Day Log 07.23.05 Saturday

This morning we were up at about 6:30 getting cleaned up and packed so at 8 AM we could start back to Ogden to be at Cora’s by 10 for the trip up Ogden Canyon to see the cabin. All went well with the packing, good-by’s to Aunt Ruby and Uncle Gordon and exit from the Logan valley and down to Brigham City. We decided to look for a place to grab breakfast along the old/high road and only saw one local café open and with the 15 cars out front of a 20 by 20 building Max was afraid it couldn’t handle any more and kept driving. Big mistake as that was the one place open and local enough that Mary wanted to be there. So the rest of the drive into Cora’s was cool and silent. Although a number of national chain places were pasted we didn’t stop, so just at the Maverick mini-mart two blocks from Kevin and Cora’s I pulled in to get a tall cold soda for Mary to try and make peace, while in there I picked up a breakfast burrito from the hot table, said hello to Kevin who was in to get ice and headed to the car with the white flag waving. This seemed to work as the trip up the canyon was peaceful and full of chatting.

This trip to the cabin was arranged so we could see the handy work of Kevin and his brothers that we had heard about for so many years. They started in 1994 to build a log cabin (house) with all of the major work being completed in two years. As Kevin shared the history of the land purchase, use as a hunting camp, and then the building it was clear to see the emotional investment he had in the place. As we turned left off of the Ogden canyon road and started the climb up into the foot hills and then higher into the mountains first along an good road and then onto the oiled dirt road, the feeling of being away from town crept in. After going through two locked gates, reading the signs of what is allowed and not allowed, passing the last gate with a man checking the site you are headed for and what key number you are using to enter it became clear that the home owners association were making sure the 300 some odd homes in this community were being looked after. With the way the homes are placed among the trees it was hard to see some of them. Kevin took up all the way to the top where you could see for miles and across a number of ranges. The sky was clear, air cool, a slight breeze and the winter snow’s had brought out a crop of highland flowers that the locals had not seen in many years. As we passed may people on four wheelers, or trucks it was apparent that the land had many uses. Much to my surprise on the trip back to the cabin we came across a three moose in the stream bed, we had already spotted from the cabin another across the valley on the hillside so before lunch the count was up to four and by the time we left and hit the Ogden Canyon road three more moose, and two deer had crossed our path.

The cabin as I noted is a house with all the comforts one would want to have. The other homes in the area come in many sizes, some with TV Dishes hanging from their roofs but with most set up to be a place of peace away from the world below. I can see why Kevin and Cora like to drive up and spend time with no one else around.

We arrived back at Cora’s near dark after taking the Trappers Loop across from Ogden canyon to Weber canyon. This was the first time I had been on the new road and it does make a difference going between the two canyons. Things have changed over the last 25 years and many more houses are not in place.