July 15 – Sept. 2, 2022
We left Ft. Collins on July 13 and drove to Rock Springs, WY. We intended to stay at the Rock Springs/Green River KOA Journey for two nights and perhaps visit Flaming Gorge. We had a nice private patio site but the campground was all gravel – not a blade of grass anywhere.
That evening and throughout the night the wind blew so hard that it threatened to push in the RV slides. In addition, thunderstorms moved through at regular intervals pelting the RV with rain, blowing dust, and gravel.
The next morning, Bill checked the weather forecast and found that we should expect more of the same. We both said nope – no more of this. We called the campground in Utah to see if they could accommodate us if we arrived a day early. They answered yes and we were soon off.
The first portion of the drive along I-80 west was boring but the portion through the canyon along Echo Reservoir was scenic. From there we turned south on US 189 where we passed the beautiful Jordanelle Reservoir and State Park before arriving in Heber City.
Heber City Background
Heber City is situated in the Heber Valley about 20 minutes from Park City, 40 minutes from Provo, and 50 minutes from Salt Lake City.
The Heber Valley / Wasatch County area was originally discovered by Native Americans; the Timpanogos Utes being the most recent. The area was used primarily as a summer hunting ground and as an area where materials for hunting tools could be found and produced. “Wasatch” in the Uto-Aztecan language means “mountain pass” or “low pass over high range.”
On a summer morning in 1857 workers employed at a sawmill in Big Cottonwood Canyon hiked to the summit of the Wasatch Range and viewed a high mountain valley to the southeast that had been reputed as a “paradise land.” Hearing promising reports from the sawmill workers and others, a group of cattlemen left Provo in the Spring of 1858 and drove their herds up Provo Canyon to establish ranches in the south end of the valley while others during the spring and summer of 1858 explored the area with an eye toward future settlement.
A pioneer party consisting primarily of LDS converts from Great Britain arrived on May 2, 1859. They camped about one mile north of present Heber City and christened the townsite “London.” The London townsite was surveyed in June 1859 by the Utah County Deputy Surveyor, Jesse Fuller. The initial point of Fuller’s survey was established at what is now the north of end of Heber City Main Street. In 1862 Wasatch County was created by the territorial legislature and at that time the London townsite was renamed Heber City in recognition of the love the LDS settlers from Britain had for their Mission Leader, Heber C. Kimball. As the largest settlement in the area, Heber City was established as the county seat.
Heber
Mountain Valley RV Resort
Our home base while in Heber City was Mountain Valley RV Resort. We’ve been here twice before and thoroughly enjoyed our stay each time. The resort has two sections, a family section and an adult (over 21) section. Since we came in a day early we were assigned a site in the family section for that first night. The site was a bit short for us but had an adjacent parking pad for the truck. The next morning we moved to our first (of three) sites in the adult section. (When we made our reservation, all of the long-term sites were taken so they stitched together 6 weeks for us across 3 different sites.)
This is a beautiful, well-maintained resort. They’ve recently undergone an expansion that added new sites in both sections as well as an additional clubhouse, pool, and 3 pickleball courts in the family section (unfortunately not fenced and somewhat dangerous to play on).
Occasionally during our stay, a hot air balloon or sometimes two would appear. This one actually landed in a nearby field.
We did periodically have rainstorms move through the area – one with pea-sized hail. But you can’t beat a rainbow or beautiful sunset afterwards.
You might be asking what is there to do around Heber City, Utah? We’ll let you know in our next post.
