Grassy Benchmark - Grassy Mountains - April 24, 2021

[scatman]

My wife and I woke up early Saturday morning, hopped in the Jeep and headed west, to the Grassy Mountains, to hike to the high point of the range, which I will call Grassy Benchmark. The Grassy Mountains are located in the west desert roughly 70 miles due west of Salt Lake City. The range is situated between Puddle Valley on the east, and The Great Salt Lake Desert to the west. It was cloudy for a good portion of our hike, and once again there were some strong winds blowing, just like last weekend, that made it chilly when not moving uphill. Once on the summit, we took in the views and enjoyed our lunches for as long as we could stand the wind . After lunch, we headed north to the second highest peak in the range, which is unnamed. After that, we made our way down into a canyon, then on to Puddle Valley where we looped back to the jeep.


The Grassy Mountains dead ahead


Southern end of the Grassy Mountains


Grassy Benchmark is the high point at the center of the image - viewed from where we parked the Jeep


Solitude! The Jeep with the Lakeside Mountains to the east


Desert Stink Beetle - @Rockskipper, I'm not sure if this means it likes me, or it doesn't? Anyway, I recited some Scatman
poetry to it, and it calmed right down.


Baaaasque Country!


This dog (sheepdog?) was guarding the herd of sheep and letting us know not to come any closer.


Paintbrush amidst the sage


Badger hole. Scatman vs. badger, that might sell some tickets.


Beginning some uphill hiking at this point


A kindred spirit since I am the black sheep of my family too.


Grassy Benchmark. We headed up the ridge directly in front of us


Junipers are getting their juniper berries


A little butte we went by


Spiny Phlox on the ridge


View to the north - unnamed peak 6157


Making some progress


Looking back to the east and down the ridge


Spring Parsley, just below the summit - We didn't see very much of this compared to ours hikes on Stansbury Island and in the
Lakeside Mountains over the previous couple of weeks.


Some collapsed old structure at the top


The Grassy Benchmark


Sheila, approaching the summit


Burger Boy needs some calories!


View to the south down the spine of the Grassy Mountains, with the Cedar Mountains in the distance


There was a lot of beautiful lichens up top


Heading north, over to unnamed peak 6582, the second highest in the range


View to the northwest and Desert Peak in the Newfoundland Mountains


A dead juniper on the ridge


View of the north end of Puddle Valley - starting to get some sun in the afternoon


Working our way down into the canyon


Looking back up the canyon, with Grassy Benchmark at the upper left of the image


Making our way along the dry streambed towards Puddle Valley


Looking out over Puddle valley


Central Puddle Valley Guzzler


View back on our route from the guzzler


Finishing the loop


Couple of Puddle Valley Antelope. Peak 6551 of the Lakeside Mountains as a backdrop.


Look at him go! Burger Boy at his finest! The Scatsters went to the Bonneville Brewery in Tooele for an after hike meal. I had the mac-n-cheese burger
and some onions rings along with a Sir Malcolm's Stout, which was quite tasty.


The End.

 

[Rockskipper]

Awesome country.

 

[Perry]

“Burger Boy”??? I love it!
I’ve always wanted to walk that ridge line that I’ve seen on my numerous trips to Wendover over the years. Did you get off I-80 at the Aragonite exit and double back to the dirt road across to the range?

 

[kwc]

Apparently the western version of “grassy” is a bit different than the eastern version. And this easterner is puzzled by the “guzzler”?

Great pics, thanks for sharing another Scatster adventure!

 

[scatman]

Awesome country.

What happened to the rest of your reply?

There is a small market here in SLC named Liberty Heights Fresh. A few years ago, maybe five or six because I think my kids were still in high school, I stopped in and bought some energy bars made from crickets. If I remember correctly, they had two flavors, so I bought one of each. While they weren't the best energy bars I've ever eaten, they weren't horrible either. I'd certainly eat them if I were hungry and had them available. I'll have to go there again and see if thy still have them, though I don't recall their name. Old man disease again.

 

[scatman]

“Burger Boy”??? I love it!
I’ve always wanted to walk that ridge line that I’ve seen on my numerous trips to Wendover over the years. Did you get off I-80 at the Aragonite exit and double back to the dirt road across to the range?

We took the Lakeside Military Area exit #62. There is a paved road that heads north through Puddle Valley to a Hill Air Force Base Range. Take the first left onto a dirt road (approx. 5.3 miles) and head slightly northwest towards the Grassies. We took a right (north) at the second intersection we encountered along the dirt road and went until we were lined up with the Grassy Benchmark ridgeline. There is another dirt road further west by about 1 mile, that would have gotten us closer to the foot of the mountains and saved us about two miles of hiking, but then we wouldn't have run into the guzzlers.

Hiking the ridgeline would be pretty straight forward from what I could tell.


Some shots of the road further to the west, that we didn't park on

Looking south

Looking north

 

[scatman]

Apparently the western version of “grassy” is a bit different than the eastern version. And this easterner is puzzled by the “guzzler”?

Great pics, thanks for sharing another Scatster adventure!

I had questions about the grassiness of the range too. Maybe it had more grass before sheep began grazing there?

The guzzlers catch rain water and snow melt that gets stored in a reservoir tank. How the water is then used, I'm not sure. Livestock would be my guess. Both guzzlers were fenced in individually and then there was a larger fenced in area that contained both guzzlers


The north guzzler


The south guzzler


Just east of the two guzzlers - underground tank and pressure release? Within the larger fenced off area.


Shot of the two guzzlers

 

[Rockskipper]

What happened to the rest of your reply?

A beetle ate it. (I accidentally erased it. I was trying to fix it while flyfishing.) But that’s not part of the guzzler, that part that you said might be an underground tank. That’s Biscuit McGee’s grave. He didn’t want to be buried in the Yukon.

 

[regehr]

I never heard guzzler before now and always called these things catchments. live and learn!

 

[Perry]

We took the Lakeside Military Area exit #62. There is a paved road that heads north through Puddle Valley to a Hill Air Force Base Range. Take the first left onto a dirt road (approx. 5.3 miles) and head slightly northwest towards the Grassies. We took a right (north) at the second intersection we encountered along the dirt road and went until we were lined up with the Grassy Benchmark ridgeline. There is another dirt road further west by about 1 mile, that would have gotten us closer to the foot of the mountains and saved us about two miles of hiking, but then we wouldn't have run into the guzzlers.

Hiking the ridgeline would be pretty straight forward from what I could tell.


Some shots of the road further to the west, that we didn't park on
View attachment 97993
Looking south
View attachment 97994
Looking north

Aha! I know exactly where you're talking about. Thanks for the directions.

 

[scatman]

A beetle ate it. (I accidentally erased it. I was trying to fix it while flyfishing.) But that’s not part of the guzzler, that part that you said might be an underground tank. That’s Biscuit McGee’s grave. He didn’t want to be buried in the Yukon.

Hey, I owe you and apology. That was a stink beetle that I took a picture of. Sheila just informed me that I was incorrect. The other beetle we saw on our hike was the scarab one. Ooops!

So back to Biscuit McGee. It's possible he could still be alive? The pressure release might allow air in? And lord knows there should be some water in there. Maybe I should have shoved an energy bar down the pressure release so that he could have had some food.

 

[scatman]

I never heard guzzler before now and always called these things catchments. live and learn!

I'm sure either one will do the trick.

 

[Rockskipper]

So back to Biscuit McGee. It's possible he could still be alive? The pressure release might allow air in? And lord knows there should be some water in there. Maybe I should have shoved an energy bar down the pressure release so that he could have had some food.

If I'd known when I was a kid all the things that would end up littering my brain, I think I would've been more selective about what I learned. IOW, you're better off just not knowing some things.

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

Typically guzzlers are used for wildlife, from doves, quail or turkeys to big game. I doubt cows or sheep have the brains to figure them out. Perhaps these are for stock, but I've seen stock tanks in the most arid conditions.

 

[scatman]

Typically guzzlers are used for wildlife, from doves, quail or turkeys to big game. I doubt cows or sheep have the brains to figure them out. Perhaps these are for stock, but I've seen stock tanks in the most arid conditions.

So are the fenced in areas to keep the livestock out? Does this mean that only smaller wildlife like birds, rabbits, badgers, coyotes perhaps can take advantage of the guzzlers? Or would a deer or antelope just jump the fence, or perhaps just use a tank in the vicinity?

 

[The Trout Whisperer]

Can’t think of th names...old man dis ease???? I should say NOT...it’s just that you were hearing.................................




crickets chirping!

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

So are the fenced in areas to keep the livestock out? Does this mean that only smaller wildlife like birds, rabbits, badgers, coyotes perhaps can take advantage of the guzzlers? Or would a deer or antelope just jump the fence, or perhaps just use a tank in the vicinity?

Your description of the fencing being pretty localized sounds like it's just to keep the livestock out. Pronghorns are notorious for not jumping fences or anything else. Mule deer have little problem with it as you know.

 

[scatman]

Nice timing, or maybe bad timing.

Guzzlers

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

Wow, that's weird.