Me:"'...[T]he Wasatch Front has an estimated population of 2,051,330 residents, or 80% of Utah's estimated 2007 population of 2,645,330.' Look, that's over two million people in this little area, leaving all this..." *gestures at screen* "...to only about 500,000."
RX: "Oh, yeah."
Me: "Man. I'll bet you there are places out there where you could just go do weird $#!+, right out in the open."
Moab....
ReplyDeleteWhy else would anyone live there?
ReplyDeleteOr you could move to San Francisco. All the population, and still do weird $#!+ right out in the open.
ReplyDeleteI had a spot about two hours from SLC where I could spend a couple of days with my closest human contact being airline pax above FL30. I miss it.
ReplyDeleteSome of us need that sort of thing. Prevents preventable problems.
ReplyDeleteThe population density is a lot higher than it seems, since 57% of Utah is federal land. http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/map-owns_the_west.jpg
ReplyDeleteUtah's got a lot of neat stuff out here. Most of it is most definitely unpopulated. Between southern SLC area and St. George... there ain't much of anything at all as far as civilization. That doesn't mean there isn't a ton available to you to do.
ReplyDeleteYeah, out west of there on the Bonneville Salt Flats they do some weird stuff with wheeled vehicles. Even further west, in Nevada on the playa at Black Rock Desert they have Burning Man which is pretty much dedicated to doing all kinds of weird stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy state, Alaska, is more than twice the size of Texas and has a pop. just northward of 700,000. Weird stuff abounds.
ReplyDeleteJFM
Some weird stuff happened in this attic. Man freakin' ascended to sainthood.
ReplyDeletehttp://mlsmyhome.com/default.asp?f=viewphotos&listingid=256790&fsboclientid=36296&rid=2423
Utah has some nice country, though there are other places in the Rocky Mt West that are even more sparsely populated. How about being 400-500 miles from a city of that size? And there's lots of good gun shops, considering the population base....
ReplyDeleteThat's the whole attraction of Desert Living. Do weird stuff and SEE weird things - wait till you get a subscription to BurningMan magazine.
ReplyDeletePretty much anywhere north and west of Utah Route 30, there isn't any cellphone service. Or TV reception. Or radio.
ReplyDeleteI was out there, in passing, a few years ago, and thought it was kinda restful. Good fishing, and if the world ended, you wouldn't know about it until you ran in to Park Valley on the weekend for some beans and bacon.
Next time I'm through there, I'll bring the .358 Norma. Damn but they've got some big elk out there.
Hunted outside of New Harmony a couple of times. If Ireland is the land of greens, then that part of Utah is a thousand shades of browns. Stunning in the morning or evening light.
ReplyDeleteNot many folks once your off the hard road.
Gerry
The first time I went to Wyoming (about the same 500K INCLUDING the "big cities) I remember getting the state issued road map. Down in one corner they had all the radio stations in the state listed. ALL of them added up to about 15.
ReplyDeleteYea, there are lots of places you can do what you want.
Following a link from the link provided, I see that this urbanization is all built on top of the fault line that is the reason for the mountains next door. Only recognized as a problem fairly recently, this fault slips vertically 1 to 4 meters. And wouldja lookit that, it's overdue.
ReplyDeleteI have done some of it myself.
ReplyDeleteRitchie, I can see that fault line from my driveway. someday i'm going to wake up and discover my house is 12 miles west in the valley. And it's true, it isn't hard to find a place to be alone outside here plus John Moses Browning's home is just about 1 mile from here.
ReplyDeleteMy buddy has two boys on the Wasatch Front. He told me that after church everyone grabs their ARs and goes to the range. The Bill of Rights is considered sacred.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Northern Nevada, which has about the same population as Utah (I think we have a bit less, but not much) and a much larger area. About 71% of the state's population is in the Las Vegas Metro area, with the vast majority of the rest being in the Reno/Carson City area.
ReplyDeleteYou get out into the desert, away from the towns and cities, and you know well and truly what it is to be alone.
"Down in one corner they had all the radio stations in the state listed. ALL of them added up to about 15."
ReplyDeleteThere are places out there where you can start a scan on a really good fm radio receiver and drive for a couple of hours while it runs the entire dial without locking on a station.
Lots of space here in Utah. I've been backpacking at times where I haven't seen other people for days.
ReplyDeleteHildale.
ReplyDelete"Wasatch Front" would make a great name for a band...
ReplyDelete...of Wolverine-style patriots.
Watch out for those splitters in the Front of Wasatch, though. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI live just east of Ut. about 22 miles and FREQUENTLY go there to do "weird shit right out in the open". It's incredibly liberating. You should try it. :)
ReplyDelete