August 25
The short walk down into the valley took only the morning to complete. Milford was pretty easy to locate. As I alluded to yesterday you can see it from nearly a dozen miles off.
I spent the rest of Saturday completing preparations for this week's expedition. I will be traveling in the waste lands for four days. Baker, Nevada, the next town with services, is eighty three miles distant.
I hope to do better than Dominguez and Escalante. The dynamic Spanish duo's search for an improved route from Santa Fe to Monterey came to an end here. They chose this spot to ask the infamous question in this case regarding the Pacific Ocean, "are we there yet?" The Paiute Indians told the padres they knew of no ocean, only more desert. The party was disheartened, having braved so much topographical madness just to be told they were no where close to done. The Spaniards returned home, thinking themselves failures, not realizing how important their maps would be for future explorers.
As luck would have it a highway has since been contructed through the land of which the Paiutes spoke. I'll be able to take Utah 21 straight out of the state rather than wandering aimlessly around as the explorers did. On the other hand, I don't have horses to carry my water, I must push my "mule" as Karen and Jerry call the baby jogger. At least the invention of running water has made the liquid more readily available and sanitary practices have eliminated dysentary and cholera. Modernity has indeed brought some perks to even the toughest trail.
7 miles/3295 total miles
The short walk down into the valley took only the morning to complete. Milford was pretty easy to locate. As I alluded to yesterday you can see it from nearly a dozen miles off.
I spent the rest of Saturday completing preparations for this week's expedition. I will be traveling in the waste lands for four days. Baker, Nevada, the next town with services, is eighty three miles distant.
I hope to do better than Dominguez and Escalante. The dynamic Spanish duo's search for an improved route from Santa Fe to Monterey came to an end here. They chose this spot to ask the infamous question in this case regarding the Pacific Ocean, "are we there yet?" The Paiute Indians told the padres they knew of no ocean, only more desert. The party was disheartened, having braved so much topographical madness just to be told they were no where close to done. The Spaniards returned home, thinking themselves failures, not realizing how important their maps would be for future explorers.
As luck would have it a highway has since been contructed through the land of which the Paiutes spoke. I'll be able to take Utah 21 straight out of the state rather than wandering aimlessly around as the explorers did. On the other hand, I don't have horses to carry my water, I must push my "mule" as Karen and Jerry call the baby jogger. At least the invention of running water has made the liquid more readily available and sanitary practices have eliminated dysentary and cholera. Modernity has indeed brought some perks to even the toughest trail.
7 miles/3295 total miles
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