High Uintahs - Alsop Lake

[Sombeech]

One of my favorite trips is up the East Fork of the Bear River. Alsop Lake (or Allsop?) is about 10 miles in. The trailhead is right by all of the Boy Scout camps up there.
It's been great fishing each time I've been up.

[accadacca]

NICE!!! I need to go next time. How's the fishin' in the lake? Did you mostly fish in the river? I bet my top secret Uinta lure would pull some nice fish from the lake.

[Sombeech]

The fish were going crazy in the river, but of course smaller than the lake trout. We camped on the river, so that was the bulk of our fishing.
The lake had some good sized ones too.
It's pretty secluded up there. Most people camp by the lake, and there were only two people there.

[Sombeech]

Here's a better view of the lake

[accadacca]

Cool! What's up with the black box? Someone incognito :?: Did you take the horses up last time?

[Sombeech]

Ever see 2001 Space Odessy? Just kidding. I wanted to block out a cheesy picture of me. I wanted the attention to be more on the lake and not me.

[sharp]

WELL I THINK THE BLOCK WORCKED BUT I AM FROM DOWN SOUTH I HAVE BEEN TO THE UINTAS A FEW TIMES HUNTING BUT THIS YEAR I AM PLABNNING ON CAMPING ALOT SO I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN DIRECTIONS

[Sombeech]

Do you want to hike, or drive?
Near a lake, or a good fishing stream?

[Shan]

Awesome photos! Brings back memories.

My hubby and I used to work for the High Uintas. He was a wildernes ranger, I was the GIS analyst. That is where we met!

[Wasatch]

There's a really good book out there called I think Unita Backcountry by Steve and Jeff Probst.

[rock_ski_cowboy]

Growing up, we always went to the Uintahs a lot. My grandpa knew them very well as he grew up in Vernal, then later moved to Tabiona, and his dad ran 10000 sheep throughout the Uintahs in the summer. Its been a while since I've been back. Never seen them on foot, though, we're those lazy guys on the horses that stink up your trails, go twice as fast and twice as far, and take dutch ovens, steaks, and cooler bags full of cold drinks. Ah the good life and the wilderness make such a nice combination.

[rockgremlin]

So you were brought up on stories of Lost Spanish Gold too eh?

[rock_ski_cowboy]

So you were brought up on stories of Lost Spanish Gold too eh?

You know it. In fact, I went on a river trip a couple weeks ago with a guy whose Uncle had a high grade gold vein scoped out up in Idaho but then drowned one day crossing the river to get to his claim. This guy knows right where it is, supposedly. Problem is that its wilderness now, so there's not much chance of mining it. Another guy on the trip was raised on stories of Spanish Gold and then moved to Delta where there are all kinds of crazy gold stories floating around. (You hear about that guy that says he found a bunch ou there a few weeks ago?) Needless to say stories of hidden gold were the main topic of that trip. My favorite was that this guy's friend supposedly found the "Rhodes" gold in the Uintahs that everyone's been looking for, but after struggling with God to let him take it for three days, he went home empty-handed.

[accadacca]

My favorite was that this guy's friend supposedly found the "Rhodes" gold in the Uintahs that everyone's been looking for, but after struggling with God to let him take it for three days, he went home empty-handed.

That's funny stuff! There might have been a little moonshine invloved.

[rockgremlin]

Ya, I grew up on em too. I actually went hunting around the Uintahs in search for evidence of mineralization that would vindicate claims that the Uintahs hold a lot of precious metals. I did actually find some interesting stuff.

I found a mine up Rock Creek years ago (just below Pole Creek Reservoir) that did have some evidence of some promising mineralization. It had been re-opened and then abandoned again by the author of all of those Rhoads Gold books (Gale Rhoads, the great grandson of Caleb). While I was up there there was a small group of guys up there with a small drill rig from some company in Colorado. I wonder if they found anything promising?

I've also found crosses etched in old trees up Weber Canyon, and I found another REALLY old mine at the headwaters of the Weber river, near Fish Lake. It had been blasted closed (probably by the Forest Service, because I found spent blasting caps up there where the mine had been blasted shut). I also found etchings of crosses in trees around there too.

And there's a small time precious metals mine up on Christmas Meadows that's still active. The last time I was there, there was some guy living at the entrance to the mine in an old RV. Supposedly, that mine dates back to pre-1900's (which makes it Spanish in origin).

Interesting...

[rock_ski_cowboy]

This talk reminds me of an old friend of my Dads named Steven "Doc" Shaffer. I think he's considered one of the more authoratative sources on Spanish Folklore and Archaelogy in Utah, but he's really somewhere between Crazy Treasure Hunter and Archeologist, so scholars don't give him much credit. He lives near me, I remember going to his house and him showing us an old Spanish saddle, a Spanish Cross, and some lead plates that had etchings in them. Interesting stuff. He's written several books on the subject including "Treasure of The Ancients," and "Of Men and Gold." I haven't seen him around for a few years. I remember him telling us about a mine in the Uintahs he had staked out and that there was a big room sealed off in it that he was working on getting into, that was years ago, if anyones found something its him.

Looking around I found his website. Some pretty interesting stuff over there.

http://www.ancienttreasurehunter.com/

BTW I know where the sun is at he talks about on the front page. Its right next to our favorite rappelling spot up Diamond Fork.

[rockgremlin]

Ya, I read a few of his books. Interesting stuff. Just intriguing enough to believe, just crazy enough to dismiss.

Some of the artifacts on his site appear authentic, and others appear homemade.

What's with the cheesy music on his site?