A trip up Fairview canyon.

Before heading out, I stopped at Terrel's for a quick breakfast entree.

Terrel's has the best supermarket donuts I've ever had.  

I opted for the German chocolate.  The vacancy in the cabinet is the one that I took. 

My plan was to take a drive through Fairview canyon.  I wasn't even completely sure if I was going to do it.  I thought about it during my drive between Mount Pleasant and Fairview.  There is only five miles separating Fairview and Mount Pleasant but that five mile stretch was really something.

After that nice drive, it was obvious that I needed to take a trip through the canyon.  The good Lord had blessed me with a beautiful sky today and I needed to take full advantage of that. 

I had about a quarter tank of gas and thought it would be wise to gas up first.  The chevron station at the end of town had an American flag waving in the wind.  I knew that was where I needed to go for my gas. 

While gassed up, I stood in the parking lot and took as many photos as I needed until I got the flag shot I wanted.  The one I did get was near perfect. 

It was now time to head up the canyon

I asked my mom if there were any special places up the canyon that she would recommend I visit.  She could vouch for the beauty of the canyon but could offer no specific recommendations.  All she could say is that there are lakes and such that can be visited up the canyon.   

My first stop was on a small gravel spot on the side of the road.    

I first looked up and took a photo of the mountains to the south east.

I then looked down at a view a Fairview creek.  It must be a good 100 feet down.

I look at this photo and feel like I'm in my car and about to drive off the road.  I take too many photos from the driver's seat.  The city of Fairview is now out of view.

  

After the short stop, I was back on the road and continued my search for a mountain lake.  I still had a ways to go before I would find one.

I stopped my car for a moment to get a snap of the Aspen growing up the side of the mountain.

My first stop was the Fairview winter trail head.  It's dead ahead.

The sign on the top was interesting.  Who in the world would ever try to build a campfire on the pavement?  Apparently, enough that the forest service thought it necessary to ask everyone not to.  Out of every 10000 people, it only takes one idiot.....

Anyway, the parking lot looked like a good spot to stop, look around and get some photos.

There was a map in the parking lot that was invaluable and I made sure to get a good picture of it.

Aside from all the snow mobile trails that I had no use for, there were several lakes identified on the map that I had to chose from.  Eventually, I'll get to all of them but one will do for today.

This dirt road was at the far end of the parking lot.  According to the map, this is North Skyline Drive.

    

There are some interesting things to explore down this road but it is a dirt road and that had me a little uneasy.   And I did have my heart set on a lake and I'd have to travel further to find that. 

There was one odd thing I found in the parking lot that was kind of creepy. It was a car that appeared to be abandoned.

This was a very large parking lot and the only cars in it were mine and this one - an SUV with an abandoned white cooler sitting behind it.   The drivers side window was rolled down about half way and I had a peek inside.  There was additional camping gear but still no indication as to what the owners of the car were doing here or where they were.  I was too afraid to inspect the car any further or have a look inside the white cooler.  It could have been booby trapped.

I'll come back to this place at another time and see what's down that dirt road but for now, I would continue onward to find my lake.    

This sign turned up right outside that parking lot.  I decided that Electric Lake would be my destination.  If it's important enough to show how far it probably would be a nice place to visit.

The six miles went by quickly, mostly because I was enjoying the scenery so much.  Before I knew it, I was at the turn off point for Electric Lake.

It looks like I have another dirt road ahead of me if I want to reach Electric lake.  I wasn't thrilled about the prospect.  Some dirt roads are not wise to travel on unless you have a vehicle equipped for off road travel.  My Kia isn't, though most dirt roads can be traversed by any car without trouble.  So how do you know when a dirt road is safe to travel on?  Most of the time you don't.  It's a risk you decide to take or not to take.  And on this occasion, I decided to take that risk.  It was only a mile to the lake but t didn't take long before running into trouble.

I ran into this wet, snowy quagmire not more than 150 feet after the turn off.  To get across something like this requires focus.  You pick your path, get a good, running start and keep your foot solidly on the gas pedal.   It's those who loose their nerve and slow down that get stuck.  I ran into a several spots like this on my way to the lake.  At one point,  I was tempted to turn around and get back to the highway.  Still, I persisted.  I came a far distance to see this lake and was very determined to get there.

Phew!!!  I made it.  Now to have a look at lake.  

Electric lake turned out to be a disappointment.  I risked trashing my car to get to it, only to find out that it wasn't much to look at anyway.  First of all, the lake is only half as full as it's supposed to be.  Not much can be done about that.  The rain in Central Utah has been a little scant this year.  Secondly, Electric lake is more of a fisherman's lake than a lake for nature lovers.  I didn't stay long - maybe ten minutes or so.  Then I hopped back in my car and headed.  Now I had to get back to the Highway.  That would be even more precarious because the road was going up.

 
A stream of water went right down the middle of the road.  Staying on the right side was the safe way to go.  When I made it back to the highway, I headed back to Fair View.  I had officially seen lake.  It wasn't a good one but it was a lake nonetheless and I didn't feel like looking anymore.  I assumed my adventure was over for the day but not long after getting back on the highway, I noticed something on my left hand side that would salvage the whole afternoon.  I'll discuss that in my next post.