| Morning glow on the nearby mountaintops |
As we walked, we eventually came to the Homestead Crater Mineral Dome. According to their web site:
One of the unique activities at the Homestead Resort in Midway Utah is our one-of-a-kind Homestead Crater. The Crater is a geothermal spring, hidden within a 55-foot tall, beehive-shaped limestone rock located on the Homestead property.
Over 10,000 years in the making, The Crater formed when melting snow on the Wasatch Mountains seeped deep within the earth. Two miles below the surface, the earth’s interior heated the water. As it percolated upward, it picked up minerals, which were then deposited on the surface — eventually forming the volcano-shaped limestone deposit called The Homestead Crater.
The hole at the top of the dome lets in sunlight and fresh air while the interior stays heated by the mineral water at a constant range of 90 – 96 degrees Fahrenheit.
| Homestead Crater Mineral Dome |
After our walk, we got ready for our drive to Promontory Summit to see the re-enactment of the pounding of the golden spike on it’s 150th anniversary. Along the way, we stopped at a rest area just East of Weber Canyon. The rest area had a hill with a great view of the surrounding mountains and the railroad tracks coming out of the canyon. Note this location as a possible viewing spot for when the Big Boy returns to Cheyenne.
| Top of the hill at a rest area |
After over two hours in the car, traveling past Ogden and through a very long stretch of desert, we arrived at the Golden Spike National Historical Park. According to Wikipedia:
It commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the first Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869. The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial Golden Spike.
We were a day late for the official anniversary, by choice. We wanted to avoid most of the crowd. Expecting large crowds, the park service required a ticket to enter on a specified day. Even with that, the place was still a bit of a mad house. There was a large field roped off for parking. All the cars coming in kicked up a lot of dust.
We parked and made our way to re-enactment site, which was part of a village of small, wooden buildings. We could see it in the distance, but the crowd was so thick, we could only make slow progress forward.
| UP No. 119 meets CP 'Jupiter' at Promontory Summit |
The re-enactments were happening about every hour and a half. We arrived just before one was starting. We saw the Union Pacific No. 119 and the Central Pacific ‘Jupiter’ pull up to each other, nose to nose. We could see the actors, but we couldn’t hear what they were saying. We stayed and watched for about 30 minutes, then decided to head out.
| Crowds gather for the re-enactment of the golden spike |
When we left, I unfortunately turned the wrong direction in the field and was heading the wrong way on a one way loop. Oh well, there was nothing I could do but to just keep going. :-)
On the way out, we stopped at the Big Fill/Big Trestle Viewpoint, one of the pull offs that describe where the original rails were routed over the summit. We ate a quick snack and talked about what to do next. I wanted to hike to the location of the trestle, but we also wanted to stop at the rocket garden that we could see in the distance.
In September 2017, Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital ATK. As an NGC employee and a rocket fan, I was intrigued by the rocket garden. Of course, Andrew was enthusiastic as well. Orbital ATK was involved in many rocket programs, but I was most familiar with their work on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster. We explored the garden and Andrew took a hundred pictures before heading out to our next destination.
| The Northrop Grumman rocket garden |
Rather than heading straight back to Midway, we made a quick snack stop at Golden Spike Burgers, then headed south towards Helper. Helper is a small town that sits along the Union Pacific’s Soldier Summit route. This destination was a must see for me and Andrew.
To get there, we passed through Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo, which are basically one megatropolis. Once out of Provo, I needed a break from driving and Andrew wanted to fly his drone. We stopped at Spanish Fork River Park. The park is along a small river and has nice mountain views.
| Drone shot from Spanish Fork River Park |
After a quick drone flight, we continued over Soldier Summit to Helper. Once there, we quickly turned around and headed back, hoping to catch the evening light on the canyon walls. Along the way, we passed some cool railroad scenes, including a pair of tunnels cut into the rock and towering canyon walls on both sides of the river. But the coolest natural thing we saw was a terraced waterfall along the side of the highway.
| Unknown waterfall along the highway |
At this point, it was time to head back to Midway. Today was very long, but we saw a lot of amazing things, both historical and natural.
Click below to see more photos.
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