Agriculture…Utah Style


Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Today was an easy day of driving on flat valley roads up into the heart of Utah.  The valley may have been 40 miles at its widest and probably as narrow as 5 miles.  It was probably 200 kilometres long.  This valley is sandwiched between 2 mountain ranges dotted by snow capped mountains…quite picturesque.

Today was all about agriculture…Utah Style.  This is agriculture with a twist.  If they do not irrigate, they do not grow.  Hay is the dominant crop in fields of all sizes and shapes.  We saw every style of irrigation equipment that is possible.  We always associate hay with cattle.  For the first part of the day, the cattle were missing in action.  However, with the amount of hay being watered, cut, baled, and loaded, the cattle had to be nearby.

As we headed further north up the valley, the cattle began to appear and so did the large barns.  We suspect that like in Ontario, cattle have to be fed in the Winter.  While having lunch in Manti, we found out that the area is big into Turkey production as well.  Shortly after, we began to see large groupings of low profile barns, probably as many as 20 to 25 together. 

It was nice to see that Utah actually has something else in its repertoire other than really amazing rock formations.  The small towns through this area were still vibrant unlike lots of the towns in Southern Utah relying solely on tourism.

We are in Utah Lake State Park.  It is in Provo but out on a spit of land.  The Park is a boater paradise.  The campground is really small with only 30 sites.  We are here for 2 nights to get ourselves through the 4th of July Holiday…it is a huge celebration!

Distance Traveled = 244 km.  Wildlife Sightings = Bullocks Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Western Bluebird, Turkey Vulture, Cowbird, Great-tailed Grackle, American Robin, Red-tailed Hawk (Light Harlan’s Morph).


Sun rising on the rocks above our campsite


Entrance to the Fremont Indian State Park Campground


You can see what they would grow if they did not irrigate


But with a little water...amazing hay crop appears


We saw lots of cattle today, but this is the best picture we have....


View from our campsite in Utah Lake State Park

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