Iron Chest
It had already been a great day because we had just finished driving up to Grizzly Lake. Mike showed us to the Iron Chest trailhead, but unfortunately he had to take off and go to work. We had just started the trail and we were in the Rock Garden when we ran into some Toyota trucks. We pulled over to let them by and they informed us that there was a group of six or more Jeeps on the trail coming down behind them. We decided to get as far as we could before we ran into the next group of vehicles on their way down.
We all started working up through the Rock Garden, trying not to damage anything too badly. It was really loose and challenging. We made it around a corner and there was the group of Jeeps. We all pulled to the side to let them pass. This was no easy task in the Rock Garden. We all managed to pull out of the way and the group started moving by us. Suddenly, the group stopped passing us and everything stopped.
One of the Jeeps in the other group had flopped over. Robert moved up the trail to see if they need help or an extra winch, as he was in between the turned over vehicle and the last Jeep in their group.
Sure enough, there it was, a Jeep Cherokee on its side. It was flexing on a boulder almost as big as a Jeep when it flopped. It only took them about 30 minutes to get the Jeep up on its wheels, and soon they were moving on.
After another half of a mile we were out of the Rock Garden and on a somewhat smooth trail. We made it to the top in no time. We all got out and checked out all the old mining buildings. The weather that had been threatening all afternoon had finally blown in, and it started to rain. It was time to go.
We made our way down very quickly. Near the end of the trail we ran into some people on ATVs playing in the Rock Garden. They pulled over to let us pass them.
We all stopped at the trailhead to regroup. Jed pulled in last and was very excited. "Do you guys know who that was?" Jed asked us. It was Charles Wells who we had just passed. There were a couple of people at the trailhead and they told us that they were showing him around as he did research for his new book.
We waited for him to get down and spent a few minutes talking with him. One of the things we talked about was the abuse of trails by everyone. He said we all need to work together on educating everyone. He also informed us that he is going to have a new Utah trails book out prior to the Easter Jeep Safari. He said the maps are going to be great! It was cool to get to talk to him.
Reports from Other Days: 7
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