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From the Fremont Park-Castle Rock junction the trail
continues south along Forest Road 113 following Mill
Creek. About 200 yards south of the 1-70 bridges across
Mill Creek, the main Paiute ATV Trail is joined. Those
heading for Circleville and Marysvale continue straight
while those heading for Richfield turn right. The
previous chapter describes the route to Richfield.
The road along Mill Creek is smooth and provides for
fast travel so be careful of other traffic. Here you can
see fantastically eroded rock spires, or hoodoos. These
are the castles of Castle Rock. The vegetation along
Mill Creek provides cool shade in summer and a blaze of
color in the fall. There are numerous, scattered sites
for camping along side the stream. The walls of the
canyon are composed of ash falls from the volcanoes that
formed the Tushar Mountains. The vegetation is
predominantly ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, cottonwood,
and maples. After crossing Mill Creek, the trail begins
to climb toward fantastic views. Soon limber pine,
subalpine fir; and mountain mahogany are the predominant
trees. The presence of an old spoil pile heralds the
approach to the old mining town of Kimberly.
At the turn of the century, Kimberly was a thriving
mining town of several thousand people. It was one of
the larger towns in Piute County, and vied for
designation as county seat. Gold and silver were the
attractions that brought the miners. By the
nineteen-thirties the gold had about played out and the
town was in decline. The second World War brought the
end. Now, all that remains of this raucous history are a
few spoil piles and some abandoned mines. When traveling
in this area be careful and show respect for others.
Much of the land in this area is privately owned,
respect it as you would your own property. Also,
abandoned mine shafts are very hazardous, stay out of
them!
Past Kimberly the trail continues through conifer and
aspen forests. Openings give views of Clear Creek Valley
below. A good view point is at Winkler Point, named in
honor of a former Supervisor of the Fishlake National
Forest and Chief of the Division of Range and Wildlife
in the Forest Service. At the point there is a sweeping
panorama from the Great Basin to the west, past Clear
Creek Valley below toward the Sevier Valley to the east.
The white cliffs to the northeast mark the southern edge
of the Wasatch Plateau. From Winkler Point to the
junction with the west leg of the Marysvale Loop, at
Forest Road 123, the trail goes through a tunnel of
aspen and conifer on a good road.
After the junction with the Marysvale Loop, which is
described in a following chapter; the trail follows
Forest Road 123 up the north side of the canyon of
Beaver Creek. This is an excellent road that is fun to
drive. The scenery is spectacular, but don't get so
wrapped up in it that you forget to look for other
traffic. This canyon provides spectacular views of
mountain meadows in the bottom and mountain scenery
across the canyon. The trail passes through aspen,
mountain mahogany, and conifer woodlands before reaching
timberline. Along the way the trail crosses an avalanche
chute. The cut-off trees in this chute, and the two
across the canyon that form a backward "D",
give stark testimony to the raw power of these
avalanches. Only small trees that don't stick up into
the moving snow are present.
There is a spectacular view down and across the
canyon at about the point where the trail breaks out
above timber line. Diagonaling across the canyon slope
is the contact between light and dark colored rocks.
This is the edge of a 20 million-year-old caldera. When
it was young it looked something like Crater Lake in
Oregon. Material spewed from the earth by the volcanoes
that formed the Tushars, leaving a void. The roof sank
into the void like a piston, forming a crater on the
surface. Rocks slumping down the rim were bleached by
sulfuric steam escaping from below. Eons of erosion have
removed the crater shape, so that all that remains is
the black and white band across the hillside.
While looking across the canyon, note the scars from
old mining roads criss-crossing the slope. These scars
last a long time in this harsh alpine environment. They
serve as reminders that travel in this area is
restricted to designated roads. Above timberline it is
very tempting to ride to the edge of the canyon since
there are no trees in the way. However; this activity
only leads to damaged scenery and further travel
restrictions. So if you want to see that canyon over the
ridge; walk, don't ride, to the nearest viewpoint.
Approaching the highest point on the trail at the
pass above Bullion Pasture between Mount Belknap and
Delano Peak, the trail passes beneath trees that have
been shaped by the wind. This type of forest is called
'krumholtz" or "elfenwood", the dwarf
forest. These trees are beat mercilessly by winter storm
winds carrying ice crystals that cut like razors.
Branches extend from the trunks only on the downwind
side, indicating that the predominant wind is from the
southwest.
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