Hogup Mountains ATV adventure

The Hogup Mountains


On June 14th Dad (Edward), Carson, & I embarked on an adventure of a ATV ride to the Hogup Mountains. After living here all of my life, I had never been to the mountains west of our home, though I watch the beautiful sunsets often over the lake and those mountains. Dad had been there before on another ATV ride with his friends, so he said he would take me on a ride when I had a day off from work. I made some sandwiches for a picnic lunch and he got the Polaris Ranger and another 4-wheeler loaded in the trailer. We headed out west from the Corinne exit, and then turned off at the Promontory point and Locomotive spring’s road. We then took off on a gravel road that generally followed where the first transcontinental railroad had been, and along the way you could see evidence of this in many areas. This is what Promontory is famous for, on May 10, 1869 the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit. Now people could travel west on trains rather than on wagons. In 1904 the Lucin Cutoff (the causeway that divides the lake) was built, diverting the railroad traffic. We went past the ghost town of Kelton, Utah and into the Hogup mountains west of the Great Salt Lake. Then we headed out on the ATV’s for about 45 miles to where the controversial pumps were built in 1987 to lower the lake. (The blue underlines are links to read more of you desire.)

Beautiful Desert Flowers

The weather was comfortable, but the ride was a bit dusty. Carson insisted on taking off his shirt, and of course he was a bit sunburned by the end of the day. We road for quite a while (Carson ran over a snake or two) and had not come to the pumps, thinking we maybe had taken the wrong route, but then we could see the railroad and followed it for a short distance to the famous pumps. Surprisingly the water was very clear and an emerald blue. Carson and Grandpa took turns to see who could throw rocks the farthest into the water. We discussed that we could take the “shortcut” back home along the side of the railroad, coming out by little mountain, but there were a few logistic problems with that. We ate our lunch by the pumps and then headed back to the trailer. Carson’s ATV ran out of fuel, so Dad and I went in the Ranger another 6 miles to the trailer and loaded up and then drove to pick him up. We headed back home via the Snowville route. I don’t think I’ve been that dusty for quite some time, but I really enjoyed the day out with my Dad and Son. Let’s go again sometime!