Rafting Weber Canyon

On a hot July afternoon, we headed up with Marissa and Matt to do some river rafting in Weber Canyon near Ogden.  The actual town is Hennifer, but you wouldn't know it by that name.  

You would know it as "the middle of nowhere".

It was a pretty calm section of the river, with just a few "splash zones" but it was relaxing and fun.

I thought it was going to be wetter than it was, so I didn't bring my phone to get pics. I should have though.

After rafting, we took the scenic way home, though the mountains and near where the Pony Express trail went, as well as the Mormon Pioneer trail - it was July 24th (Pioneer Day) after all!

We first stopped to see "Devil's Slide" which is right near the freeway. 

Here is some history about this strange geological occurrence: 

It is a giant size limestone chute which consists of two parallel slabs of rock about 20 feet apart, 40 feet high and about 200 feet long.

Looking like a large playground slide fit only for the Devil, it's actually a remnant of sediments deposited in a sea that occupied Utah.   This sea which originated from the north (180 million years ago), spread south over areas of what now are Montana, Wyoming and Utah. 

Over millions of years, massive amounts of sediment accumulated and eventually formed layers of limestone and sandstone.  About 75 million years ago, during a "mountain-building episode" (earthquakes), this thick layer of sediment (about 2700 feet thick), got tilted to a near-vertical position.  Further erosion and exposed the near-vertical rock layers to what we see today.

The middle of the slide is a different composition of rock from the outer layers.  The middle layer is softer, which makes it more susceptible to weathering and erosion.

It is a very bizarre looking rock!

We then head up through beautiful mountains.  At the top, we passed "Heartbreak Ridge" which the Mormon Pioneers had a sad day when they arrived here.

They saw even more mountains in the background they had to cross, thinking they were almost there.  

The plaque reads:

"The country west looks rough and mountainous,"
wrote William Clayton, describing this panorama of
the Wasatch Mountains. Modern historians have
dubbed this summit "Heartbreak Ridge" to describe
the feelings of many early Mormon Pioneers who
crested this ridge. After months on the trail,
traveling over 1,200 weary miles, it was heart-
wrenching to discover that the most difficult part of
the journey still lay ahead. Some people must have
broken down and wept. Others gritted their teeth
with determination and moved southwest down off
Hogsback Summit to challenge the mountains and
canyons that
lay ahead.

“...arrived [July 19] on the suummit of the dividing
ridge and put a guide hard up, "80 miles to Fort
Bridger"... The descent is not very steep but
exceedingly dangerous to wagons being mostly on
the side hill over large cobble stones, causing the
wagons to slide very badly.”

I don't know how they did it.  I know I couldn't have.  We drove this part of the route in about 35 minutes and it was steep, curvy, sides of the cliff. I can't even imagine doing it in a handcart and covered wagons...taking days...weeks....after already coming so far.

Later in the week, we went to the annual Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra Pioneer Day Concert.  They paid tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein and performed many of their Broadway hits.  It was really good.  Gma and Gpa Gwilliam came with us to this.  We sat at the highest seat in the house!  It was very high!

It's a beautiful building at night

Salt Lake Temple across the street peeking above the trees

A little history about the Conference Center:  It's HUGE! It's the largest auditorium of it's kind in the world and has NO visible support columns. That means no viewing obstructions for the 21,000 people it holds.  It can hold two 747's side by side, and the distance from the top row of seats (where we were) to the stage is the distance of a football field.  The waterfall coming from the steeple outside is beautiful, and the organ inside has 7667 pipes!  There is also a 3 acre garden on the roof you can go see during the day.  The outside walls are covered with granite slabs that were quarried from the same quarry the Salt Lake Temple got granite slabs from in nearby Little Cottonwood Canyon.

We are thankful to all the pioneers who sacrificed and made the trek West to settle Salt Lake. They would be amazed at what it's become!