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| Hiking | 6.19 Miles |
1,624 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.19 Miles | 4 Hrs 15 Mns | | 2.06 mph |
| 1,624 ft AEG | 1 Hour 15 Mns Break | 24 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | On New Year's Eve, my wife and daughter joined me for an out-and-back hike of part of the Vineyard Trail.
Back in March, 2017, I hiked it from the Mills Ridge Trailhead, but we only made it out to nearly the five mile point on the trail, so I had not yet seen the other end of the trail.
This time, we started from the parking area at the northwest end of Roosevelt Lake Bridge. It gains elevation quickly - my daughter told me that it reminded her of the Moab Rim Trail which claims to gain one thousand feet in one mile. I don't think that claim is accurate - when I've done the Moab Rim Trail, I think the gain in the first mile was only a bit over eight hundred feet. The Vineyard trail is very close - I think it gains somewhere around 700 feet in the first mile.
At about 1.35 miles in, my daughter and I took a brief excursion to better see the dam and bridge.
Continuing on, we eventually saw the other side (than what we're accustomed to seeing) of Four Peaks.
Off in the distance, less than a quarter mile to the north off of the trail, we saw what looked like a long low shack with a corrugated metal roof and siding. I had seen this structure on my previous hike of the Vineyard Trail, but did not know for sure what it was. There's no road or obvious trail leading to it. My best guess at the time was that it was a shelter for sheep or perhaps cattle.
When we got close, I took another side trip to see if I could figure out the purpose of the structure. As I approached the structure, I found that the way got easier as there were a number of old animal trails leading me there. Outside of the structure, I found a small watering trough capable of allowing up to two or three cows to drink at the same time. It was fed water via an underground pipe. The trough was dry which indicates that the water source has been shut off.
The shed-like building is perhaps 10-12 feet from the trough and contained only two openings, a small window and a door, both of which were just left of the center of the structure. Looking in the window, I saw an old and probably non-functional lawn chair. Beside it was a heap of dirt. At this point, I was still thinking that it must be some kind of structure for sheltering animals and was surprised at the unevenness of the dirt floor. Also, there was no smell of dried manure, which was what I was expecting. Opening the half-door revealed more dirt and a water tank to the right. I later found out that there are actually two large water tanks near the center of the structure. Most of the space in the wings however is empty. As I walked around the structure to see if there were any other openings, I noticed that roof, while largely flat on top, sloped towards the center from each end of the building. I then noticed that a trough covered with coarse wire mesh ran the width of the building at the center. Peering inside the building again, I found that a pipe led from the end of the trough into the two water tanks.
So... it's a water collection and storage system, presumably used by those ranching this area for providing water to their livestock. Rainwater lands on the corrugated metal roof, flows into the trough at the center of the structure, and then flows into the tanks. From there, an underground pipe supplies water to the small watering trough that I saw outside the structure.
The water tanks appeared intact - no bullet holes - so presumably it could still be used. I would guess that the tanks might even have a fair amount of water in them.
Our hike back to the car was uneventful. The day had warmed up somewhat and we noticed that the lake appeared much bluer than it did in the morning. |
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