My friend Wade is the camp host at the
Willow Creek Canyon campground, just outside of Tooele, UT, and I wanted to
drop by on my trek back eastward to say hi and to catch up on things since the
last time we camped together in Quartzite AZ.
I had texted him earlier in the day to let him know that I would be
arriving later in the afternoon, but I was somewhat delayed because Google Maps
took me straight to the middle of a new housing project still under
construction and gleefully announced, ‘You have arrived!!’. No Google, this isn’t it, but it didn’t care…
After running around for a half-hour or
so trying to find some kind of signage for the campground or even a gas station
or someplace where I could ask for directions, I ended up googling the name of
the road the campsite was supposed to be on, went to the road, and headed south
which thankfully took me right to the campground…
Wade has to come down out of the canyon
at least once a day to get phone messages or make phone calls due to the poor
cell reception in the canyon. As I
traveled further down the road I saw a red pickup truck parked off the side of
the road, and since I was still unsure whether or not I was on the right track,
I decided to stop and ask the person in the truck for directions. When I hopped down out of the van and started
walking in the direction of the truck, I recognized Wade as the driver. Thankfully he had come down out of the canyon
and was waiting for a text in case I needed help finding the place, and
obviously I did…
We chatted for a few minutes and then I
followed him back up the canyon road. He
would stop and point out certain features of the area along the way, and he had
already found a couple of dispersed campsites that he thought I might like so
he showed me them too. I picked one of
the sites up on top of a little rise just by the road and pulled in. Wade was off work so I got out a couple of
chairs and we sat down to chat for a while…
I setup camp, it was a beautiful day,
sunny and warm. The next few days the
weather was mixed due to a slow moving low pressure system in the area. So I had great variety of weather conditions
while I was there, from hot and sunny, to cloudy, sometimes there was rain,
sleet, hail, and/or snow, I experienced a full array of conditions, but I enjoyed
them all. I will admit though, when the
temperature dropped, day or night, it was cold inside the van and I used the
heater quite often. The sun is intense
when there are no clouds, most days were in the 60s and 70s during the day and
in the 40s at night. The elevation at
the campground is around 6,300’ so if you had sunshine, it was hot and intense,
but if you get in the shade you had to put on a shirt or jacket to keep
warm. It wasn’t unusual to be in shorts
and a T-shirt, but then in a few minutes, I’d have to change into jeans and a
heavy shirt or jacket. I guess that’s
the way it is at higher elevations like this…
I walked around during the times when I
had good sunshine to snap some photos of the place and I captured a lot of the
wildflowers that were blooming too.
Right across the road from my campsite was Willow Creek, which runs
though the canyon, there are a few shots of it below. I took a lot of pictures because as the sun
was in different positions in the sky every feature of this area took on a new
beauty…
 |
| Kind of a 'Lover's Leap', a trail leads you right up on top... |
 |
| Some of these flowers are smaller than the size of a dime... |
 |
| Wade thought these were called Indian Paintbrush, they are beautiful... |
Even with the challenging weather
conditions at times, I thoroughly enjoyed this time at the campground. I couldn’t walk out the door of the van
without feeling a sense of awe at my surroundings. I highly recommend this one, I will be back
soon…
The morning I left I stopped off at the
ranger station where Wade was camped to thank him for his hospitality and
tours of the area. Wade had been telling
me about all of the hummingbirds that seem to follow him around, and they
did. While I was there I got to see one
of the hummingbird’s mating rituals up close and personal…
Wade had noticed that the male
hummingbirds would sit high in the top of a tree, start to preen themselves and
put on a kind of show, then suddenly they would fly straight up for about 60
feet or so, then dive fast and hard back into the tree and then come zooming
out the side. They did this several
times while I was there and it’s really incredible to watch. I’d never witnessed this behavior before and
it was fascinating. The males also kind
of whistled as they flew along, at least that’s what it sounded like whenever
they were near, and I’d never heard them do that before. I found out that this is also part of the
mating ritual, very cool…
It seems that this is the way the male
attracts his mate, by showing his agility and power. He flies down into the tree where the female
is perched and about an inch or two above her, he veers out at a 90 degree
angle and shoots out the side of the tree, and he does this over and over. If the female accepts his advances she will
prepare herself for mating, which according to the information I found, takes about
4 seconds, and then they part ways and he starts looking for another female to
mate with and she takes care of the nest and the babies. I know what you’re thinking ladies, but just
to clarify, the males are not being negligent, the females forbid them from
visiting the nest since they are so brightly colored they will draw attention
from predators. That’s the story, and
I’m sticking to it…
I didn’t get any wildlife pictures,
usually I was caught off guard and didn’t have time to snap a shot, but the
deer were beautiful and I heard the wild turkeys callout in the morning. Just an incredibly beautiful place. This last short video is one I shot on my way
down out of the canyon as I was leaving, and a panoramic shot as well, enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
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