Every once in a while I drive into a town which is just too nice to leave. I pulled into MacKay, Idaho in the early afternoon with the plan to hop out and stretch my legs. , maybe take a few photos and then keep going. I found MacKay to be a cute town with some great historic buildings, all surrounded by the majestic peaks of the Lost River Range. With snow-covered mountains in every direction, I decided to stay for a while. I’m really glad I did, especially since it was a near-perfect, cool, sunny spring day.
MacKay was founded as a company town for the White Knob Mining Company in 1801 and named for the company’s owner John William Mackay. While the mines above Mackay closed down many years ago, MacKay has held on, bolstered by the agricultural businesses that have grown up in the surrounding area. I loved some of their historic buildings in town, especially the Clock Cigar Company which has been restored to show some of the businesses which have come and gone in the building over the years. While the original post clock out front has long since disappeared, the town had a replica made to the exact specifications and it looks great. I also enjoyed the L7 Bar and Grill which was the friendliest place I’ve stopped in a long time. I hope you enjoy these photos from tiny MacKay, Idaho, small town charm in the Lost River Valley.
Hello Everyone!
It has not been the best week out here on the road, but that doesn’t mean I’m complaining because it also could have been significantly worse. I’ve spent most of the week in limbo, waiting for things that were out of my control. I was in tiny Challis, Idaho for five days, waiting for some unexpected work on my van to get done. The rest of the week I’ve been just up the road from Challis in Stanley, waiting and hoping for the weather to clear. I’m very grateful to have had two excellent mechanics, John and Scott, working on Shadow Catcher. During my time in their shop I not only came to trust them with my van, but also to consider them my friends. I spend most of my time on the road drifting in and out of towns across the country, playing the familiar-to-me role of The Stranger. This week was different because it’s hard to stay a stranger in a town of a thousand people for very long. When I finally got off and running again I drove up into the mountains and straight back into winter. I had to break out all of my winter clothes again and find places to hang out and avoid the snow. When the clouds finally lifted, the Sawtooth Mountains showed themselves and they are spectacular and were well worth the wait. And now I’m finishing off my week here in Twin Falls in the rain. I’ve only gone about 200 miles this week which has definitely saved me on gas, but I’m hoping that now I can keep moving for a while as I get back into my more regular routine.
As I’ve just mentioned, my week got off to a rough start. When I pulled into Challis to finish up this post last week, I turned down my radio and heard a terrible sound coming from my rear wheels. I decided to park and get my work done and give it a while to fix itself, which would have been amazing if it had worked. It, of course, did not. Challis is a small town and the closest thing I could find to a mechanic on my phone was a tire place just on the edge of town. I went and talked to them and they said they didn’t really do much beyond tires and oil changes and pointed me to another garage behind the Napa Auto Parts up the road. This was definitely a garage, but with no sign, no online presence or reviews, no nothing. I went in and talked to Scott and he said he would take a look at it in the morning. I didn’t really love the situation, but I was stuck and grateful he would have a look and see what he could do. Worst case scenario, I could call AAA and get a tow up to Salmon which has a couple of mechanics. I found a parking spot nearby and then took a nice, long walk around Challis. It’s clearly in the midst of an old mining region with mining still being the main industry today. Challis was founded way back in 1876 as a supply center for the different mining districts in the area, including the Lucky Boy, Custer, Sunbeam and Charles Dickens mines, and continues to be the main town and county seat for the region. After having a good look around, I stopped into Bux’s Place, a classic, old-school, taxidermy-and-pool-tables kind of bar on the main street. It was smoky, but nice enough for a beer. Then I went across the street to Shyla’s Hideaway which had less atmosphere, but also less smoke and they served food. Shyla’s would be my go-to spot for the rest of the week. I had a tasty sandwich and chatted with the bartender who told me that Scott was a good mechanic and a decent person which left me feeling a little better about the whole situation.
Pocatello, Idaho is a wonderful place to be. It’s a modern city and home to Idaho State University, but it maintains its historic charm and classic American downtown vibes. Originally part of the seasonal migration routes of the Bannock and Shoshone tribes, the city takes its name from Shoshone Chief Pocatello.
American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through the region on their Corps of Discovery expedition in 1805. A businessman from Massachusetts named Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth came west in the 1830s to try to establish himself in the fur trade and set up Fort Hall as a trading post. Unable to compete with the Hudson’s Bay Company, he sold Fort Hall to them a few years later. Several years down the line, the fort would be a major stop on the Oregon Trail as emigrants made their way west across the country. When gold was discovered in 1860, the area experienced a minor rush and people began to settle in the beautiful Portneuf Valley. But more than anything, it was the coming of the train that would build the city of Pocatello. The area became a rest stop on the Utah and Northern Railroad and several years later the Oregon Short Line came to town, creating a junction and transfer point referred to as “Pocatello’s Junction”. In 1888, an executive order purchased land for a townsite from the Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock Reservation and the city was incorporated the following year. Because of the train junction, Pocatello was known as “The Gateway to the Northwest”, or simply “Gate City” for short.
I had a great stay in Pocatello, enjoying their monthly art walk, a performance at the Palace Theatre and some live music in the downtown bars. The county history museum had some neat artifacts and I particularly enjoyed visiting the Shoshone Bannock Cultural Museum in nearby Fort Hall. Pocatello is a friendly city with a cool vibe and I will definitely be returning in the future. I hope you enjoy these photos from Pocatello, Idaho’s Gate City.
Montpelier, Idaho is famous for two things: bank robbers and bears. On August 13th, 1896, Butch Cassidy and several members of his Wild Bunch strolled into the Bank of Montpelier and strolled out with a little over $16,500 ($640,000 in today’s money). As they rode off into the sunset, the local sheriff took off after them on his bicycle. He made a valiant effort but didn’t stand a chance. While Butch Cassidy was never caught, a local man named Robert Meeks, who helped in this escapade which was likely his first and only bank robbery, was eventually tracked down and convicted to 35 years in the state penitentiary.
As the dust was finally settling from the bank robbery, a different kind of thief was just starting his long and storied career. Old Ephraim was a massive grizzly who reeked havoc on the region for over a decade.. He was also called Old Three Toes because of a deformity on his back foot which made him easily identifiable, In August of 1923, a local rancher named Frank Clark finally tracked down Old Ephraim and caught him in a trap. It took seven bullets to bring down the massive bear. You can visit the grave of Old Ephraim in Utah’s Logan Canyon and you can see his skull at Utah State University, but his legend is alive and well in Montpelier where a giant statue stands as a memorial to his exploits.
Those two stories make Montpelier an exciting place to visit. The town was once called Clover Creek and was a stop on the Oregon Trail. The name was changed to Montpelier by Mormon Prophet Brigham Young in honor of the capital city of his home state of Vermont. The Oregon Short Line Railroad reached Montpelier in 1882 which would allow the town to grow more rapidly. Montpelier would serve as the home terminal for these trains until 1972. It’s still a rail town today with plenty of trains passing through every day. Montpelier is also home to the National Oregon and California Trail Center, which was sadly closed during my visit. And you can also visit the Bank of Montpelier which is still standing in town and still has the original teller windows and vault from when Butch Cassidy last saw it in 1896. The bank is a museum now which is open sporadically and is, at this writing, for sale. I hope you enjoy these photos from the wonderful small town of Montpelier, Idaho - it is actually more than bank robbers and bears, but those make the town great.
Hello Everyone!
I’m back in the mountains and it is wonderful to be here. I know I was in the mountains in northern Utah, but the Idaho mountains feel different somehow. Or maybe Idaho towns feel more like mountain towns and that’s what’s different. I don’t know, but it’s nice to be here and to be enjoying cool, sunny days and incredible views. My first full week in Idaho has been a good one. I really enjoyed my time in Pocatello and have made my way north and then west from there and I am writing to you today from the little town of Challis, the largest town in Custer County with a population of just over a thousand people. The Salmon River is nearby and the town is surrounded by mountains. I’ll bet it’s cold and very isolated here in the winter, but it sure is nice to be here in the spring.
It was late when I finished up this post last week and I am always grateful for the libraries that stay open until 9pm. It was cold and raining out so I grabbed a quick beer up the road and then tucked into my van for the night. The rain wasn’t too bad, but the wind really picked up overnight and blew through all of the next day with gusts up over 50mph on a regular basis. According to the locals, the wind is quite common around here and we were lucky the rain kept the dust down.
Logan, Utah was once a gathering place for the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Indians. The Shoshone were a nomadic tribe so they had no permanent homes in the area. Mountain man Jim Bridger made his way down the Cache Valley in the 1820s, trapping beaver for the fur trade. The town itself was started in 1859 when Brigham Young directed a group of settlers to build a fort along the Logan River. The town grew and took the name “Logan” after fur-trader Ephraim Logan. Because of its abundant water, Logan became a farming community and mill town. Brigham Young College opened its doors in 1878 and was later renamed Utah State University. Today, Logan is a sleepy city with a reputation for being a safe and clean town to raise a family. There are several theatres in town providing year-round entertainment and the university helps bolster the local economy. I also thought the temple was one of Utah’s finest. I wasn’t in Logan long, but I had a pleasant stay. I hope you enjoy these photos from my time in Logan, classic Utah in Cache County.
Ogden was home to Fremont Indians for centuries and was later the territory of the Northern Shoshone and Goshute tribes. Fur trader Miles Goodyear made his way into the valley in 1846 and set up a trading post he named Fort Buenaventura. I’m sure the Mormons were surprised to find him there when they arrived in 1847, but they bought his fort and began building a town there along the Ogden and Weber Rivers. The town they built was named Ogden after mountain man Peter Skene Ogden and became the second city in Utah to be incorporated after Salt Lake City. The whole area would change twenty years later when the transcontinental railroad came through Ogden, choosing the northern city over Salt Lake because its route went around the north shore of the Great Salt Lake. A spur line would be built to Salt Lake, and Ogden would become known as “Junction City”. With the railroad came tremendous shifts in the population and Ogden went from being a quiet Mormon city to a rowdy railroad town. It would also become one of Utah’s most diverse cities with an influx of Chinese laborers and Black train porters. All of the action would center on 25th Street which is still the main drag today. Later the Lincoln Highway would also come through Ogden, furthering its reputation as a major crossroads of the west. Today Ogden is tamer than it once was, but is still one of Utah’s least Mormon-influenced cities with an abundance of bars and clubs throughout. I found Ogden to be a fun and vibrant place with wonderful museums, some great historic buildings and yes, better than average nightlife for the Beehive State. I had a great visit and will definitely be back in the future. I hope you enjoy these photos from Ogden, Utah’s “Junction City”.
It was truly a privilege to once again be able to attend a Native American powwow. Powwows are gatherings of American Indians to celebrate their shared culture with an emphasis on music, drumming and dance. Threading Our Legacies Powwow was held at the basketball arena on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. The Ute, Shoshone and Navajo tribes seemed to be the most well-represented tribes there, but it also seemed as though people had come from far and wide to participate. During the Grand Entrance which begins the powwow, hundreds of dancers followed the eagle staff and flags onto the floor and there were at least 5 drum groups to provide the rhythm of the day. Powwows are incredibly colorful events with participants wearing beautiful regalia which takes many hours to create. These photos are just a small sampling of the people who participated in the day but I hope they will give you some idea of how beautiful it was and how awesome it was to be there.
Pulling into tiny Helper, Utah is like stepping back in time. Whatever way you come into town, you are likely to drive past one of their amazingly preserved vintage gas stations on your way in. These are perfect inside and out and you should definitely stop to check them out. When you pull onto Main Street, you will definitely be impressed by how well they have kept up their historic district and it feels like you are on a movie set somewhere. The only other place I have visited that had the same feel was Lowell, Arizona, but Helper feels more alive and less like a ghost town.
Located in Carbon County, this is definitely coal country, but the town developed around the railroad when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) came through in 1881. The town gets its name because the trains needed an extra push to get them over the next hill, so an extra engine, or “helper” was attached. Between the mines and the railroad, Helper grew to a population of around 20,000 people who came to work in these industries from all over the world. The mines and the railroad still exist in the area, but increased mechanization has decreased the need for workers and the population has dropped by 90%. That said, the people who have remained decided to do what they could to preserve the history of the town and have worked hard to create the Helper you’ll find there today.
I was thrilled to find the Matt Warner Lodge of E Clampus Vitus while I was there. ECV is the historic organization I’ve been a part of for the last 20 years or so, but this is the only Lodge in all of Utah. They are working hard to preserve the history of the area while helping run many of the community’s events like the Easter egg hunt, which they were all excited about while I was there. It was nice to have some company for a change, and the Brothers filled me in on a lot of the local history. Their Lodge is located in the historic Carbon Hotel which was the last functioning brothel in Helper and was open into the 1970s. ECV historic plaques can be found throughout Helper and in many nearby towns and help tell the story of the communities which have long since faded into the past.
If you’re ever on your way to Salt Lake City from Moab or Grand Junction, definitely be sure to stop in Helper, you’ll be glad you did. I hope you enjoy these photos from Helper which is definitely Utah’s cutest small town.
I had a blast in Vernal, Utah - a fun little city of about 10,000 people in the far east of the Beehive State. Fremont Indians once lived in the area and were later followed by Utes who still live there today. When the Mormons came to Utah, they saw no reason to settle in the region despite the Green River flowing nearby. In fact, settlers didn’t come to what is now Vernal until 1879. The railroad came through in 1906 and Vernal was incorporated and began to grow. Just three years later, paleontologist Earl Douglass discovered a massive deposit of dinosaur bones and fossils just east of Vernal and it would be designated as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. Oil and mineral extraction are probably the biggest drivers of Vernal’s economy, but dinosaur tourism certainly plays a significant role, as you can tell from the photos in this post.
I was only planning on staying a short while in Vernal, but ended up there for several days. I enjoyed checking out the dinosaur quarry at the National Monument, and the Field House Museum in the middle of town. The recreation center was top-notch and I even got to catch some bull riding while I was there. Mostly, it’s just fun town with a good feeling to it and friendly people at every stop. That and the sunsets were hard to beat. I hadn’t been to Vernal in many years and I was glad I made the trek to get there. I hope you enjoy these photos from Vernal, definitely a fun town in the heart of dinosaur country.
Nine Mile Canyon as often been called “The World’s Longest Art Gallery”. Despite its name, the canyon stretched 46 miles through east central Utah and has as many as 10,000 petroglyphs along its course. This route has been traveled for thousands of years, undoubtedly beginning as a wildlife trail which followed the easiest path through the mountains. It was used by a people we refer to as the Fremont People for many hundreds of years and they are responsible for most of the petroglyphs chipped into the canyon walls. Later, Ute Indians made their way through the canyon and made their own carvings, including those of horses and bison. Fur trappers and settlers followed the old Indian trails. The Nine Mile Canyon Road was originally built by the Black Buffalo Soldiers of the Ninth Cavalry to connect old Fort Duchesne to the railroad at Price. Once the road was complete, stagecoaches started using the canyon to deliver mail and freight and settlements began to spring up. Later, mining and natural gas extraction began in Nine Mile Canyon and continues today. Nobody knows how 46 mile long Nine Mile Canyon was named. Many people believe that explorer John Wesley Powell named it because the name first appears in his journals, but Powell was pretty good at naming things so I’m not buying that explanation. Also, I love a good mystery and don’t mind when one goes unsolved.
I started my drive from Wellington, just south of Price. The road is paved all the way to the Great Hunt Panel (and beyond if you continue up the side canyon), but has a stretch of decently maintained gravel road if you want to continue through to Myton (which I did). I loved seeing so many wonderful petroglyphs in such a small area and I know I only scratched the surface (pun intended) of what was out there. My favorite is the first one pictured below: Coyote Placing the Stars. I also loved the Owl Panel and the Juggling Man and of course the Great Hunt which is one of Utah’s most famous panels. There were a lot of old homesteads along the way and even an old townsite once called Harper but abandoned over a hundred years ago. There are some beautiful new homes out there as well and aside from the mining trucks rumbling past I imagine it’s pretty quiet out there most of the time. I really enjoyed my day out in Nine Mile Canyon and I hope you enjoy these photos I took along the way.
Canyonlands National Park is one of the most beautiful National Park’s in the country. Originally proposed by the superintendent of nearby Arches National Park in the early 1950s, debate over the area’s mineral resources kept this land from being protected until 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law. Canyonlands is divided into four different sections: The Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze (which includes Horseshoe Canyon) and the Green and Colorado Rivers which come together within the park’s boundaries. It’s a geologic fantasy land of spires and canyons, buttes and mesas, caves and rapids. Like most of the area, Canyonlands’ scenery is at its best along the edges of the day when the sun is low and the sandstone takes on magical hues. I have really enjoyed visiting Canyonlands several times over the years, but my recent visit to The Needles was definitely the highlight for me, especially the hike out to Chesler Park from Elephant Hill. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Canyonlands National Park.
