South Fork of Beaver River

September 11, 2015

   What a gorgeous time of year to take a hike!  If you’ve been camping lately you know that overnight temperatures are getting nippy and the leaves are about to explode with color.  I am really excited to present this week’s hike because it has been lost for decades and with the help of the Forest Service trails crew, it has been brought back to life.  This easy hike along the South Fork of the Beaver River has the potential to be a “number one, Solid Gold Hit!” You’ll parallel the babbling brook for 2.6 miles, downstream, through conifer forest, passing lush grassy bogs, then climb up the east bank, skirting the bottom of sage covered slopes, and finally dropping back down to the river at the hydroelectric pipe intake.  This route is perfect for a family hike and I imagine many of us will hit the Kents Lake Road to see the autumn leaves and this hike would be ideal to get out of the car for a bit and stretch the legs.  There are 5 stream crossings and several muddy\boggy places, so be prepared to help your kids not ruin their new school shoes!  This is still the wild outdoors with weather, tripping hazards, wildlife, natural beauty and solitude, so be prepared for adventure.  

   Any car can access the top end of this hike and to get there drive up Beaver Canyon to mm 10, turn right on FR 137 towards Anderson Meadow Reservoir and reset your odometer.  The sign says 7 miles to that reservoir, but it is actually 8.1.  Enjoy the fall colors as you drive past Tushar CG, Kents Lake CG and Upper Kents lake, but watch that mileage because you park for this hike at 7.3 miles from Beaver Canyon Road (UT 153).  You’ll see “South Fork Beaver River” signs and park here, in a wide spot in the road.  If you have a horse trailer there is enough room to park on the outside of the big curve 600’ up the road.  Should you get all the way to Anderson Mdw Res., you went about a mile too far, but you could turn a trailer around there by the dam.  So here we go, down trail number 629!  100 feet east of the River Look down off the road into the grassy meadow and you’ll spot the first trail marker.  The hydroelectric diversion and pipe intake is 2.6 miles down canyon and about 700 feet lower than the trailhead.  Hiking fast and alone, I did roundtrip in 2.5 hours, but with a group or kids I’d allow 4 hours.  About one mile down the spruce trees are draped with light green “bearded lichen”, especially on the shadier west bank.  These lichens are a symbiotic combination of fungus and algae.  The fungus provides the structure, while just under the surface, algae cells convert sunlight to sugars to feed the fungus, which houses and protects these algae cells.  Cool, right!  Hanging lichens wouldn’t be thriving here if the air was polluted so we should be thankful Beaver County is so clean and pristine. This protected, shady drainage is a great place to teach your kids about nature, science, and the life cycle of organic material.  

   I want to thank my co workers Damon Chavez, Briel Wood, Corbin Martin and Bo Fotheringham who collectively, with myself, spent about 35 laborious hours locating, flagging, cutting and signing this fantastic, resurrected trail.   I don’t know how to thank cows, but once we cut about a thousand logs out of the way, they really punched that trail tread back in, so MOOOO!  I also want to remind people itching to see somewhere new that my 12 other hikes so far are described at mcmullins.wix.com/intothetushars.  You can reach me for questions or concerns at 801-243-0095.  I dare you to be the first ones down the 629, breathing fresh, crisp air, smelling autumn, and getting “Into the Tushars”.