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INSIDE 8 FISH ARE JUMPIN’
20 WET AND WILD
BY KATHLEEN CURRY AND GEOFF GRIFFIN
BY REBECCA CHAVEZ-HOUCK
Flaming Gorge has it all: dramatic scenery, wildlife and waterborne fun
14 HARDWORKING RIVER
Love for Salt Lake’s urban waterway, the Jordan River, never dies BY KATHLEEN CURRY AND GEOFF GRIFFIN
18 150 YEARS LATER
Utah may be a high desert, but it’s also a paddler’s paradise
24 CAST AND RUN
The Utah Cutthroat Slam celebrates fly-fishing while protecting Utah native trout BY JOHN RASMUSON
26 BACKCOUNTRY CHEF
Dirty Gourmet’s recipe for Donuts With Strawberry Jam BY DEREK CARLISLE
28 DRINK THIS IN
Utah’s water policy and usage does not match up with our supply OPINION BY MEGAN WALSH
The river odyssey of explorer and scientist John Wesley Powell gave the West a voice and a water advocate
PERSNICKETY PRINTS
BY CHRIS VANOCUR
4 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
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VOL.5 NO.6 • AUGUST 2019
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Megan Walsh dreams of one day being a professional recreationalist and welcomes any and all tips on how to get there. In addition to conquering mountains, you can find her drinking coffee and typing away at her computer—or watching Netflix.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
L
Dash and Splash
iving in parched Utah, it seems each one of us has a coveted body of water we want to call our own, especially on a summer day. Many Salt Lakers flock to the mountain streams of our dappled canyons: City Creek, Red Butte, Emigration, Parleys, Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood, each filled with clear, snow-melted water. Maybe your water hangout is farther north at Bear Lake. The iridescent turquoise lake, with its watercraft fun, is a perfect Sunday drive for Salt Lakers, especially when a round of raspberry shakes is on order. Then, there’s the unique experience of “walking on water” that can be had in the Virgin River narrows at Zion National Park. And while you’re visiting that magnificent park, a hike to its Emerald Pools’ glistening waterfalls makes you feel like you’ve landed in a lush oasis. Even in the heat of summer, soaking in the mineral-rich hot waters of Crystal Hot Springs is restorative, and less crowded than in cooler months. The list goes on, and the articles included in this month’s “Waterways” issue might have you loading up your tackle box or kayak before you finish reading. From fishing at Flaming Gorge Reservoir to floating the Green River or appreciating
the significance of John Wesley Powell’s river journey, it’s best to go with the flow and let each body of water tell you its story. Learn about the Utah Cutthroat Slam and how it fosters Utah native trout species and also why Utah’s water policies are still not in sync with our changing climate. For those who call Salt Lake City home, our very namesake invokes the legendary saline lake in our backyard that’s so vast and austere—swarming with brine flies, often stinky and actually polluted in spots—it’s little wonder the crowds stay away. On summer weekends, it’s not unusual for the shadeless campsites on Antelope Island to sit empty. But somehow, that just makes me love it more. As the sun sets over the lake, the rays bounce off the water and create a gorgeous pink hue that engulfs Antelope Island. Talk about a love light! This year, on my birthday (which happens to be a big one), I’m planning a trek to the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake to see the Spiral Jetty, a massive earthwork sculpture created in April 1970 by artist Robert Smithson. We mark our lives by such journeys, dipping our toes in waters of varying hues as we traverse the state. Toes just know where they want to go! —Jerre Wroble
SEAN HAIR
Spiral Jetty at the Great Salt Lake
August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 7
WEEKEND WARRIOR
Fish are Jumping
Flaming Gorge has it all: dramatic scenery, wildlife and waterborne fun BY KATHLEEN CURRY AND GEOFF GRIFFIN
8 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
An antelope picnic at Lucerne Campground
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO - NANCY BRUNSWICK
A
nyone creating a screensaver of “beautiful outdoor Utah images” will usually include a “Holy Trinity”: an arch in Moab, a skier ripping through triple-digit inches of powder in the Wasatch mountains and a scenery shot taken from above Flaming Gorge. While Utah has multiple waterways that deliver stunning vistas, perhaps none is better known or more often photographed than the “flaming” red and yellow cliffs running down to the Green River (the “gorge”), named by explorer John Wesley Powell in 1869. The beautiful and historically important Green River runs for 730 miles through southwest Wyoming into Utah where it eventually meets up with a giant dam created in the 1960s. The convergence of the river and the 91-mile-long lake created by the dam now offer an endless variety of water and outdoor activities that can be enjoyed in one spot. Whether you spend your time on the water or above the water looking in, Flaming Gorge makes for a captivating weekend getaway from the Wasatch Front. Consider the following itinerary designed to help you enjoy the water sports to the maximum.
Thursday
••••
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area Red Canyon overlook
AFTERNOON SLC to Dutch John We recommend two routes to travel from Salt Lake City to Flaming Gorge. One route is about a four-hour drive and takes you through Evanston and Rock Springs, Wyo., before turning south toward the reservoir. The other keeps you in Utah, traveling east to Vernal before heading north toward the state line and the reservoir. The second option takes about 30 minutes longer. Why not enjoy different scenery by taking one in and the other out? We’ll start the trip by remaining in Utah on the southern route. Take Interstate 80 east out of Salt Lake City just past Park City and exit onto U.S. Route 40. About two hours in, U.S. 40 becomes U.S. Route 191 that takes you through the town of Myton. This is a good place to stop for dinner at the Hideout Steakhouse (8400 S. Parriette Road, Myton, 435-646-3500, HideoutSteakOnAStone.com). Hideout has trademarked the
phrase “steak on a stone,” and every slab of beef—New York, filet, ribeye, T-bone, tri-tip—is cooked on a stone heated to 500 degrees right at your table. After leaving Myton, it’s about a 90-minute drive to Dutch John, a town located on the southeast end of the gorge. At Red Canyon Lodge (2450 W. Red Canyon Road, Dutch John, 435889-3759, RedCanyonLodge.com), you can stay in your own cabin that includes a porch to sit on the evenings enjoying the quiet breeze. Another accommodation option is Flaming Gorge Resort (1100 E. Flaming Gorge Resort, Dutch John, 435-889-3773, FlamingGorgeResort.com), where the offerings range from classic motel rooms to one- and two-bedroom suites to large trailers that can host groups.
Flaming Gorge NRA is a magnet for wildlife
DUTCH JOHN
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO - ROWDY MUIR
SALT LAKE CITY
August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 9
••••
Friday
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO
Lucerne Marina at Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Wherever you end up staying, check out the breakfast menu in the Flaming Gorge Resort Restaurant before heading out on Friday morning. The pancakes and French toast come with homemade peach, strawberry or raspberry preserves. Whether you spend a day on or in the water, the choices are many. Heading west out of Dutch John, get on U.S. 191 and you’ll come upon the Flaming Gorge Dam Visitors Center (435885-3135, FS.USDA.gov or FlamingGorgeCountry.com), a good spot to get information about the area while enjoying a fantastic view of the 502-foot-tall dam that was completed in 1962. There are daily free guided tours that let you look inside the dam. Continue west along the southern edge of the gorge, and in a couple of miles, you’ll arrive at Cedar Springs Marina (2675 N. Cedar Springs Road, Dutch John, 435-889-3795, CedarSpringsMarina.com), the southernmost of three marinas along the gorge. The other two are Lucerne Valley Marina on the Utah-Wyoming border and Buckboard Marina located farther north in Wyoming. Cedar Springs is a spot where you can rent anything from a paddleboard to an 18-foot ski boat to head out on the water. If you’re interested in kayaking or floating the Green River, there is an access point just 3 miles away. The area is a playground for boating, waterskiing, windsurfing, biking and more. Sunny Cove Swim Beach (5 miles from Dutch John on the north side of the gorge) is a kid-friendly spot for those who want to take a dip in the cooling waters of the gorge. As one of the most “gorgeous” reservoirs in the West, Flaming Gorge is also one of the country’s premier fishing destinations. The waters below Flaming Gorge Dam in the Green River are known as a legendary tail water fishery. The optimal water temperature and flow has created a world-famous Blue Ribbon trout fishery. 10 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
Mountain bluebird at Flaming Gorge
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO - LOUIS HAYNES
Dutch John
For those staying at Red Canyon Lodge, their onsite fly shop offers equipment or guide services for fishing on the Green River. Meanwhile, Flaming Gorge Resort has been running its own guided fishing trips for nearly 40 years. Either way, get ready to land some lunkers, from a variety of trout to bass and burbot. Lake trout weighing more than 50 pounds have been caught! Below the dam, the Green River offers world-class fly fishing. Brown trout reeled in on the Green average 15-17 inches long, and are often larger. The river waters below the dam are also popular for floating, whether by raft, canoe or kayak (read more about this on p.22). Rental and guide trips are available. Whatever you end up doing on the water during the day, you can continue on the water in the evening when you make your way back to Cedar Springs Marina to Snag Bar and Grill (2685 N. Cedar Springs Road, Dutch John, 435-8893795, CedarSpringsMarina.com), a floating restaurant that also features a full bar. It claims to be the “best cantina by a dam site” and is also a spot to listen to live music while enjoying burgers, tacos and views of the water.
••••
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO - MOLLY RYAN
Saturday Coming out of Kingfisher Canyon on Flaming Gorge Reservoir, it’s easy see why John Wesley Powell named this section of the Green River the “Flaming Gorge.”
Dutch John to Manila
This is a day for discovering the beauty of the area either through hiking, biking or driving.
MANILA
Cart Creek Bridge
BURLEY PACKWOOD
DUTCH JOHN
If driving out of Dutch John, a good route to follow is Utah State Route 44 west (which combined with U.S. 191 is designated the Flaming Gorge-Uintas National Scenic Byway) and make stops along the way for great views of the water. It’s a 30-minute drive to Red Canyon Visitor Center (1475 Red Canyon Road, Dutch John, 435-889-3713, FlamingGorgeCountry.com), which offers information with great views. You can continue north to the Utah town of Manila, a border town about an hour from Dutch John. The highway numbers change from 44 to Wyoming Highway 530 as you cross the Utah-Wyoming border. WY 530 follows the Green River up to the town of the same name. The entire drive takes two hours, and there are plenty of places to marvel at the beauty of the river rushing by along the way. If you’re heading through Manila in the morning and feel like stopping for breakfast, try The Gorge Reel and Grill (244 E. Highway 43, Manila, 435565-3799), which serves breakfast daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Whatever you decide to order, make sure it comes smothered with their popular chile verde. Want to go out and hike or bike? The Red Canyon Rim Trail is one of the area’s most popular routes since it runs 1,700 feet above the river. The trail starts at the Red Canyon Visitors Center and the length can vary from 2 to 9 miles, depending on your schedule and fitness level. The single-track trail can be used for biking, and a trail offshoot takes you right by Red Canyon Lodge where you can rent bikes and pick up food for the trip at the onsite grocery store. Whether you drive, hike or bike, at the end of the day, head back to Manila to Browning’s Corner Cafe (18 E. Highway 43, Manila, 435-784-3088, FGMotel.com), where state routes 43 and 44 intersect. The popular café is noted for its fried chicken and 20 different flavors of shakes, but if you stop by on Saturday nights after 5 p.m., you can finish a beautiful day with a gorgeous slab of prime rib. August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 11
••••
Sunday
Overlooking Flaming Gorge near the Red Canyon Visitor Center
MANILLA
Find your way north to Interstate 80 in Wyoming. If you took highways SR 44 and WY 530 west of the river the day before, try staying to the east on U.S. 191, and you’ll get to the town of Purple Sage and I-80 in about an hour. From there, driving west on the interstate will take you through the towns of Green River and Evanston and across the state line. In about two hours, you’ll come to Exit 155 for the Utah town of Wanship. Here, you’ll find High West Distillery (27649 Old Lincoln Hwy., Wanship, 435-649-8300, HighWest.com). While Park City is home to the much-celebrated saloon and restaurant operated by High West, Wanship is the place where they actually distill their award-winning whiskies, ryes and vodkas. On Sundays, you can take a tour, buy a bottle to take home (yes, really, there are places for alcohol sales in Utah on the Sabbath) or have brunch or lunch in their kitchen and tasting room. Highlights from the food menu include a cast-iron trout sandwich served on rye bread made by local Vosen’s German bakery or the Refectory Burger, which features a proprietary blend of bison and beef. After leaving Wanship, the drive back to Salt Lake City is about 40 miles (or 40 minutes) on I-80, giving you time to reflect on Flaming Gorge’s beauty and vistas on the way home. 12 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
Keep an eye out for Big Horn sheep near Flaming Gorge
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO
SUNDAY Manila to Salt Lake City
US FOREST SERVICE PHOTO
SALT LAKE CITY
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HARDWORKING RIVER The Jordan River, Salt Lake’s urban waterway, continues to reinvent itself BY KATHLEEN CURRY AND GEOFF GRIFFIN
ANDREY ZHARKIKH
Kayaking on the Jordan River
W
e usually think of recreational waterways as stretches of water surrounded by acres of wilderness, but along the Wasatch Front, the Jordan River and its adjacent parkway defy that description. This urban recreational waterway is highly accessible, easily reached by walking, biking, UTA bus or TRAX, depending on where you live. Here’s some information about this important feature of the Wasatch Front landscape.
History
When the LDS pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, they found a river winding through their new home, which Heber C. Kimball named the “Western Jordan.” They used it to float blocks of granite with which to build the Salt Lake Temple, and the Jordan played a role in transporting goods used in building 19th century railroads. In the 20th century, the waterway mainly was used as a dumping ground for nearby businesses until the 1970s, when state and federal laws helped to halt the pollution. In 2008, a group of people formed the Jordan River Commission and began a “vision process” to turn the Jordan into an urban recreational area. That vision was completed in 2017, and today, the Wasatch Front has a recreational outlet that connects three counties. 14 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
Facts
The Jordan River Parkway is a continuous 40-mile paved trail that runs adjacent to the river, which flows north from its headwaters at Utah Lake in Utah County through Salt Lake Valley. The parkway links up with the Legacy Trail in Davis County, ending near the Great Salt Lake. In all, the parkway touches 15 municipalities. In Salt Lake County, it runs through nine city parks, one county park and three golf courses. The nonmotorized trail is open to hiking and biking and provides access to the river.
Resources
When out on the trail, you can pull out your mobile device and visit MyJordanRiver.org. Although it’s technically not an “app,” it operates like one on your phone and allows you to navigate your route along the river. If you’re looking for information about where to go along the river, check out JordanRiverCommission.com/thetrail and then click on the link for Jordan River Parkway Spotlights under the Destinations section. Information about the parks and trails the river touches on in Salt Lake County can be found at SLCO.org/parks/trails. If you are wanting to take a bicycle on the trail, check out BikeSLC.com/jordanrivertrail.
August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 15
Animals
Students from Backman Elementary paddle their way upstream on the Jordan River.
BLM_UTAH
A variety of wildlife live above, in and around the Jordan River. More than 200 species of birds can be found along the waterway, depending on the time of year. The list includes traditional birds associated with water like geese, herons and gulls, but also doves, owls and hummingbirds. On the ground, beavers, foxes and deer can be found in different areas along the path. Closer to the water, look for bullfrogs, toads, turtles and salamanders. In the water, you can still find native species such as the Utah sucker, but invasive common carp have come to dominate in recent years.
Highlights
If you’re hiking or biking the trail, consider stopping off and checking out these spots that are either right along the river or a close walk nearby. International Peace Gardens (1060 S. 900 West, SLC, 801-972-7800, InternationalPeaceGardens.org) Located just minutes from downtown Salt Lake, this beautiful park has a goal of fostering peace in the world by dedicating space to the gardens, statues and architecture of over two dozen nations. Utah Cultural Celebration Center (1355 W. 3100 South, West Valley City, 801-965-5100, CulturalCelebration.org) This cultural center provides an inclusive space for groups of all ethnicities and backgrounds to come together in unity. Regular art and craft displays in the gallery are open Monday-Saturday and are free to the public. The center also has a regular schedule of concerts and events that can be found at CulturalCelebration.org. Jordan River Migratory Bird Reserve (500 W. 9800 South, South Jordan, JRF-Utah.org) These 120 acres of riparian habitat were restored in 1997 and serve as a temporary home for birds migrating from Canada to South America.
Fishing
Hiking or biking alongside the river is beautiful, but if you’d like to actually get in or cast a fishing line, check out the map at JordanRiverCommission. com/the-river to find out where you can park, launch a kayak or canoe, or fish. Top fishing areas include the headwaters of the river coming out of Utah Lake or Sandy Pond Fishery, a 3-acre body of water located at 1000 W. 9800 South in Sandy. 16 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
Jordan’s Water A variety of sources Utah’s Jordan River winds through a valley booming with more than 1 million people. The hardworking river has long been engineered to serve the city’s residents. But even as an urban river, the waters are not necessarily depleted as they flow through the city. New research by a University of Utah team led by professor Jennifer Follstad Shah shows natural waters continue to infuse and refresh the Jordan River. The 51-mile-long Jordan River—stretching from Utah Lake in the south to the Great Salt Lake in the north—has, since the mid-1800s, been engineered to provide irrigation, drinking water and waste disposal for the Salt Lake Valley. All that usage took a toll on the river’s oxygen levels. Its low levels put the river on the EPA’s list of impaired waters, which is how Professor Shah came to be involved. The microbial ecologist wanted to understand the relationship between river water quality, microbes and oxygen levels, and especially how urban river systems such as the Jordan respond to what Shah describes as “chronic inputs of carbon and nutrients.” In 2016, Shah’s team collected samples from 18 sites along the river, expecting to find (through isotope signatures) water sourced from Utah Lake, tributary streams and water reclamation plants. But, surprisingly, Shah’s study found there were significant natural sources of water, including groundwater, in the Jordan River. The changing sources of water affect the look of the river. “It’s pretty turbid and in some places looks rather green, like Utah Lake,” Shah says. “Whereas, if you’re at a [reclamation plant] discharge point, you see that the water looks much clearer, like the tributaries.” The study helps us better understand how water travels from the Wasatch Range and through the Salt Lake Valley. “The paradigm was that we get snow that falls on the mountains, it melts and turns into stream water and runs downhill into the Jordan River without much exchange with the groundwater beforehand,” Shah says. “And that’s not the case; a lot of that water actually percolates into the soils, recharges the groundwater and then can reemerge into our surface water systems.” Shah’s study was published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association and funded by the National Science Foundation, the Jordan River Farmington Bay Water Quality Council and the University of Utah Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.
August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 17
TRAILBLAZER
150 YEARS LATER The river odyssey of explorer and scientist John Wesley Powell gave the West a voice and a water advocate BY CHRIS VANOCUR
Paiute Chief Tau-gu and explorer John Wesley Powell, 1873
18 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
T
his black-and-white picture is certainly worth a thousand words (Or, in the case of this article, 750 words— my allotment). But its real value should be measured in miles. A thousand, to be exact. This is the distance the bearded man to the left traveled a century and a half ago. His name is Major John Wesley Powell. Next to him is Taugu, great chief of the Paiutes. They are seen here posing for photographer John K. Hillers. This 19th century photograph is both intoxicating and illuminating, not just for the historic explorer it shows, but also for how he changed the West. The picture is one of many in a new book by Carol Ormond, called The People: The Missing Piece of John Wesley Powell’s Expeditions. The book’s release comes on the 150th anniversary of Powell’s landmark expedition into Southern Utah. Ormond tells me that, “Maps in 1869 showed a blank space of territory approximately the size of Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined that had yet to be explored.” Drawn to that blank space on the map, Powell set out from Green River Station in the Wyoming Territory on May 24, 1869. Accompanying Powell were nine other intrepid souls. Traveling on four wooden boats, their goal was an audacious one: to explore the Great Unknown, a section of country that remained a mystery. Only six men were barely alive by the end of the journey. Powell went on to map river drainages of the arid West, advocating to Congress and policymakers the need for sustainability and stewardship. “I think Powell was an explorer and fascinated with the West as a place,” Tom Minckley, an University of Wyoming geography professor, says at a recent gathering for Powell’s 150th anniversary. “The question of the Great Unknown was out there, and he was the right person to look for an answer.” This wasn’t an expedition for the faint of heart. Using boats not particularly well-suited for the journey, Powell’s adventure took him and others down the Green and Colorado rivers, where they became the first to explore the watersheds in their entirety. “The trip was considered so dangerous and impossible,”
BETTINA NØRGAAR
Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River, near Page, Ariz., just five miles downstream from Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell
Ormond says, “that Powell read about his and his crew’s demise in local newspapers all the way back East.” But we now know reports of their demise were greatly exaggerated. Three months after setting out, Powell’s perseverance was rewarded when his expedition reached the Grand Canyon. However, along the way, a third of Powell’s original crew departed from the grueling mission. I ask Minckley why, 150 years later, people should remember John Wesley Powell. In addition to surviving the journey and his feats of daring-do, Minckley points to the lasting impact that the Powell Geographic Expedition had. He feels the 1869 trip helped establish Powell as a critical voice for the West and its resources. This voice, Minckley argues, helped guide a vision for the future of Western expansion. Ormond agrees. “Travelers, tourists and residents of the area today are all benefactors of Powell’s scientific surveys,” she says. She goes on to explain how, in later years, Powell returned to survey, map and photograph the areas he explored. In fact, the photo of Powell and Tau-gu is from 1873 (Powell did not have photographers working with him on the 1869 expedition). Fittingly, Ormond’s book pays homage to the Native Americans whom Powell encountered on his adventures and the help they gave him.
Seven score and 10 years after the initial expedition, the photograph of a one-armed Civil War veteran named John Wesley Powell and Tau-gu, the great Paiute chief whose tribe lived on the Virgin River, is still worth a second look. It has the power to take us back to the Wild West and to the Great Unknown. But the picture also very much points to the future. Powell’s 1869 expedition passed through what would be become some of Utah’s most cherished places, including the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park. In fact, many areas are still called by names Powell’s exploration bestowed upon them: Winnie’s Grotto, Whirlpool Canyon and Split Mountain. Author Ormond mentions another signature Utah landmark, one that is a household name but, upon reflection, conjures up the lingering image of a man, a time and a historic journey. “At the very least,” she says, “houseboaters should honor Powell’s memory by remembering that Lake Powell is named after the great American explorer John Wesley Powell.” One thousand miles and 150 years later, this is a fitting image to end with. August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 19
Roam With a View
Canoeing on the Green River in eastern Utah as it flows toward and joins the Colorado River.
ANDY BLACKLEDGE
Utah is a high desert, but it’s also a paddler’s paradise BY REBECCA CHAVEZ-HOUCK
U
tah has an almost limitless number of places to enjoy a river or lake float. My husband, Martin, and I have an inflatable Sea Eagle two-person kayak that, when deflated, fits in our RV View’s restroom shower stall, along with our paddles and life vests. I know that most RV “glampers” use hard-bodied fiberglass or thermoplastic kayaks, securing them to the exterior of their rigs, toads or trailers, but the rear slide-out that we have on our View prevents us from doing that, so the inflatable kayak works well for us. The way we approach kayaking mirrors how we do RV “glamping”: We want our experience to be leisurely. We look for water adventures that provide enough bouncing around for us to get wet and enough excitement to get an occasional shot of adrenaline coursing through our veins. I also love the fact that Martin and I paddle in tandem— it’s really one of our favorite outdoor activities. For lake kayaking, we’ve launched the Sea Eagle at Sand Hollow and Quail Creek reservoirs in southwestern Utah. Both are great places to relax and enjoy the scenery and wildlife that frequent the state parks. Sand Hollow Campground (3351 S. Sand Hollow Road, Hurricane, 435-680-0715, StateParks.Utah.gov/parks/sand-hollow) is newer and features a number of full hookup sites. To reach it from Interstate 15, take the Hurricane Exit 16. Travel east on State Route 9 for about 4 miles to Sand Hollow Road and turn right. Travel south for about three miles and turn left at the park entrance. Eight miles due north of Sand Hollow is Quail Creek State Park (472 N. 5300 West, Hurricane, 435-879-2378, StateParks.utah.gov/ parks/quail-creek), a more established state park, but hookups are not available. To access this park from I-15, take Exit 16, travel 3 miles east on SR 9, turn left on SR 318 and follow the road to the park entrance.
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OUT OF THE BOX IN IDAHO One of the more scenic places we’ve floated is in Idaho near Island Park where we camp at the Grandview Campground (Caribou Targhee National Forrest, 208652-7442, FS. USDA.gov). Located 14 miles northeast of Ashton, Idaho, to get here, head east out of Ashton on ID47 (Mesa Falls Scenic Byway). The main road makes a big curve and heads north crossing Warm River (Note: don’t turn right onto the Fish Creek Road). Turn left at the Lower Mesa Falls Overlook, and the campground is to the left with the parking for the overlook on the right. There are only eight sites, but they have electrical hookups, and they don’t take advance reservations. From there, we kayak Box Canyon on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. Since the Harriman State Park wildlife refuge is only 11 miles north on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, sightings of trumpeter swans, elk, moose and various waterfowl are not unusual, depending on the time of year. I absolutely love the birds we see there, and if we’re on the river at the right time of day, Martin will take the opportunity to fish. Two other couples with whom we’ve camped since our now 30-year-old children were in second grade often join us on these floats. Camping with friends is the absolute best! It’s a great way to catch up on our lives, to enjoy activities such as hiking and fishing, and to share meal prep with each couple taking turns to cook for our entire group (we usually start with an appetizer “potluck,” complete with cocktails and wine on the first night of our trips).
August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 21
Author Rebecca ChavezHouck and her husband floating the Colorado River
The Moab Daily is a daylong float trip on the Colorado River
REBECCA CHAVEZ-HOUCK
A float our group likes is a stretch of the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam, an area known as Section A. We put in at the spillway off U.S. 191 near Dutch John below the dam. We then ride 7 miles through a narrow canyon that include some fun Class I and II rapids (although the Mother-in-Law Rapids might have you holding your breath a bit), and we take out at Little Hole Recreation Area. It’s a great half-day float that provides abundant fishing opportunities, too. To camp in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, we’ve stayed at Deer Run Campground (Ashley National Forest, 877-444-6777, FS.USDA.gov) with 23 sites but no hookups. To get there from Manila, take Utah State Route 44 for 28 miles. Turn left on U.S. 191 and go north for 4 miles. Turn north onto Forest Road 183 and travel 2 miles to the campground, adjacent to Cedar Springs Marina. Adjacent to Deer Run is Cedar Springs Campgrounds (Ashley National Forest Office, 435-789-1181, FS.USDA.gov), with 14 RV camping sites. To get there from Manila, use the same directions as Deer Run but remain on Forest Road 183 for another ½ mile and turn left at Forest Road 392. Both offer easy access to Cedar Springs Marina where you’ll find world-class fishing for lake, brown and rainbow trout, as well as boating, water skiing, jet skiing, canoeing, kayaking, swimming and scuba diving. For hiking and biking, the Bear Canyon Trail offers a 3-mile round trip journey that includes views of Red Canyon and Flaming Gorge.
REBECCA CHAVEZ-HOUCK
FLOATING THE GREEN
COLORADO RIVER JOURNEY In Fall 2018, we all took an enjoyable day trip down the Colorado River just outside of Moab. It’s a stretch known as the Moab Daily (BLM Field Office, 82 E. Dogwood, Moab, 435-259-2100, BLM. gov/visit/moab-daily-river). The headwinds were a pain, but it’s probably because we decided to float it in the afternoon; morning may have been less daunting. We put in at Hittle Bottom Recreation Site (From Moab, go to the junction of U.S. 191 and SR 128. Drive east about 26 miles along the Colorado River along SR 128. The campground is on the left.) and pulled out at Sandy Beach River Access (approximately 11 miles from Hittle), catching enough Class II rapids to have some fun, which made it worth paddling through the slow portions of the river. Although we prefer camping in state park campgrounds, this time, we stayed at the Slickrock Campground (1301 N. U.S.191, Moab, 435-259-7660, SlickrockCampground.com), which provided a good base camp. While many folks like to experience serious rapids on the Colorado during the spring and summer, I prefer visiting and camping in this area in the fall when there are fewer tourists or even locals on the river, and it’s not as high or quick. We have just scratched the surface of so many easy floats in our state (and in the region). Meeting up with friends and enjoying a hearty meal and a cold brew after an exhilarating day on one of our many accessible waterways is a truly unique activity that lets you see wilderness and wildlife not easily viewed from the road. See you at the campground! 22 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
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August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 23
The Utah Cutthroat Slam celebrates fly-fishing while protecting native trout of Utah
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Stockton Gayheart shows size doesn’t matter when it comes to providing excitement when catching fish. This Yellowstone cutthroat trout helped Stockton complete his Utah Cutthroat Slam.
UTAH CUTTHROAT SLAM
s Brigham Young was scanning the Salt Lake Valley from the mouth of Emigration Canyon in 1847, Wilfred Woodruff may have been studying the nearby creek and fingering his fishing pole. Woodruff brought the bamboo fly rod home from England where he had been a missionary six years before. An avid fly-fisherman, he was probably the first of the Latter-day Saints to cast a feathery lure on waters west of the Mississippi River. In a stream near Fort Bridger, he reported catching 12 fish on artificial flies, more than the combined catch of all his bait-fishing brethren that day. In subsequent years, Woodruff, who became the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1889, fished the canyon streams in the Wasatch Range for cutthroat trout. He soon recognized his success was affected by an increasing number of hungry anglers. His lament, shared by fly-fishermen today, boiled down to the following: not enough fish, too many fishermen. As the native cutthroat trout population declined, new species—rainbow, brook and brown—were imported from out of state as early as 1883. The cutthroats were crowded out in many habitats. In recent years, however, there has been a statewide effort to bring back the native trout. In 2013, for example, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) removed the non-native fish from the stream in Mill Creek Canyon and reintroduced Bonneville cutthroats, the trout species that Woodruff caught with his English flies. Three years later, DWR partnered with Trout Unlimited in “an angling adventure to support our native trout legacy” called the Utah Cutthroat Slam. The slightly audacious title notwithstanding, its goal is pretty straightforward: catch, photograph and document one of each of the four cutthroat subspecies in Utah. It is not as easy as it seems. Anyone who has ever cast a fly line into a headwind knows that fly-fishing has inherent challenges. The Cutthroat Slam ratchets up the difficulty because the four
Utah Cutthroat Slam insignias
UTAH CUTTHROAT SLAM
A
BY JOHN RASMUSON
UTAH CUTTHROAT SLAM
Heidi Lewis used this Colorado River cutthroat trout to complete her Utah Cutthroat Slam.
subspecies of cutthroat trout—Bonneville, Yellowstone, Bear River and Colorado River—are as geographically dispersed as their names suggest. You won’t find a Yellowstone cutthroat in the Weber or Fremont rivers. In fact, the habitat of the Yellowstone cutthroat is confined to the remote Raft River drainage on the Utah-Idaho-Nevada border 150 miles northwest of Salt Lake City. There, as they do in so many other places in Utah, the trout live in little, brush-lined streams where they are hard to reach and easy to spook. Some cutthroats thrive in the state’s reservoirs, however. Strawberry and East Canyon have produced lunkers weighing upwards of 20 pounds. Since the Utah Cutthroat Slam was launched three years ago, Faith Jolley, a spokeswoman for the DWR, says 182 women and 1,430 men have paid the $20 registration fee and embarked—at their own pace—on a quest to catch one fish from each of Utah’s four cutthroat subspecies. According to Jolley, 31 women and 346 men have been successful and have received a certificate and medallion from the DWR. A few, such as Brian and Brooke Harris, have accumulated a number of medallions, earned by catching qualifying fish in different waters each time they began anew. DWR allows registrants a lifetime to catch and document the four, but like ultra-marathoners who are not challenged by 5K fun-runs, some anglers up the ante. They attempt the Cutthroat Slam in a single day, driving hundreds of miles in the process. One of them is Jeff Denning, an economics professor at Brigham Young University. He and two friends set out from Orem at 6:15 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2016. They drove to the South Fork of the Provo River where all three soon landed Bonneville cutthroats as temperatures crept into the mid-30s. They then made their way into the Uinta Mountains where they were able to catch Bear River and Colorado River cutthroats. It took two-and-ahalf unnerving hours to land a Bear River cutthroat—more than twice the time their planning had allocated.
The sprint to the finish was a race with the sun. By the time they had driven across the state to the Utah-Nevada-Idaho border region, not much daylight remained for catching the final fish. In Sawmill Canyon Creek, the sun setting, Denning caught an 8-inch Yellowstone cutthroat. His two friends came up empty handed as darkness set in. It was a long trip back to Orem. By the time the threesome reached home, it was near midnight, and they had logged 600 miles in the car. In retrospect, Denning says it was a “completely unique fishing experience.” But unlike the typical, relaxing day on a river or lake, “there was more adrenaline, more stress and a different feeling than I have ever had on a fishing trip,” he says. Harris found the exploration of out-of-the-way parts of Utah to be an unexpected benefit. After completing multiple slams, Brian Harris wrote in a Trout Unlimited blog: “We came to the realization we were more interested in exploring the land than we were about actually completing the challenge. In planning successive slams, we just picked the first water way that interested us that also met all the habitat requirements.” Across the state, habitat-improvement projects have been funded by the proceeds from the slam. Brett Prettyman, Trout Unlimited’s Intermountain communications director, says all but one dollar of the $20 registration fee is devoted to native cutthroat conservation. “More than $30,000 has been used to fund more than a dozen projects,” he says. Removal of a weir in Mill Creek Canyon is one example. The Utah Cutthroat Slam would surely have had Woodruff’s blessing. Even so, he would have been perplexed by its endorsement of the catch-and-release practice observed by most, modern-day fly-fishermen. In Woodruff’s day, a cutthroat trout was better kept for the frying pan than returned to the river. And therein lies the genesis of the Utah Cutthroat Slam. August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 25
BACKCOUNTRY
Donuts With Strawberry Skillet Jam STORY AND PHOTOS BY DEREK CARLISLE
FRESH FROM THE SKILLET The Outbound Collective recently hosted Pursuit at Snowbasin, a weekend of camping out, rock climbing, water play, mastering outdoor skills and relaxing by the campfire—in other words, summer camp for adults. A perennial favorite activity among attendees is outdoor cooking, with lessons at this gathering provided by Emily Nielson, Aimee Trudeau and Mai-Yan Kwan, authors of cookbook Dirty Gourmet: Food for Your Outdoor Adventures. The camping cooks shared a tasty recipe for strawberry donuts cooked hot on the griddle. Here’s how to enjoy this tasty treat in the Great Outdoors. 26 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
CAMP CHEAT For ease and convenience, use a can of Pillsbury biscuit dough and pinch off pieces into the oil
DONUTS 3 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling 1 tablespoon sugar 1 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast ¾ teaspoon salt 2/3 cup milk 2/3 cup water 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons cornmeal Cooking spray STRAWBERRY SKILLET JAM 2 cups sliced strawberries 2 to 4 tablespoons sugar Juice of 1 small lemon 1 tablespoon chia seeds 1 pinch of kosher salt
Dirty Gourmet authors give hands-on instructions
Strawberry skillet jam made with fresh strawberries
AT HOME • In a large ziplock bag (or bowl with a lid), combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. AT CAMP • In a small pot over low heat, warm the milk, water, and butter until the butter is melted. • Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Cool until it’s lukewarm. • Add the flour and yeast mixture to milk mixture, and stir well to combine, making a soft dough. • Cover the mixture with plastic wrap or a lid, and let rise either overnight in your cooler or for about an hour in a warm place, until the dough is nearly doubled in size. • Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and dust it with flour. (A silicone baking mat works well or tape some parchment paper to a camp table.) • Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. • With a biscuit cutter or drinking glass, cut rounds and set them aside onto your work surface. • Sprinkle the tops and bottoms of the rounds with cornmeal and cover them with a clean towel. Let rise for about 30 minutes. • While the dough is rising, make the jam. In a skillet or a medium pot set over medium heat, add the berries and sugar. • Mash the berries with a wooden spoon or a fork, until the berries soften and release their juices, about 5 minutes. • Stir in the lemon juice, chia seeds and salt. • Remove from heat and let stand. • Once donuts have risen, grease a griddle and heat over medium heat. • Cook the donuts on the griddle for about 5 minutes per side, or until they’re lightly browned and cooked.
Cook donuts on a griddle over medium heat
STANLEY PRODUCTS USED Basecamp Cookset, Adventure Crock, Adventure Bowls found at Stanley-pmi.com For more information about these chefs, visit DirtyGourmet.com or Pursuit Series at Pursuit.TheOutbound.com
August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 27
Utah’s water policy and usage does not match its supply OPINION BY MEGAN WALSH
he wind is brisk and the air cool as I step out of my Prius at the Lake Powell lookout off U.S. Route 89. With me is my pup, Nala, whose only desire is to explore all the scents, critters, nooks and crannies of this new place. Watching her race around, exploring far and wide, with such ferocity makes me think about the men and women who explored these canyon walls and desert expanses with the same fervor as Nala. I think about John Wesley Powell, in particular, and how his crew navigated unexplored rivers, portaged dories in newly named outlets and documented every detail in a painstaking style that now seems a lost art. As Powell discovered and named the Red and Labyrinth canyons, Music Temple and Dirty Devil, he ruminated on the future of civilization in the American West. Even then, he knew that the arid landscape, while vast, hadn’t enough water to sustain large populations. “Many droughts will occur; many seasons in a long series will be fruitless,” Powell warned in his 1878 Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States. Yet, his warning went mostly unheeded. Utahns apparently 28 | Vamoose Utah • August 2019
believe that we are smiled upon from above. The biblical prophet Isaiah said in 35:1 that for those who put faith and trust in God, “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” Religiosity aside, it takes a lot of water to make a desert bloom. Fast-forward to the Colorado River Compact of 1922, which established how seven states in America’s Southwest would share the Colorado’s precious bounty. Then speed ahead to the 15 dams constructed on the main stem of the Colorado River from 1905 to 2007, including six in Utah if we include the Glen Canyon Dam that’s technically in Arizona. And here we are today, downplaying the scarcity of water in Utah. We water our lawns and propose pipelines as if we haven’t experienced below-average snowfall in the last 12 of 20 winters, as if the driest winter on record didn’t happen only four years ago. Due to the unpredictable nature of recent winters in the West and along with a nudge from Congress, seven Western states recently signed the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan to create state-by-state protocols should reservoirs along the Colorado River continue to shrink below their current historic lows.
PIXABAY/MONIEK58
Touring Lake Powell by boat
Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado and California—all signatories of the contingency plan—draw irrigation, household and drinking water from the Colorado River and carry it to more than 35 million people across the upper and lower basins. Each year, the river swells with melted alpine snow from the Rockies, stalls at hundreds of dams along its tributaries and then flows through pipelines and aqueducts to these seven adjacent states and into Mexico. Utah’s interest is most vested where the Colorado River travels along the Utah/Arizona border and meets the Glen Canyon Dam to form Lake Powell. If there’s a physical display of drought in Utah, it is most evident in the white bathtub rings above Lake Powell, indicating the lake’s highest level to where it is today, down some 120 feet. Each year, aside from usage in the upper and lower basins, Lake Powell loses roughly 380,000 acre-feet of water to seepage and another 560,000 acre-feet to evaporation from relentless desert heat, according to a 2013 study from the Journal of the American Water Resources Association. For context, the amount lost to Lake Powell’s sand-
stone banks is equivalent to Nevada’s entire water allocation in the Colorado River Compact. Yet, despite record-low levels in Powell and its slow creep toward “dead pool” status, the Utah Division of Water Resources continues to push for the $1.8 million Lake Powell Pipeline to siphon 86,000 acre-feet of water each year and propel it 140 miles through five pumping stations to St. George. If siphoning off 28 billion gallons of water out of an already shrunken reservoir doesn’t seem ill-advised, consider efforts made in 2015 and 2017 to conserve only 22,000 acrefeet of water by compensating farmers (to the tune of $4.5 million) to forgo the use of irrigation water, which is only a third of the proposed pull by the pipeline. Why should Utah taxpayers pay for this? We’re told it’s because demand for water in the burgeoning St. George population is exceeding its supply. But some contend it’s because Utah is not using its entire legal share of the Colorado River, and we’re creating a use for it before we lose it. August 2019 • Vamoose Utah | 29
Meanwhile, in the Wasatch
Those in Salt Lake City are fortunate—90% of the Wasatch Front water supply travels from the peaks of the Wasatch into our faucets and sprinklers, and the remaining 10% comes from nearby aquifers. This water isn’t shared with anyone but next-door neighbors. However, that doesn’t insulate us from future water issues. “The primary threats to drinking water [along the Wasatch Front] are pollution and drought/climate change,” Laura Briefer, director of Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities, says in an interview. Deer Creek Reservoir acts as a back-up for Wasatch water use, holding run-off through Decker Creek and the Provo River, but if the Salt Lake Valley population doubles in the next 50 years as Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute projects, and our winters become 18 degrees warmer in 60 years as predicted by a University of Maryland study, we’ll likely find ourselves grappling with drought on a scale the valley hasn’t seen before.
And yet, according to a recent Utah Geological Survey, Utah’s public water supply customers use 248 gallons of water on a daily basis, the highest consumption of any other state in the country. Our excessive use of water in the desert is both fascinating and alarming. While the Colorado River and Lake Powell are indicators of our capacity to deplete natural resources, they also show our ability to work together to preserve them. Pipeline proposals and exorbitant water usage make the future of Utah waterways look grim, but we’ve proven our ability time and again to prevent the worst from happening. As I look out over Lake Powell at the sharp contrast between the original waterline and the current one at the mighty Glen Canyon Dam and at the Wahweap Marina inching closer to the shoreline, I can’t help but feel a twinge of concern and maybe even remorse for how we use our water. While there may not be hope for the past, there will always be hope for the future. There has to be.
PIXABAY / SKEEZE
Beautiful Lake Powell
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LAST
LOOK Jet ski at Bear Lake Photo by Brandon Nelson
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