Saturday morning, my brother David and I drove out to Vernal Utah which is where we grew up. (The rest of my family had other commitments so David and I decided to go alone.) We then drove north up Taylor Mountain to the Sheep Creek area, near Flaming Gorge Reservoir and south of Manila Utah. Here, my mother’s family homesteaded and a Bennett Family Reunion was being held at the old homestead on Sheep Creek. It was good to see that the old cabins were still intact.
I enjoy the regular visits back to this area which have many memories for me. My fondest memories were of fishing Sheep Creek, just across the road from the Bennett Sheep Creek homestead. I would fish through an area of the creek and my Grandfather would follow, pulling out numerous brook and rainbow trout from the very holes that I had just floated a wet fly through. Fried trout dinners were a big part of our visits to the family cabin located at Grizzly Ridge north of Vernal Utah.
By the end of the afternoon, people were starting to wander away so David and I headed back to Vernal with a stop at the Brush Creek highway crossing so we could take a few pictures of the Indian petroglyphs located there. Of the thousands of people who travel that highway, I doubt any but a few see or even know about the petroglyphs high in the cliffs above them.
We headed back to Utah Valley the next day after church and a big family dinner.
It is good to return to your roots occasionally to remind yourself who you are and where you came from.