2023-08: Deer Creek State Park, UT

Milestones

• 8th time in 8 months to go camping.
• Part of my 2nd Annual “Bike-A-Palooza” (SEE the Whole Trip)
• 3rd U.S. state camped. SHOW ON MAP
• 1st time camping near a filming location – only 5 miles away from Mount Timpanogos which was one of the filming locations for the 1972 movie Jeremiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford.

The Journey

• I drove north along I-15 to Orem, UT and turned East on US 189 to go into the Wasatch Mountains.
• When I got to the entrance of my campground, the park attendant (a young girl with a “follow-the-rules” attitude) wouldn’t let me in because I was 1 hr too early.
• After my not-so-Christian protests and indignation (which were quickly rebuffed), I decided to drive around Deer Creek Reservoir, following the path I had planned for my bike ride the next day.
• I was scared even driving my car along that route with zero-shoulder, and 12% grade up/down. I won’t be riding my bike along that route. But, I got great pictures of Mt. Timpanogos that I hope to camp nearby someday.
• Mount Timpanogos is the second-highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range. It rises to an elevation of 11,752 ft (3,582 m) above sea level in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and is the 47th-most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States. Good news… while wandering in these alpine forests, I found an extraordinary campsite at CASCADE SPRINGS. I will go back and camp overnight there.

• Oh My Gosh… it was amazingly beautiful, and some of the most treacherous single lane mountain road you will experience.

It took an hour for me to drive around the perimeter of Deer Creek Reservoir. This is the principal feature of the Provo River Project and was constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation in the late 1930’s.

I eventually arrived at my campsite near the reservoir, and put up my tent, made dinner, and went to bed.