Evolution of a Ghost Town - Sort of

Evolution of a ghost town. OK, not really a ghost town, but Carter, Wyoming sure seems like it's well on the way to becoming one. Apparently it was once a major agricultural shipping point on on the Union Pacific Rail Line, but now has just 3 or 4 occupied homes, population of about 10, and two very friendly dogs that accompanied us on my photowalk. I sure wonder about the history of these places, and what they were like during more prosperous times.

Ghost Town - Black's Fork Commisary

A ghosttown out in the Uinta moutains, Black's Fork Commisary. A logging town founded n 1870, it became a ghost town in 1930. Likely supplying logs to the charcoal kilns at Piedmont, where they made fuel for the railroad steam engines. It's hard to image what a hard life it had to be living there back in the day, and I read somewhere the work was easier in the winter when you could pull logs on sleds. Brrrr!

Another Airplane Arrow

Another airplane arrow. Funny thing about this one is that we've ridden right by it many times and didn't even know it. It's right along the road to Timpie Springs, a favorite birding spot of ours. There's actually a fence separating it from the road, but you'd never know it was there, unless you knew it was there to look for it.

Evolution of a Ghost Town

Evolution of a ghost town. Back in 2016 while out on a Northern Utah birding and ghost towning adventure with my friend April, Shin noticed the word "Ghost town" on the map just over the border in Idaho. Two ghost towns in a day sounded really rad so we after visiting Kelton headed up north to the once town of Strevell Idaho to check it out. Not much was left of Strevell, just a few foundations and the upright remains of a one building, which my research indicates was likely Mary's Cafe. Once a busy Idaho port of entry town, the construction of I-84 a few miles north essentially put Strevell out of business. This past Sunday's adventure took us by Strevell again, and now the ghost town had become even more of an apparitions left as that last building standing, stands no more. Sometime between the end of June and now the building toppled, I know this because my friend Judi, had posted a picture when she traveled past in June. Soon no one will ever have any idea this town ever existed...

Another interesting thing about Strevell, Idaho. It is home to an airplane arrow. Back in the 1920's when "AirMail" began, the US created this system of giant arrows and beacons that could be seen from the sky to help the pre-navigation system postal aircraft find their way across the country. I was bummed when I found out, after visiting Strevell in 2016, that the town was host to one of these giants arrows and we missed. Well, this time we made it a point to find the arrow.

Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Another coronocruise to check out a wild life refuge. Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge a wet land about 3 hours north of us up in Idaho. A beautiful day well worth the drive. We saw a wonderful assortment of birds, the sounds of the Sandhill Cranes were joyous. Our big treat was when we were heading down the west side of the marsh and we came across a great herd of elk!

Art-o-mat Inspiration

Heading north for some bird watching I spied porch full of potential Art-o-mats sitting on the porch of dilapidated building in the tiny town of Bennington,ID. One has to wonder where they all came from and why they are there! What a great reminder that it is time to send in my latest submission.

And a second travel treat, spying the nest of a Red Tail Hawk, in very viewable spot!

Circumnavigating the Great Salt Lake

This weeks coronacruise took us way out around the west side of the Great Salt Lake, where we got to hit a few places that have been on my list for quite some time, the Sun Tunnels and the ghost town of Lucin. The Sun Tunnels are a 1970's art installation by Nancy Holt, the wife of Robert Smithson, the creator of the Spiral Jetty. Constellation adorned concrete tunnels that line up with the sun during solstices. Way out in the middle of nowhere (and I mean middle of nowhere!), what a crazy, interesting and beautiful (and remote!) place for an art installation. It would be really cool to go see this during the solstice...

Lucin was a bit surprising. I didn't expect to find a oasis in the deserts, but the ponds created by piping in water from the far off mountains were indeed an oasis. Lucin was a railroad stop, and back in the day they need the water to fill the steam engines. The train still runs by, but not much is left of the town, just a few root cellars and an odd concrete structure, which after doing some googling we discovered was actually a railroad company phone booth. The ponds make for a nice little wildlife sanctuary, ducks, lots of song birds ( I saw some beautiful warblers!) and a pair of red tailed hawks where living there.