DigitalRoadtrip: Utah, Day 1...Danger Cave

Sunday September 1, 2024

Since retiring last year, I find I'm no longer the night owl. So, getting up and ready for an 8:15A flight was pretty easy. It would also get me into Salt Lake City around 10:30A. Assuming it's on time of course.

Call it a good omen, security was an absolute breeze. I've made the walk to Terminal B many, many times. Never gets old.

The view from Gate B33...

Not too shabby, eh.

The flight to Salt Lake City is three hours and forty minutes. We got out before the rain and had an incredibly smooth flight, even landing on time. As for my checked bag, it was just coming out on the carousel when I arrived.

The morning had one more thing up its sleeve. AVIS was offering a free rental upgrade. Instead of my Kia Soul, I could get a passenger van which seemed silly. Or, I could get a Ford F-150 pickup. How could I pass it up?

From the airport it was simply a straight shot west along I-80.

Around mile marker 25, there's this curious sculpture...

It's by Swedish sculptor Karl Momen. There's no pullout, just that sign. Momen calls it "Metaphor, The Tree of Utah." He described it as "a hymn to our universe whose glory and dimension is beyond all myth and imagination."

Around mile marker 10, there's a rest stop alongside the Bonneville Salt Flats. At the end of the last ice age, the northern third of Utah was covered by Lake Bonneville. In this area, it was about one thousand feet deep. The lake dried up over time, leaving a sixty square mile area of encrusted salt and minerals.

The salt flats, and by way of default the lake, were named after Col. Benjamin Bonneville. Upon graduation from West Point, he was stationed in various frontier forts in Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri.
In 1832, he signed up for an exploratory mission west, which would be canceled due to a lack of staffing. Instead, he took a leave of absence to join a privately funded excursion. This would eventually take him into Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. Along the way, his men would also discover and map what would become known as the California Trail, the route that would eventually serve the California Gold Rush.

These days the salt flats are more known for adventure seekers in very fast vehicles. A few exits further is the Bonneville Raceway. It's a section of the salt flats set aside for racing. Quite a few land speed records have been broken here. In August, Bonneville Nationals, Inc. hold an event where professionals and amateurs can come together and test their vehicles and nerves in an event called Speed Week.

This year, Alex Taylor and ISKY Cam arrived to make an attempt at one of the speed records. The records are divided by vehicle and engine types. Her team recorded her numerous attempts. You can see them here. Or, you can fast forward to 41:50 to see her World Record of 236MPH. A motorcycle racer who goes by the nickname Flat Cap Racer broke the record for his class of motorcycle at this year's event as well. You can see his two attempts here:

Racing isn't the only competition here. Today was Day Two of the USA Archery Flight Nationals. Unlike the competition you see in the Olympics, this isn't shooting at targets. The winner in each class is the person who shoots their arrow the furthest.

West of the salt flats is the town of Wendover. Like so many out here, it started out as a refueling and rewatering stop on the Western Pacific Railroad, even though there was no water available. They decided a thirty mile water pipe was cheaper than rerouting the rail line.

It was also the site of the final telephone poll erected for the first transcontinental telephone line, as well as the final connection in the first transcontinental underground cable.

On the outskirts of town, you can also visit the Wendover Airfield. During World War II, it was used as a bomber training base. The most famous crew that trained here flew the Enola Gay.

While Wendover is in Utah, West Wendover is in Nevada. And that means casinos. This is Wendover Will, originally created in 1952 for the Stateline Casino. It's long gone, but Will remains.

As for West Wendover, it's the only place in Nevada not in the Pacific Time Zone. Considering its close relationship with Wendover, and being the only Nevada town for miles, it makes sense.

If I was driving the Soul, I might not have attempted my last stop. The road out was partially paved. Some of it was decent dirt and gravel. And some stretches not so much.

The first stop was a pullout on a road to a hilltop adorned with radio and cell towers. Halfway up a gate blocks access. Decent view.

I was actually headed to a place called Danger Cave.

E.R. Smith started exploring the cave in 1951. The excavation ended abruptly one day when a large rock fell over, narrowly missing his crew. Thus the name. That's the cave on the left..