Beaver, Utah

The last weekend before school started, Paul and I went camping for thje weekend in the mountains behind Beaver, UT. It was quite a change from Las Vegas, where the weather was over 100 degrees. At 7000 feet elevation, it was nice and cool. It even drizzled on us while we were fishing. We had plenty of friends in our campsite. A chipmonk decided he needed food and drink, so ke climbed up on the table and into my cup of cocoa. A group of jays weren't a brave, but they did come into the campsite every time food was brought out.

After we set up camp at Little Reservior Campround, we took a drive to other lakes near us to plop in our lines. We were really ill equipped for fishing, and the results showed. While others were pulling in 10-12 inch trout, we got one bite and one nibble.

We set off on the road to Kent Lake. We ended up walking around the lake more than fishing. The elevation was high enough that there were still wildflowers in bloom. But the aspen were just beginning to turn yellow. Kent Lake is not large, but it does provide a good place to fish and to camp. The campground there was about the same as ours in quality.

After fishing at Kent Lake for a while, we moved on to Anderson Valley Reservoir. It is a smaller, higher lake wit a campground nestled in the hill above the lake. It looked like the best formal campground. The lake itself is a nice little fishing place. You can walk around it easily as well. We got rained on briefly there. There was plenty of wildlife around there. A flycatcher hardly bothered with me as it fed, less than 10 feet away. We also saw deer in the area, as well as little scurriers of all description.

On Saturday, before we did any fishing, we took a long 4-wheel drive and did some hiking. The loop around the area takes you past Anderson Valley reservoir, up the mountains, and past several lakes until you come to Big Meadow, which is just before the Elk Meadow Ski Area. In the meadow, we were scared by a sudden commotion. A Golden Eagle took flight just 15 yards away. It was large; it was also gone in nothing flat. Past the ski area, coming back towards our campground, we spotted a deer trying to cross the road. It was careful enough that it didn't go out in front of cars. It waited until we had watched it a while and had left before it crossed.

Just past there was the turnoff for the Big John Flat/Kimberly Mines area. This road takes you north to I70 eventually. Big John Flat is a big meadow where you can primitive camp, hike or backpack. We took a trail up to about 9000 feet. Back in the car, we drove over the pass at 11,000 feet and on past Gold Mountain north. The aspens were just beginning to turn. After we hit I70 and turned onto i15, we came to the area where a brush/forest fire had just been put out. About 20 miles along the highway was blackened as far as you could see from the road.

Sunday morning we fished a little more at Kent Lake before returning to the real world. This is an attractive area for camping, 4wd-ing, hiking and other activities. We will come back.

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