It’s time to pack up camp and move North towards our new home in Montana. We will be leaving around noon today and travel up Highway 89 for several hundred miles to Lake Utah for our next camp. Usually moving day is a little stressful for Jagger, but he seems to be adjusting to the life style. He is continuing to improve, having more energy. He is now on a rice diet and I am increasing the amounts until he is at a normal volume for his meals.
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Cedar Breaks Amphitheater
Yesterday afternoon Cedar Mountain was on my schedule of places to visit before leaving the area. I had never been there before and was anxious to see the Cedar Breaks “amphitheater” rock formations that I saw on the internet when researching this area. The Cedar Breaks Amphitheater is over 2,000 feet deep, 3 miles across. It has been slowly evolving for over 28 million years ago after a volcanic eruption which created the plateau. The view is so impressive I can’t describe it. No picture can bring to life the depth or the colors of the view.
Cedar Mountain is the highest mountain in this area, advertising an elevation of over 10,000 feet. It freezes here 250 days a year, today it was 48 degrees at 12 noon.
Alpine Meadow – Returning From Winter
At the summit of Cedar Mountain there are many “Alpine” meadows and a pond. Many of the Spruce trees here have been unfortunately killed by the Bark Beetle. They will give way, deteriorating to become food for the rest of the surviving healthy trees over the coming years. After exploring on our walk in the area. Jagger and I headed back out of the park towards Brain’s Head Ski Resort. Not much here so we headed back out by Brain’s Mountain.
I saw a sign that said 3 miles to viewpoint. It was a dirt road in pretty good shape, however there was some snow and lots of mud. I decided to see how the truck would handle in snow, without chains. Going up the hill it did quite well even over the snowy patches. Some were about a foot deep and 50 to 75 feet across. I got up the mountain about two miles or so and came around a corner to find three trucks and a SUV stopped.
Off the Road
One of the trucks had slid off the road onto some boulders on the side. I got out to see if everyone was okay and what they were doing to get him out. They told me they had cables, but when they pulled the truck back the front right wheel became wedged at an angle against the boulders. He wasn’t going anywhere. Before I turned around a couple went down the hill for help before it got too late in the day. Cell Phone signals were non-existent in almost all of the area. Pretty sad, but that’s a risk you take when adventuring off road. I did learn something from this incident. I need to acquire some cables and a shovel to carry in my truck!
Overlooking the valley from Brian’s Head Mountain
At that point I turned around snapped a few pictures and headed down the hill “very carefully”.
Safe Travels until next time, Gary
More Photos: Dixie National Forest
Categories: Utah
Retired Vagabond 
Gary, I would think that Dodge of yours would go thru just about anything without much trouble!! Glad Jagger is doing better…sure you are relieved……drive safe, keep posting pics, in a beautiful area!
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Thanks John, I am relieved, especially the fact we were so remote. Now we are right outside Provo. Also, there is a huge dog run here and Jagger loves it! A little humor as far as the Dodge, It does have 4 wheel drive. 2 H = 2 wheel drive, 4 H = four wheel drive, 4 L = you don’t want to go here! (My brother-in-law told me this on getting my Suburban years ago – I still live by it) It is amazing what it will crawl over, I just don’t have the want too as when I was younger 😉
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In regards to Jagger and flees….. Both myself and my sister in law treat our dogs with Frontline and Heartguard. I hope this will be helpful to you in the future.
If you happen to go through Provo Utah and a bit further north Orem Utah… please take not of Mount Timpanogos. That mountain was almost in my backyard. We all claim it as our mountain. It is absolutely beautiful. We would climb to the very top. There is also Timpanogos cave. I am not sure if you will have time to go through it or not or what you would do with Jagger. So, that may not be something you can do.
Orem use to be a little town.. where I enjoyed lots of fun adventures as a child. I use to ride my horse up and down state street to go to work in the summer picking cherries. Great memories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Timpanogos
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Thanks Jeannie I will look that up. I appreciate your suggestions. I am trying to do only things Jagger can participate in, especially over the next few months, until we both settle into this lifestyle. Next trip I will be leaving him for short periods of time to experience events that he cannot attend.
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