Newfoundland Mountains and Hogup Pumping Station

[sawtooth4x4]

I took my second son out for an overnighter in the old Disco a couple of weeks ago. We kind of got a late start Friday afternoon. We left Layton around 4.00 pm.

I had never been out there before so I was a little anxious about going by myself without any cell service. But I decided to just go and have some fun. We traveled on the railroad grade along the south side of the Great Salt Lake. We made camp around 8.30 in the dark. But it made for some great photos at dusk.

We took an old Coleman ground tent, some good sleeping bags and inflatable pads. I took my cot out for its maiden voyage. The cot has opened up a whole new world to camping. I am old and hate sleeping on the ground. The cot was very comfortable. I will continue to use it! Its really nice with my inflatable pad.

https://goo.gl/maps/HZgSxgxKZm42



Anyway pictures:

Heading in:

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Some Hogup photos:

Signs, signs everywhere signs. I tend to ignore some of them. So I'm sorry Utah, it was too cool not to get some closer shots. Nothing was harmed while looking at this extremely expensive pumping station that was never used. And besides we pay taxes to maintain this thing, so we should be able to look at it.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

They sure are concerned with security, even though I found holes in the security, I did not attempt to go in.

It was starting to get late, we needed to get moving because it was getting dark. I didn't have cellphone reception, so google was worthless by this point. I was using my trusty old Garmin Oregon GPS unit with 3D topo to navigate along with my Utah Atlas book. It was much better than the GPS.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

We headed down the tracks another 10 miles? (Well it seemed like that) We couldn't figure out where to cross the tracks, and it was almost dark. The sun was fading behind the mountains at this point. I could see a road just on the other side of the tracks, but no where to cross the tracks. I decided to just drive over the tracks, so I put it in low and locked up the rear locker, just to be safe. I hate crossing tracks, and this one had two sets to cross at once. I have a video of us coming back across the tracks I'll post later on.

We set up camp in the dark, had a little fire, had some snacks and rootbeer. It was getting late, 9.00 pitch black, and I was beat. We decided to go to bed and see where we camped in the morning. We ended up in Sleigh Canyon on the East side of the Newfoundland Mountains.

The morning broke finally after listening to crickets chirp through half the night. It was a beautiful morning.

We had a quick breakfast of protein bars, jerky sticks and water and packed up. This is when the first debacle happened. I lost my only key to the Land Rover. I didn't notice until everything had been packed up in the back of the Disco. After about an hour of panic, and checking everything twice, I finally had the impression to take my sleeping back out of its bag and shake it out. Out popped the key to the Disco. After I repacked everything for the third time, we were on our way.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

We headed out and started around to the West side of the Mountain Range to see what we could find. Having never been out here before, and not having the internet to guide me to the places that are most cool, we found some things that were somewhat cool. We headed home around 3.00 so my wife wouldn't call the search and rescue. A bunch of cool / weird mining stuff we found.

I have no idea what this thing was used for. I thought maybe it was a boom truck with a winch, but its just so weird, I'm not sure.

We continued up to Miners Basin and found an old Cabin.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

As we headed up the road from the cabin we found some open shafts and stopped to investigate. I'm claustrophobic, so any temptation to enter the shafts was at 0%. So I took my 1000 luman flashlight up and tried to pier into the abyss.

We hiked up to the first shaft. I could see the tailings pile from the trail. We drove as close as we dared.

This must be part of the tram they used to carry ore down the mountain.

The View from the top of the tailings pile

The shaft

Hiking back down

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Just some random crap we found on the way out, an old international truck and other mining equipment

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Model T? Not sure what this one used to be. That's about it for photos. I have a couple of video's I'll work on tonight since I don't have football games to take the kids to anymore this year.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

ditto

 

[sawtooth4x4]

videos coming soon

 

[nnnnnate]

Very nice trip report, thanks for sharing. How did you do on fuel? Did you carry extra? I always get nervous about losing keys...

 

[BCGPER]

Just so you know, those pumps did indeed run for a couple years. By the time construction was completed we were heading into a drought. The pumps only lowered the lake a couple feet before they were taken out of service.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I filled up in Tooele and filled my jerry cans with 5 extra gallons. I used about 1/8 tank from Tooele to where we camped. Then when I was down to 3/4 I dumped the extra in the tank. By the time I got back home I was down to 1/3 of a tank. The disco does really well on gas when just cruising around the desert and doing between 45-65 mph. If I'm doing 75 and above it drinks gas freely. It has a 24.8 gallon tank. I love the gas tank size, it makes this kind of trip pretty low stress. And by having a small V8 it doesn't drink gas as fast as a bigger engine.

 

[Thursty]

Cool trip!

 

[Troop92]

Is your key chipped? Home Depot makes good copies, if not.

Awesome pics, looks like a good time with great weather.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

No it's not chipped like my Range Rover was. I have a spare key, but I leave it at home. I guess it's time to make another spare and tie it onto the frame.

 

[Brad J]

We had a tour of the Pump Station a couple years ago while on a Scout Campout. One of the guys that goes out Monthly to do maintenance showed us around. If/When they need it again it will take several months to get it up and running if I recall. It was very cool. I was 7 in 1982 & remember 1300 South was a sandbagged river just a couple blocks from our house. I'm glad that they are out there just in case.

 

[lhracing]

Great pictures and trip report, thanks for sharing.

 

[RogueJeepr]

If you would have went Alittle further down the road, there's a stop sign and to the left they have the gravel built up to cross the tracks easily. Another sign below that warns not to proceed any farther west along the tracks. Only turn left.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I was starting to freak out. It was getting really dark. And I saw a road on the other side of the tracks. So I went for it. Next time I'll know better. Thanks