Sardine Canyon

Utah is gorgeous. Especially at this time of year, when the mountains are covered with snow. The beauty is priceless and inspiring, yet it has it's downsides. In order to get from one city, say Orem, to another, say Logan, on the other side of these majestic peaks you eventually will have to travel through a deep gorge cut through the mountains known as a canyon.

The canyons of Utah strike fear into hearts of motorists, especially in the winter. Take, for instance, our drive today as we travelled home from Orem after spending a fantastic weekend with family and friends. Our drive from Orem to Brigham City was accomplished in fantastic time and with relatively no hazards. Of course, when you gradually descend 338 feet over 97 you wouldn't expect much of a change in climate or road conditions.

However, ascending out of Brigham into Sardine we knew our fortunes would change as the highway message board glared down a warning about Snow Tires or Chains being required by all who dared to pass. We dared.

The wet roads quickly turned to slush, then wisps of snow increasing to thinly packed snow, and finally to unplowed standing snow on the highway by the time we reached Sardine Summit. At this point I started to think that the sign at the mouth of the canyon may be speaking a bit of truth, so I decided to pull over and grab the snow chains out of the trunk.

I fumbled through the snow for several minutes attempting to untangle the twisted pieces of inter-connected metal with no luck, realizing that standing in a blizzard wasn't the most ideal time to be come acquainted with my chains. Watching the dozens of drivers pass safely over the summit, with not a set of chains in sight, I decided that we would be fine.

Just as I turned to take the chains back to the trunk the snow plows decided to start working on our section of the highway. I ducked behind car to avoid the wave of ice blocks and powder being thrown over the car by the enormous blade. Two more plows passed before I could get back into the drivers seat, and I was excited to get out onto the freshly plowed road.

The problem was that all the snow that was in the middle of the highway was now piled nicely into my car. I hit the gas hoping to claw out of the mess, but it was no use. We were stuck.

Amber and I proceeded to pull the snow away from our wheels by hand, in hopes of creating some room to budge when a nice girl in a pickup pulled up and offered to pull us out. With seemingly no effort her little Toyota pulled our helpless Hyundai out of the deep snow and onto the road.

For the rest of the trip I never broke 30 mph as we crept out of the canyon and across Cache Valley to our home. Now, we're safe and warm with a descent story to tell. Enjoy the photos that Amber snapped during our journey.

Also, here is a link about Sardine when it's not covered in snow. Look at #2 on the list. Apparently, we're not the only ones you appreciate it's beauty.