From Deseret News archives:
Juab has a lot of land to explore
Which, of course, opens up a lot of land to the west — a lot of land — to explorers.
What you know:
Roughly 25 miles, as the birds fly, is the Little Sahara Recreation Area, which is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, and typically gets little mention except around Easter when the dunes become a virtual parking lot of trucks, campers, all-terrain vehicles and dune buggies.
Thousands of people show up over the holiday to enjoy what is normally good weather and lots of soft sand. The 60,000-acre pocket of sand is managed for off-highway vehicles, meaning everything from buggies to motorcycles.
Blowing winds constantly move and change the terrain, which is yet another reason people are attracted to the area pretty much year-round.
The center of attention is Sand Mountain, which is a mound of sand roughly 700 feet high. The challenge is, of course, to climb from bottom to top in the soft sand. Within the area there is also a spider web of trails for hiking, biking and/or motoring.
For those without motorized transportation, the dunes have become a playground for those who like to play in the sand, which would include everything from building sand castles to a new sport called sand surfing.
Also inside the managed land is the Rockwell Outstanding Natural Area, which is a wilderness study area and is off limits of motorized vehicles. This is a desert ecosystem that is about 9,000 acres in size.
Along with riding, people can also camp onsite. There are 100 campsites with access to flush toilets (vault in the winter), drinking water and fenced play areas. There are also paved areas for trailers and picnic areas with shade armadas.
A section of the Pony Express Trail that remains pretty much as it was a century ago begins in Tooele County but crosses the border about 15 miles southwest of Simpson Springs.
Aside from the dirt road, little has changed from what the early riders saw as they carried the mail from station to station, which was a desert landscape of sand, sagebrush, deep ravines and only the hardiest of animals, like rabbits and lizards, moving about.
The trail passes Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge and has, as one of its stops, Boyd Station. What remains today is a portion of the rock wall that was once the station. The man who tended the station, Bid Boyd, continued to live onsite long after the pony express stopped running in 1861.
Down in the southeastern corner of the county is Yuba Reservoir, a popular spot in the summer for boaters, swimmers and anglers.
