Pony Express Trail

Recruiting pony express riders during the year of 1860 was no easy task.  Can’t imagine why with such an appealing help wanted poster.

Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen.  Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily.  Orphans preferred.  Wages $25 a week.

Three notable figures of that era - Alexander Majors, William H. Russel and William B. Waddell - claimed a pony rider service could transport mail from the east in only nine to ten days.  With the establishment of the Pony Express in April of 1860, their claim became reality.

I don’t suppose we could have been hired by the Pony Express being over eighteen (well over) and not so skinny.  We are expert riders, however, (in our Toyota 4X4), but we could use a raise in pay.  It cost us nearly $25 just to gas up the rig.  Maybe that’s how you get to be skinny.  You put all your money into the steed.

 Since we had only a couple of days to explore, we selected a section of the trail across Utah’s Great Basin.  To get there, we headed west out of Salt Lake City on I-80 past Tooele and Grantsville.  We took the Dugway exit and drove south through Skull Valley.  About 30 miles down the road, we came to the entrance of Dugway Army Post.  At the entrance stands a very well kept LDS Church building.  Just west of the building is a dirt road heading south.  We followed that road for about ten miles, always bearing to the right at intersections.  That runs you smack into the Pony Express Trail a few miles east of Simpson Springs Station.  The trail can be easily driven by just about any vehicle, but make sure your cooling system is in tip-top shape.  The Utah west desert is no place to break down or run out of water.  You most likely would become buzzard bait if you had to walk for very long in the summer sun.

The Simpson Springs station is the best preserved station on the leg of the trail we explored.  The original walls of the building are still standing, but fenced in.  There is also a newer restored building across the road.

As we continued down the trail, my outdoor temperature gauge was reading 95 degrees on that day of June 8, 1996.  I glanced over at my wife and noticed she was flushed and starting to look somewhat like a chile pepper.

“What do you say we turn on the air conditioner, honey,” she said with a grin.

“Oh ........Okay.”

A few minutes later, we both looked a lot better.

That stretch of the trail in Utah’s west desert was described during a stagecoach trip on July 23, 1859.

“If Uncle Sam should ever sell that tract of land for one cent per acre, he will swindle the purchaser outrageously.”    -Horace Greeley-,  Summer of 1859.

As we continued on down the trail, we passed monuments marking the sites of other stations.  Unfortunately, after 136 years, the desert sun has baked everything to dust.  There’s not much left of anything remotely resembling a station.

We traveled west for about 65 miles at roughly 35 miles per hour.  During which I found myself trying to imagine how it must have been riding a pony or worse yet, boucing around inside one of the Overland Stagecoaches of that era.  What fun it must have been eating dust from a team of six horses while baking inside the coach.  Just the thought of it sent chills up my back ... or maybe it was the air conditioner doing that.

“Do you think we could turn the air conditioner down a notch, honey?”

“No.”

“Oh ..........Okay.”

After about three hours we came to Willow Springs Station, now named Callao.  There are still people living and ranching in Callao due to the water available from the Deep Creek Mountain range just west of the community.  Callao looks like a green oasis as you enter it from the west desert.  It has quite a few log buildings that are still very well preserved.  Just driving through will throw you back a hundred years.

As we reached the west side of Callao, we could see our goal for the day.  The Deep Creek Mountain range.  The mountains rise to almost 12,000 feet at the highest point and very abruptly from the desert floor.  Back home, I had been pouring over the USGS maps for a few weeks and had found a few 4X4 trails on the eastern slope to explore.

At the west end of town the Pony Express Trail continues on west as the road comes to a “T”.  We, however, went left.(South).  Just about one half mile past the “T”, we came to a one lane dirt road to the right.  This is a BLM road up two different canyons.  Middle Canyon and Goshute Canyon.  For serious 4wheeling on steep mountain terrain, Middle Canyon is a road you will enjoy.  I hiked up the road and found lots of tire burns on the steeper areas.  A winch equipped vehicle on this road would be a plus.

As for camping in the area, we highly recommend Goshute Canyon.  Just follow the road up and bear to the right.  You will climb to about 6,500 feet in elevation surrounded by mountains and Pinion Pines.

We particularly enjoyed the feeling of solitude.  We did not see another living soul for the duration of our stay in the canyon.

Just climb the trail in 4-low (a bit steep and rocky) until the road ends.  The canyon was about 15 degrees cooler than the desert we left behind and our camp was nestled between Junipers and Pinion Pines only a short distance from a cool bubbling stream.

What more could we ask for.  A flat spot for the tent, plenty of firewood, a bubbling creek, and great weather.  Remember, this is OUR land.  Leave it as clean or cleaner than you found it.

If you are so inclined, there is a great hike up the canyon.  Just follow the creek.  Ok, so maybe there’s not an official trail going that way, but I found lots of game trails that were fairly well used and those trails provided a good route up the canyon to some spectacular canyon scenery.

The next morning, sitting around the campfire, hot camp coffee in hand, I was wishing we had about three more days to explore this area.  We reluctantly packed up and headed down the mountain.  The trail is not tough 4wheeling, but as we found out, it is tough on sidewalls.

About an hour from camp, on a dirt road heading back, we were blessed with the unmistakable aroma of hot rubber followed by the thump thump of a flat tire.  My right rear tire had a fist sized hole through the sidewall and we were back in the desert heat.

We didn’t bother to pull off the road.  Just changed the tire right where I stopped.  Traffic is not a problem out there.  Couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take someone to find us if the spare was also flat.  Take a mental note.  Before leaving home, be sure that spare you haven’t used in two years still has air in it.  Fortunately, mine did.

I got back in the car and looked at my wife.  “Is that as high as that air conditioner will go?”  She just smiled like women learn to do right after they’re born.

So, if you love remote getaways as we do, the Utah west desert offers places to lose the rest of the world for a while.  I strongly recommend using the USGS 1:100,000 scale metric topographic map of Fish Springs, Utah for a good reference to the Callao/Deep Creek Range area.

Happy Trails!

Ralph Mims (South Paw)

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