I just read an old thread " Where Do You Want to Drive Your Crossfire?" that just seemed to go nowhere.

It got me thinking about the mountain roads here in northern Utah.

I've been a gear head many years now and have played on these roads with everything from a CBX Honda to a V-12 Jag and have come up with what I believe would be a great 2 day run.......even know some of the better places to grab a meal or two along the way.

I'd start in Ogden go north on hwy 89 along the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains where we can stop at one of the many roadside fruit stands. Once we get to Brigham City we would go east over the mountain to Logan, Utah home of Utah State University (President Ford sent his sons there while he was president for what it's worth) from there turn east up one of my favorite canyons, Sardine Canyon, the summit has a great view of Bear Lake,, this is one of the places the Mountain Men had their mountain men rendezvous in the early 1800's. Today there is a well known Raspberry Days celebration there every year.

We would continue east a bit then head south to Woodruff, Utah (Utah's coldest town) where we would go west on state road 39 down into Huntsville, Utah where we can grab lunch at Chris' Bar and Grille a hang out for many local "ski bums and bunnies".

Then up over Trapper's Loop to I-84/ I-80 to hwy 32 which is a great little unknown 2 lane road east of Park City that would take us to our days end in a little town Hana, Utah.

Hana has a small hotel/Cafe/bar that the wife and I have driven to just to spend the night.

Hana also has a small privately owned museum that is a real good reflection of the area...Snooks the owner is a +90 year old sheep herder who has lived there his whole life and has many great stories to share.......he was once a bootlegger and has his still on display.....he wrote a book of his life that he sells that is a great read and is worth every penny!!!

The next day our trip back to Ogden would include a 2 crazy roads hwy 65 and 66 that are used by our local hard core outlaw road racer bikers to test their metal!!! Another fun little loop that is used to get to Snow Basin Ski Resort and back to Ogden via Ogden Canyon.

All told it's about 450 miles, 6 times over the mountains, no less than 6 lakes and uncountless photo ops!!!


There it is my greatest Utah Road Trip.....now the only question is when???
Spring is great, say May, by then the roads will be open for the season....or...fall when the changing of the colors in the high mountains is something to see!!!!

I'd even consider both......I'll probably be doing this drive more than once as it is.

So how about a little feed back and I'll set a date.

 

Papa, if I wasn't 25 hours and 1760 miles away from Ogden Utah I'd be the first to sign up. Sounds like a great GTG.
I sure hope you get a good response. I'll be looking for some beautiful photo's.

 

I know of a short cut that would knock 25 or 30 minutes off the trip........I'll now put you 1st on the list!!!

!

 

LOL that works for me.
Honestly, if there was any way we could swing it, we would.
I haven't been in Northern Utah since 1978 (in my friends 280Z) and we had a great time chasing a vintage 77 Toyota Celica Fastback down a winding mountain highway into Salt Lake City.
I bet the roads that you have mapped out for the GTG are beautiful.

 

Thanks

I have tried to get the best roads Utah has to offer into the 2 days.......

I also have some ideas for another GTG farther south........it gets a bit harder to keep away from traffic...some of the national parks can get pretty crowded these days....still worth seeing, just not as exciting.

So far it looks like I'll be going alone

 

Hmmm, Ogden is less than a 5 hour drive from me. I may have to think about this one for a bit. Don't know if the wife would be up for 2 days of driving though. Put me down for a definite maybe

 

Great news....

So far I'm not finding any XF owners from Utah on this web site.

I still have not set a date, but like mid May.

Well if you come this way we have a guest bedroom thats open.

Del

 

Lets see MapQuest shows total miles around 450.....Sat would be the most miles. Sunday not so much, figured folks would want to head for home.

Lots of photo ops and rest stops to get to know each other.....ant way things are flexible could even make two GTGs...

As of now I may just go it alone and take lots of photos.....this is still my Dream Drive in Utah.

 

Depending on the timing, I may be able to go. Pretty much anytime in May would be rough for me to attend.

 

Once I recover a bit from surgery, I'd be up for a run like this anytime....I still plan to do it in May or could still push back to first week of June....I'd like to make another GTG later in the fall....it could be a repeat of this run.....lots of good fall colors if we timed it right.....or...I've been thinking of another run around some great areas of central Utah.......that would be closer to Colo.

I just would like a little Crossfire company....lol

 

I know I have not set a date for this GTG as of yet......Looks like the best weekend would be May 18-19.

The way I have set this up it is like a big figure 8 so it would be possible to jump out at the end of Sat with about 300 fun mountain roads and a good look at Bear Lake from the top of the Wasatch mountains before heading home or could go up to Hanna and spend the night before heading out for home.....very informal.

 

The wife is thinking that if we finally made it down to Utah we would have to take her Pacifica so that we could do some shopping at Ikea in SLC. It has a tow hitch, may be able to dolly the crossfire down there, but don't know how fun that would end up being....

 

or



use the hitch for a trailer to haul all her new treasures home....lol

I flew to L.A. a few years ago and was given a rental Pacifica to drive back......been telling the wife to buy one ever since!!!!!

 

OK we have set the dates of May 18-19

Looking forward to meeting new friends.

 

I talked to Doug the owner of the Hanna Hotel and cafe.

He said he had 1/2 a dozen rooms available for the night of May18th.

His number is (435) 848-5564

Snooks the "moonshiner" just passed away last week at age 97. I was hopping he would be up to giving a tour of his museum.
2 or 3 years ago my wife and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon with him and his bride of 78 years, I think that day was one of our favorite and most memorable drives.

I will check with his family later to see if they would be willing to open the museum for us.

Please remember to give Doug a call as he only has a few rooms.

The Hanna Hotel may be described as sleeping at Miss Kitty's place on Gunsmoke.

 

Bump.............

 

Haven't forgotten about this, still not sure if we are going to make it down or what the plan is. It really all depends on whether we need to make a trip over to Germany this spring or not.

 

Wow what a tuff choice.....

WIFE WOULD GO OVERSEAS......ME........I'D DRIVE THE CROSSFIRE

Still hope to meetup one way or another.

 

Just to update!!!!

Drive will start Sat. May 19 in Ogden, Utah.

We will spend the night in Hana, Utah and return to Ogden Sunday morning.

 

Hey there utah xfires. Here in western colorado. Would love to meet up out there or if you guys are ever traveling east. lol Maybe we can figure something out with both of our states xfires. Ill check the schedule and see if the other half and I are free for your upcoming run.