New Year's Eve Extravaganza

Since I'm on forced vacation this week, I decided to do something fun and exciting on New Year's eve, meaning going somewhere without people. I started heading toward Dugway to see if there were any antelope on the dirt road between Dugway and the Pony Express Trail. The dirt road, which I expected to be snow packed, was mostly snow free, so I drove the 10 miles to the Pony Express Trail, then 55 miles to Fish Springs, then another 30 or so to a paved highway, another 50 to Wendover, then I-80 home. 406 miles total, almost 100 on dirt, snow, and mud. The Tahoe's back window had so much silt mud caked onto it that I spent about 20 minutes at the Chevron in Wendover cleaning enough mud off to make out headlights through it.

There's not much in Skull Valley but an Indian town with a few trailer houses, a couple ranches, a stockyard, the road to Dugway, and a sign that says "No Radioactive Materials."

The only gas station in the valley was closed--permanently? (I think Dugway has gas and stores, but it's a military base that's closed to civilians.)

Number 5023 was a little suspicious when I stopped to take her picture.

This cedar might have been exposed to a little too much radioactive waste.

This road goes to some nowhere destination off the Pony Express Trail.

These utility poles probably go to the same place.

Stone markers indicate stops along the Pony Express Trail, but Simpson Springs also has a building and a camping and picnic area.

Fish Springs is a nice little oasis in this desolate West Desert. It's a national wildlife (bird) refuge.

You won't see a lot of birds this time of year, but some do seem to spend their winter here.

I wonder where these geese migrate from...

...that this frozen pond is a more desirable place.

These geese didn't fly here; they came in the back of a pickup truck as decoys. This "refuge" allows hunting. (See the guy--actually two guys--in white camo in the middle of the geese?)

I'm guessing the wind blows here quite a bit.

Seven Swans a Swimming (or four a swimming and three a ice skating to the swimming hole).

And a bunch of swans a flying.

Enough of the birds; I'm heading to Callao.

This polygamist town is about 80 miles from Wendover, 30 of that on dirt, and 115 miles from the nearest Walmart (Tooele), about 80 of that on dirt. It has a Juab County school house and a few homes, maybe five or six, and cows. Also sheep dogs that chase cars by bouncing up and down like sideways deer in front of the car while barking at the grill.

This Callao spread has a gate like those in Jackson Hole, but the house seems somehow different.

About 20 miles past Callao, in a little mountain, is Gold Hill. I don't have pictures, because it was too dark, but this once going little town with a store and all is all but a ghost town now, with maybe three families still living there.

That's about the end of the daylight.

Unless you turn around and go back over the Pony Express Trail in the dark, you have to go through Wendover to get home. I arrived home about 8:45, just in time to watch part of a depressing movie, a couple of TV shows we'd DVRed, and the ball drop in Times Square, with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark commenting.

Happy New Year!