Trails 2 Travel

Day 6- Exploring Shanghair from ancient water towns to modern skyscrapers: We wanted to see all we could in a day of what the Shanghai area had to offer. 

My last Carbon County post: last but not least as the little town of Helper is up there on one of my favorite parts of the area. If you like small towns with artsy vibes, historic buildings, amazing locals, and delicious food, this town is for you! 

First and foremost: Let's start with the food  GROGGS Pinnacle Brewing Co.  Our first night in town we headed to the local brewery/ pub (because after ATVing all day, that seemed the natural progression). GROGGS while sounding medieval, turned out to be quite delicious. They had decent prices, and fantastic food. I got my usual bacon cheese burger (which I would put on top 10 burgers ever) and Katie's in-house smoked prime rib sandwich looked pretty fantastic as well. This place is open 7 days a week (though closes at 8 on Sunday) so if you're looking for a place to eat, particularly on Sunday, I recommend.

Another Carbon County Success story: Getting to watch closing races of a 3 day event: The Castle Country Clash at the Desert Thunder raceway. Some of you who knew me years ago would know I was a big NASCAR fan back in the day. (I mean I made NASCAR board game for a 5th grade math project once...I was serious about it)  So when Tina asked us if we would be interested in attending the weekend's stock car races my answer was an easy YES! Saturday with our ATV ride, we were wiped out but luckily we finished our hike Sunday just in time for me to check out the afternoon races. 

Everyone knows I can't go on a vacation without checking out at least one hike and in this case, the Gordon Creek waterfall was calling my name.  Trail Stats: Distance: 2.5 miles RT if you go all the way to the top of the falls Elevation gain: 250 feet (there's one decent up and one down each direction) Kid friendly, dog friendly, ATV friendly.  

Fall Carbon County ATV Tour Let me start off this post by saying that not only did this tour far exceed my expectations, but the entire area did. If you hear Carbon County, most people immediately ask "what is there to even do there," "where is that?" Then you mention "Price" which is on all the road signs when you head from SLC to Moab and you get a few nods.  WELL, time to change that.

Day 5- our 2nd day on the mountain. We were both kind of waking up around 5:30 and noticed lights of people/ groups out hiking to a peak to watch sunrise. We both had rough sleeping, but felt good enough at least so we got dressed, gathered our small pack of things, and headed out to check out sunrise. In the interest of not getting up early enough and being hungry for breakfast, we only did the short walk back to the cloud dispelling pavilion where we’d watched the sunset. I wish however that we had just done the jaunt up to Purple Cloud Peak as that was probably the best/ closest peak to our hotel and was tall enough we would've been able to see the East side of the mountain. 

Day 4, part 2 continued: The hike to the Fairy Walking Bridge. Once we reached the bottom we took the Northern rail car back up to the top which spit us out near the Baiyun hotel. (where I would personally recommend staying for location and reviews) We debated going to check in at our hotel but the day was still young (it was only 11) and we were right at the top of the SOUTH trail around the Western Sea. This was the trail I originally planned on taking all the way down but was told it was closed half way.