Kelton ghost town

lenny

formerly known as PokeyYJ
Location
Bountiful, UT
I had the 24th off work and decided to take my new-to-me LR3 out for a break in trip. I grabbed my trust Utah Backcountry Adventures book and picked out an area that I could head out to explore. I decided to head north and see if I could make it to the ghost town of Kelton on the Transcontinental Railroad trail.

I headed up to the Golden Spike monument and hit the dirt. I am amazed by how desolate the area is still, and how those people could have accomplished what they did.

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I constantly would stop and get out of the Land Rover and just look around at the area. It's simply beautiful

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It was really fun driving down the old railroad grade, some areas where very pot holed and rutted out and the LR3 handled them like a champ and was so smooth!

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I stopped at one of the Wheeler survey markers, sadly it's been shot up a bunch and was hard to read all the markings on it

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I made it to the Kelton cemetery, I could not see any other indications that a town ever was here, which is amazing to me because it was inhabited as recently as 1942.

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It is really humbling to think that all of our dreams and desires and goals all are wiped away when we die and even the markers of our death fade away so quickly

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1878 must have been a hard year

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This was the most recent headstone I could find

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I am completely loving my LR3, it is so comfortable offroad and I am looking forward to getting out on the trails more with it. I definitely need to get rid of the 19" wheels for a set of 18's that I can get some decent tires for, and I want to get and ARB front bumper and some sliders. It's way more computer controlled than the Scout, but I've always been impressed with the LR3 platform and my wife's LR3 has been a great rig so far, so what's better than 1 LR3 in the house? 2 LR3's lol! :greg:

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ricsrx

Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing, even though not much is left, its humbling to see how they attempted to live out there
 

jeeper

I live my life 1 dumpster at a time
Location
So Jo, Ut
That is such a fun trail to do, Thanks for sharing! We have attempted to see the golden spike museum multiple times, but we have so much fun while on the trail (starting from the wendover end) that we never make it before the museum closes..
On the last trip I took a lose bolt through the radiator, and got towed out the last hour or so..
 

smfulle

Active Member
Location
Plain City, UT
Your report brought back some memories. When i was a teenager in tbe 70's, Dad would take a bunch of us out there hunting jack rabits. That old railroad grade is above the desert floor in a lot of places, so it is good for spotting rabbits while road hunting. Dad would drive that thing in his Oldsmobile Delta 88 at night. Front passenger would hold the spotlight. Everyone in the car had a shotgun in their lap with the breech open, including the guy in the middle of the back seat.. As soon as we spotted a rabbit, the car would skid to a halt and all 4 doors would fly open and all the shotguns would open up on the poor jack rabbit. It's amazing we didn't kill each other. Switch places and back in the car to do it sgain.
 
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