I’m enjoying the dry hiking conditions this late into the year, but we’re gonna have a dry summer and probably a big wildfire season next year if the high country doesn’t get some significant snow this winter! I teamed up with Derek and we took advantage of the mild weather and hiked in to an old cabin in the Gordon Creek area. I’ve been online friends with Derek for years and before this trip had only met him in person once during a random encounter in Nine Mile Canyon. He recently came into some unexpected time off work, and I’m trying to burn through my PTO before the end of the year, so we decided to meet up on Friday. This is another spot I’ve known about for a long time and I can’t explain why I never made the hike before now, but I just recently recovered from Covid and wanted to do an easier local hike to see how my body handled it. We met up on the side of a dirt road at 10:00 AM and talked for a bit before shouldering our packs and heading into the canyon. I brought Delta along since it was her turn–I’ve been trying to get my dogs out one-at-a-time for more hikes. We were right on the edge of a storm that was hitting the northern part of the state, but besides a few pellets of graupel it left us alone, and we even saw some sunshine for part of the day.
Dark clouds over the Wasatch Plateau
We followed a game trail most of the way and reached the first of at least two alluvial plains above the creek that were once cultivated. At first the fencelines running parallel with the canyon confused us until we realized they were used to fence livestock out of the fields, rather than fence them in to sections of the canyon. Above the lowest field the alluvial fill was eroded right up against a cliff and a trail climbed out along some ledges before dropping back down to the next field. At the lower end of that field was a scraper that would have been used to dig irrigation ditches. A horse or mule would have been hitched up to the hooks and pulled the scraper from the front, while a person walked behind and used the handles to adjust the angle and thus the depth of the cut.
Fence along one of the old fields
Old field
Beaver dams and frozen ponds
Rough trail between fields
Scraper used for digging irrigation ditches
At another deep washout in the alluvium there was the remains of a flume to carry irrigation water across. It appeared some notches had been cut in the alluvium to maintain the grade of the ditch. We really tried to piece together how the whole irrigation setup worked but I think so much of the alluvial fill and floodplain has changed in the 100+ years since the area was farmed that there’s not enough left to figure it all out. At the bottom of the upper field I found a spigot attached to a pipe–perhaps one of the strangest pieces of trash I’ve found this far from a road. We found a short section of road coming in from a side canyon, and it looks to have once been wide enough for wagon traffic. We passed another fence above the field, this one perpendicular to the canyon.
Part of an irrigation flume
Flume and notched out alluvium across the canyon
A strange artifact
Old road or trail
Another fence
Gate post
Above the fence we reached the cabin. This isn’t like a crazy remote area–it’s a relatively short hike in–but it’s far enough from any roads that it’s mostly unknown and hence the place is very well preserved. The main cabin is built from heavy stone walls and dug partially into the hillside so the back of the roof is below ground level. To one side is a small log addition with a bunk inside. There was surprisingly no fireplace or chimney inside, but part of a wood-burning stove sat just outside. Inside there were corn cobs hanging from the ceiling. Remarkably absent were the usual cans, bottles, and jars that you’d expect to see. Either they hauled their trash out or there’s a dump nearby that we missed.
Arriving at the cabin
Front of the cabin
Bedroom addition
Bunk inside the bedroom
Part of a stove
Leaf springs shackled together
Front of the cabin
Front door
Metal pan
Inside the cabin
Roof vent
Roof
Hanging corn cobs
Sturdy juniper support posts
Roof beam joint
Front inside
After spending quite a bit of time looking inside and all around the cabin, it was barely noon and I wasn’t yet hungry for the lunch that I’d packed, so we just headed back to the vehicles. It was a quick hike and we made it back shortly after 1:00 PM. Derek and I parted ways, agreeing that we’d should meet up again for more hikes in the future. He headed south, taking a longer but more scenic route, while I drove north and ate my sandwich on the quick drive home.
Irrigation ditch
Delta in the creek
Sunshine and dark clouds
Gap between upper and lower field
Another beaver pond
Photo Gallery: Gordon Creek Cabin