10 days in Junction, Utah…
The town of Junction has a whopping population of 190. Like many of the communities in the area, it was settled by Mormons in 1880. Tiny little Junction is the county seat for Piute County which has a population of 1400 with a sparse 2 people per square mile. It has a nice town park, a small store, a gas station, and of course, a small RV park. There were always kids playing and we never worried about locking our doors…a very safe, quiet community. Close by, Piute and Otter Creek Reservoirs are good-sized lakes with good fishing. Bordered to the west are the impressive and scenic Tushar Mountains that top out at 12,174 feet. Junction sits in the pretty Sevier River valley at 6,000 feet. With tons of ATV trails, two large lakes to play on, and mountains to explore, the area is popular with outdoors folks. Major supply runs were to Richfield, 45 miles to the north. We like quiet and Junction was certainly quiet…we liked Junction!
Campground…
Junction RV Park was peaceful and very small…it only has 8 campsites. We had full hook-ups, ok wi-fi, and a spotty non-data cell signal. Due to large trees, there were only a few places a satellite dish would work…long cords and a mobile dish are a necessity. We had to do laundry five miles south in an RV park in Circleville. Rates were extremely reasonable and we were happy. Due to the park’s small size and return visitors, reservations need to be made well in advance.
Tushar Mountains Our three neighbors
Kayaking and Fishing…
Fished Otter Creek Reservoir on 14 May…got skunked
Fished Piute Reservoir on 15 May…caught 4, 15-18 inch rainbows on lake leach flies
Fished Piute Reservoir on 19 May; caught 2, 15-17 inch fat rainbows; just beat a thunderstorm off the water
Fished Piute Reservoir on 20 May; hooked 2 smallmouth bass and 2 trout near the dam
Cormorants See the lambs near the top? Getting a drink
Biking highway 153…
Utah Highway 153 from Junction to the 10,200 foot high pass over the Tushar Mountains closes each winter. Unfortunately, during our visit, the road was still closed due to snow. In order to explore it, we had to get out the bikes!
We hadn’t been on our bikes for over a year…we’ve been hiking maniacs! We’re in great hiking shape and decent shape overall, but are we in decent biking shape?!?
Nope! Seven and a half miles of constant 4-8% uphill gradient and 2,000 feet of climbing kicked our butts. We averaged four or five miles per hour on the way up and about 30mph on the way down. The trip down was a blast. Imagine four of five miles of smooth paved road with zero traffic…it was heaven! Our bodies were a bit sore, especially our tooshies. It’s clear that we need to ride our bikes more often!
Hikes and Geocaching…
- The big “P”…The “P” is for Piute County and sits about 500 feet up the hill above Junction. You can see it for miles…in fact, zoom in on Google satellite and it stands out. A geocache was placed there in June 2007 and has only gotten a few visits each year. Visitor logs are spotty with a few “did not finds”, a couple logs indicating a destroyed cache, an updated location or two, and recently a sad new cache placed in a pill bottle. We decided to rectify things!
We walked our four-legged friend within a mile of the big “P” a couple of times each day. We figured it would be a nice 4 mile hike to the cache from our front door. First we walked to the little store and got a sandwich-sized plastic container. We added a few small toys, a pencil, and improvised a small log book (cut a piece of paper in six equal sections and stapled them together). Then we walked up to the “P”. The cache had been logged in three different locations near the “P” so it was confusing. Imagine looking for a pill bottle hidden among the thousands of rocks that made up the “P”…good luck! Thankfully, the cache description had a hint that helped focus our search. We found the pill bottle and replaced it with our new cache. When we got back, we logged the cache and included new details and the pictures you see below. We enjoyed the hike and liked the view…hopefully the new cache, updated details, and helpful pictures will lead others to this cool spot!
See Arleen? Piute Reservoir in upper left
Found 2 geocaches near Otter Creek Reservoir on 20 May. One hadn’t been found in 2 years!
WHERE WE GOT OUR MAIL
Junction, Utah
Next we will spend about 30 days in Torrey, Utah. Capitol Reef National Park will be on our door step, as will be fantastic high country fly-fishing on Boulder Mountain. We’ve been looking forward to this for awhile!
Parting Shots…
Next to a geocache in Junction; old Piute County courthouse in background / Cowboy working some cattle
Family of Canadian Geese / Look closely to see large flock of pelicans
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