A Trip Back in Time - Returning to the Mine

From the early days of our marriage and raising our family, our family has taken an annual trek, usually around the 24th of July, and camped at "the mine."  The mine is an actual mine which the family closed several years ago due to government regulations and the aging of the family participants.  It is located on Moseby Mountain in the Uintahs near Paradise Reservoir.  There is a beautiful meadow, a spring that provide water, and lots of fun places to visit -- the ice cave, Blanchett Park, Dry Fork Creek, the hole in the rock, just to name a few.  It was and will continue to be a gathering place.  As Grandpa Schaefermeyer once said when asked about the "gold" in the mine, "We have our gold, our family."


This year, Kendall wanted to take his motorhome back to the mine.  So over the 24th of July week, Theron and I, Adrian, Todd, Cameron and Taylor, and our second daughter Allison Goodrich Elliot and her three children traveled to the mine for another visit.

Taylor and Theron went for the first part of the week and Taylor got to have his Tom Sawyer experiences - making a bow and arrow, driving the four wheeler, playing in the creek, lighting fires and being free from parental rules and regulations. (It was for certain that grandpa wasn't going to make any rules.)

The rest of us traveled up later and even Neala, Louis, Elynn and Norman traveled out for a few days staying in Vernal but driving up to the park one day for a look around.

These are times of making memories - building wood boats for the stream, lighting endless matches, riding four wheelers, fishing and just plain sitting around the camp fire talking.  We took several trips down the road to the mine (as we camped on top this time) and everyone enjoyed crawling through the little hole someone had made to get inside the mine, sliding down the other side and walking the length of the old mine using flashlights as a guide.  It was the first time Cameron and Taylor had ever seen inside the much talked about mine.

I recalled the days of seeing Adrian toddle around as a baby through the sticks and paths and watching Grandma Schaefermeyer put her icebox in the tree and bake on the old wood stove in the little cabin.  Then, remembering Curt and Marc climb the height of the overburden dump and slide down.  How dirty they did get, but what fun they did have.  The time we built a golf course in the meadow and the building of the shower in the trees which was fed by spring water, warmed on a fire so we could clean up after a day mucking in the mine.  Who can ever forget the dynamite blasts that grandpa would set off in the mornings and eating brook trout for breakfast.



We took this picture of the family which may be the last time we all get together in this spot.  It's a great memory.  (Carol and John are missing because they were serving a mission in Peru.)