ends up. First off, right hand fork, not left hand, ends up at Strawberry. Second, Spanish Fork Canyon is on the opposite side of right hand fork, thus to reach it we’d have to go through a couple mountains and cross right hand fork at some point. The more we talked about it, the more we realized he probably had no idea what he was talking about. None the less, we drove back down the canyon and back home, feeling defeated at not finding the exit. It was completely dark when we were headed back and we lost count of how many deer we passed (guessing they’d come down at night time for water). We also had a fox running in front of us for about a half mile down the road (the fact the fox was keeping pace with us tells you how fast we were driving). I will say this, paved road has never felt so smooth.
Upon returning back to my parents house we asked my Mom where left hand fork ends up and she said it ends up on the Wallsburg road. The Wallsburg road is right by Deer Creek Reservoir in Provo Canyon, not far from Midway where I go fly fishing. It’s almost exactly where we figured we’d come out. I’ve tried finding some resources online to figure out where it goes and such but haven’t come across much. If anyone knows more about this trail I’d be interested.
So what are some lessons we learned. When you’re out in some of the most remote country around, don’t ask for directions. You’ll either end up talking to some mean old hag, who doesn’t know where she is, or someone who’s been riding their ATV around in the backcountry, away from all manner of civilization, for much too long. Oh yeah, there’s some really nice, nearly untouched, country not far from from where we grew up. If you have the time and 4 wheel drive it’s not a bad trip.
