Western WY & Eastern UT

This mountain/tunnel is located west of Rock Springs, WY as we headed west towards Utah.

It must have been quite an undertaking constructing these tunnels.  They were fairly long.

Western Utah has quite a bit of mining and oil/gas rigs scattered over the desert area.

Passing these pieces of equipment you can't help but wonder what they do?? 

The territory is quite isolated as you can see.

It is comforting to run across another vehicle every now and then (you know just in case). Look at how barren the area is. No 7-11, Circle K, or McDonalds, etc.

Continuing westward we began to run across some countryside with shrub and greenery.

VOILA, this is actually at the south end of the great Salt Lake. Somehow my photos got mixed up in the posting here for the blog (sorry). This was a resort back in the old days (it is now closed up).

There is a small marina also located at the south end of the Salt Lake.

View of Antelope Island from the south end of the lake.

The Great Salt Lake

Travelling along I-80 westward we encountered this view. Doesn't it look like a pile of snow?

A wee bit closer we realized that it was some sort of business which extracted the salt from the salt water. That pile of salt could fill a lot of salt shakers.

More views of the south end of the lake.

More snow, opps I mean salt.

This structure confused the heck out of me. Then, I found some information on it. There was no sign with information or anything saying what this was but here it was on the side of the highway all by itself. I found a postcard which said:  "Metaphor: The Tree of Life.   An abstract sculpture created in the early 1980s by European artist Karl Momen. Located on the Salt Flats just east of West Wendover, the art brings bold color and dramatic shape to the barren, salty landscape."  Go Figure!

Wild Horse Hunt

Welcome to Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Tour. We heard about this area from the local Chamber of Commerce Visitor's Center and picked up a brochure about it. We had to do this. It's a self-guided trip which begins just north of Rock Springs Wyoming and should take about 1.5 hours to travel across. The total traveling distance is approximately 24 miles on gravel road. It is very scenic.

The brochure warns that high-clearance vehicles are recommended and weather conditions should be monitored because they change rapidly making it important to be prepared at all times. They recommend: full tank of gas, spare tire, cell phone and binoculars. They also recommend that you inform someone of your destination and planned time of return.

Well, it made me (Jo) nervous to say the least but we just had to do it to see the wild horses running free, plus we had been on roads much more rougher than these while four-wheeling. This is Pilot Butte. There is a trail going up to the top but we passed on doing that.

The road goes across the top of the White Mountain. The Rock Springs BLM monitors the area and is the headquarters for the Wild Horse Program in Wyoming.  They estimate there are about 2,500 wild horses in the Rock Springs District.

 To thwart overpopulation the BLM conducts a periodic census of the wild horses to determine how many must be removed to control the number of horses able to sustain with the vegetation in the area and prevent overpopulation and protect their overall health.

Unbeknownst to us they had just finished their survey and roundup of wild horses (lucky us), we didn't get to see any; we did, however, get to view some beautiful scenery. Hope you enjoy looking at more of Wyoming wilderness.

Check out the hole in the rock at the bottom center of this formation.

On the downhill slope heading towards the town of Green River we encountered this lovely rock formation with a fire hydrant in the foreground. Something tells me we are looking at the location of some future development (hotel or apartments ??)

Back on I-80 heading back to Rock Springs we ran across these tunnels going east and west. It was a high mountain and must have been interesting watching the constrution of them. Here's a website if you would like more information about the area:  www.TourWyoming.com.    

Truck/Tractor Show 2

Here are some more photos of the different vehicles. The competition was tough.

There was even a class for these big diesel pushers.

This vehicle was owned by a guy whose sister walks in the Susan B Kommen cancer walks, so all of his winnings goes towards her registration fees, expenses and donations to the charity for research.

OK, I promise no more photos of trucks/tractors.

Big Show Truck/Tractor Pulls

As we were walking down to the grandstands we were greeted by this little guy. Isn't he cute?

An overview of the area where all the action will take place. We were a little early but wanted to check out the surroundings. In the background is where there were several vehicles being worked on and beginning to go through their inspection, etc. for the event and placed into their respective class for competition.

These two vehicles were actually what they call the "Pro Invites". They were from Washington State and were driven by a brother and sister. Most of the entries here were local-type people or those who compete in regional-type pulls. The event was sponsored by a national organization for pulling.

A view of the amusement rides that were set up. As you can see there were rolling hills around the area with many trails and dirt roads for the off-road enthusiasts to enjoy. I bet they have a good time in the winter cross-country skiing and sledding/tobogganing, etc.

My brother-in-law Alan would have loved this one since he does this sort of thing. For those who have never seen/or attended this type of event, the vehicle to the right is what they call the sled. The flat level object is the weight which moves on the vehicle and increases as it moves. There is a guy inside the cab of the sled which operates the weight movement.

One of the competitors backing up so it can be connected to the sled. They have some beautiful paint jobs on these vehicles and there is an awful lot of money spent on the engines, etc. It is not a poor man's sport at these levels.

Here's the same vehicle in action pulling the sled.

Another competitor.

He too is in action. We were lucky and had some pretty good seats. The sun was behind us and the grandstand was covered, plus the dust was blowing away from the grandstands.

Here are some more of the competitors

As with the horse pulls, once the class has completed their first pull, those with the farthest distance (or what they call a pull-pull) compete against each other with the sled adding more weight to each pull until they have a winner. 

Don't ask me what kind of fuel generates this type of power, etc. but most of these vehicles would rev-up their engines until the black smoke appears and then I guess that was their signal to step on the throttle and go go go.