Soapstone

After the horse pulls, we stopped by my parents’ to help polish off some of their leftovers. After eating, we headed up to Soapstone for some four-wheeling. Kevin’s mom had planned to come with us, but didn’t, so we had three four-wheelers, and I had the opportunity, for the first time, to drive a four-wheeler by myself. It was a good area to learn how to drive because the roads were generally pretty good. My biggest problem was figuring out how to use the brakes. 

We met our first obstacle within seconds of starting, as the road was flooded. There is still snow in places, so there was a steady stream of water going down both sides of the road. Kevin snapped some pictures of me in the water on our way down. I was able to make it through the water without too many problems and we were on our way. There were a couple more times I had issues with not hitting the ruts right and the four-wheeler started to tip, but I was able to get out of it without damaging it too much. I also almost got stuck in a swampy area because I had forgotten to shift down to first gear.

I haven’t been up Soapstone since I was in Elementary school, so I had forgotten how pretty it was up there. There were a lot of trees, but there were many large meadows throughout the trees. I was surprised, also, by how many campsites there were. While they were quite as plush as our family’s normal camping spot near Rock Creek Reservoir, the prettiness made up for their lack of indoor plumbing. 

There were a couple places where we had to turn around because the road was impassable due to water or snow. It is amazing to me that there is so much snow still up there. Usually by this time of the year the snow is all melted except for the really high Uintahs. At one point we hit an actual lake in the road. It was originally supposed to probably be a small stream that fit through a culvert in the road, but it was probably 10 to 20 feet wide and about 2-3 feet deep. We had driven up on a ridge to see if there was any way around it, and while there a group on a UTV and a four-wheeler drove up. One of the guys in the UTV jumped out and hopped on the four-wheeler and proceeded to drive through it a few times to get his bearings, eventually they drove both vehicles across. It was quite entertaining to watch.

All-in-all this was a very good trip. I hope we can go back up there again because there is a lot more exploring left to do. One thing I do have to add though, is that I think I prefer exploring on a horse. There are no gears. They are able to make it through places that machines cannot. It is more peaceful because you don’t have the machine sounds. Plus, they can be lovable creatures for the most part. However, I guess I am at a point in my life where I have to use what I have access to, and the closest thing I have to a horse is Panda, my parents’ llama.

The washed out road at the beginning of the trail. Kevin told me to drive into it and he would take pictures. Hence, why my smile looks slightly fake.