Located almost directly in the center of the state, most of us think of Price as that coal mining town we pass through on our way to Moab, the one with the pornographic maintenance shops! (Oh come on, I can’t be the only one who thinks those maintenance shops bear a striking resemblance to the female anatomy, admit it..)
But if you stop and spend a weekend in Price and the surrounding communities, you will find that Price itself is a great weekend destination. No need to drive further down the road!
Now in full disclosure, Price is Melinda’s ancestral home. She attended elementary school in Helper and her older sisters’ attended Carbon High School (Home of the Dinos!) It brings Melinda great joy to point out that her older sisters are both Dino’s making them both muuuch older sisters! Melinda’s grandfather was a miner who died working in a coal mine in Price and her father, who was born and raised in Price returned there in the early 80’s to work in the mines when the aerospace industry was in a free fall. So I guess technically, I married a coal miner’s daughter!
As a coal mining town, Price has always been a diverse community of immigrant miners and the town has had its troubles and decline as coal has lost favor over the past decades. However, a trip to the Price area shows signs that this area is on the rebound and there are some really fun and exciting places to visit here. So to all of you who are looking for a weekend destination, all I can say is Price is Right! So Come on Down!
Things to Do
Price
USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum
Located in downtown Price, the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum covers 3 billion years of Utah History and paints a remarkable picture of the geology, archeology and paleontology of our great state. This is an impressive museum with some very impressive artifacts. In our 2 hour visit, we saw Utah’s oldest rock (2.7 billion years old) which surprisingly to the kids was even older than Melinda’s sisters! The museum had fossilized remains of various extinct flora as well as a really fascinating exhibit of extinct fauna including dinosaurs who once roamed this region. Interestingly, more species of dinosaurs have been found in this area at the nearby Cleavland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry than anywhere else in the nation. The coal veins in the underground mines are also a prolific source of dinosaur remains. The Museum houses a full size Ice Age Mammoth as well as the skeletal remains of a Utahraptor (Utah’s official dinosaur as opposed to Aunt Ruth who is Utah’s unofficial dinosaur!)
The museum not only covers the prehistoric flora and fauna but also covers the pre-historic human habitation of the area. The museum houses artifacts from the Ancestral Pueblo and Fremont peoples, to the Ute Indians and modern humans, covering the full 14,000 years of human habitation in Utah. The museum is well worth the visit.
Utah’s earlies humans were Paleoarchaic Indians like the Kennewick man who were Ice Age hunters. Later Fremont Indians built pit houses in areas such as Nine Mile Canyon.
Nine Mile Canyon
Known as the “World’s Longest Outdoor Art Gallery” Nine Mile Canyon is a bit of a misnomer. The canyon itself is actually 46 miles of prehistoric petroglyphs and pictographs carved into massive stone cliffs by Utah’s pre-historic occupants. These works of art commemorate important moments in these peoples’ lives and in many instances give us a small window into the world of Utah’s earliest inhabitants. Nine Mile Canyon also houses historical remains including the remains of Fremont Indian pit houses and granaries, as well as crumbling remnants of the area’s first European settlers.
But equally amazing as the human artwork is nature’s artwork. The road through Nine Mile Canyon travels through an area known as the Book Cliffs which is a sandstone and shale escarpment that reaches from Price on into Colorado. The canyon is accessible via automobile on a pristine asphalt road through some of the most beautiful scenery in the state. Although the road is paved, do not attempt the road if rain is in the forecast as the road has many low areas that become inundated after heavy rains. The road itself starts in Wellington and takes approximately 1 ½ hours to travel, but plan a half day to stop at the various panels and to explore the canyon. Nine Mile Canyon is not only one of Utah’s gems but also one of our nation’s premier prehistoric sites.
OHV Trails
Price and the surrounding towns are all linked via a trail system and all of the towns are OHV friendly. We were able to ride from our cabin in Helper to East Carbon and there are a lot of sites to stop and visit along the way. The Castle Country Trail System Map will show you all of the routes and the sites to visit around the Price area. The Price area is a great place to ride!
Helper
Named for the engines that would be added at the railroad hub to help the coal bearing trains climb out of the canyon up through Soldier’s Summit, Helper is affectionately known as Utah’s living ghost town. We have driven past Helper many times and never stopped, but after spending the weekend here we fell in love with this town! The city started as a railroad hub serving the local mines and its historic main street is lined with abandoned hotels which also doubled as brothels for weary travelers and local miners. Today the historic downtown is a walk through time as many of the buildings have been refurbished into art galleries, restaurants, museums and shops with plans to upgrade many more. Walking down the main street of Helper is truly a walk through Americana.
Historic Downtown
Without a doubt historic downtown Helper was the biggest surprise of our trip. We literally spent hours downtown touring the museums, eating at the restaurants, exploring the buildings, art galleries, and antique stores, taking pictures of the authentically restored buildings, visiting the Helper Outlaw Car Show (Labor Day Weekend) and getting up close and personal with Helper’s iconic miner statue Big John!
The Lincoln Hotel-Vintage Motor Company
Hands down, the Lincoln Hotel-Vintage Motor Company was the highlight of our trip. When we first visited the Tintic Motorcycle Works and Museum in Eureka and saw the amazing things Chopper Gary and Candace Seabron were doing in restoring downtown Eureka and restoring motorcycles, we never would have thought that the same incredible philanthropy was being performed in Helper by two brothers Gary and Bobby Devincent. These two brothers restore cars and Harley’s and also seem to have a passion for buying up downtown Helper and restoring the buildings and transforming the town. Now I don’t know what it is about these Harley people, but they are the greatest people in the world, because what they have done is awe-inspiring. The Devincent brothers have restored the Lincoln Hotel into an incredible Harley museum with some of the most incredible restoration work I have ever seen. We took a tour with Bobby Devincent and he spent nearly an hour showing us the incredible restoration of the hotel, garage, dining patio and of course the Harley’s.
Bobby told the personal story of how his father was a motorcycle MP at Pearl Harbor the day it was bombed on December 7, 1941 and showed us the lovingly restored military Harley they rebuilt in his honor. Bobby’s love of these machines was overflowing and he loved to tell the history behind the bikes and showed us novices the difference between the iconic Harley knucklehead, panhead and shovelhead engines. The restored machines they had on display were absolute works of art as well as the historic vintage parts counters that were on display.
As beautiful as the upstairs was nothing prepared us for a trip to the basement. Bobby led us down the stairs and into what can only be described as the holy grail of Harley vintage parts. The basement was full of classic vintage Harley parts from exhausts, fenders, handlebars, gauges, wheels, anything you would need to restore a vintage Harley motorcycle. Touring the basement was as exciting as exploring the catacombs of Egypt with mummified Harley parts just waiting for an enchanted spell to be read from the Book of the Dead to bring them back to life!!!! No words can describe the swell of pride that comes to your heart when you see people like the Devincents’ and Chopper Gary and Candace sharing their love of motorcycles and history to resurrect these small Utah towns. Oh, and I forgot to mention the cost they charge you to experience all of the wonderful work they have done on these bikes and buildings….nothing! I believe there is a special place in heaven for people who restore Harleys!
Western Mining and Railroad Museum
The newly restored Western Mining and Railroad Museum provides a unique look into life in rural Utah at the turn of the century. The museum includes scenes of everyday life from school and home and shows what typical life was like in Carbon County, including a trip to the company store.
The museum also focuses on the lives of the coal miners and railroad men who developed the area. The museum has photos and displays of mining and railroad equipment, as well as stories of the tragic accidents which were all too common in this industrial county.
And just in case you ladies are feeling left out, don’t worry! The museum includes a display of a typical hotel room from one of Helper’s many notorious brothels. Here ladies of the evening lent a helping hand to the lonely miners and railroad men, begging the question, was Helper really named for the extra engines or was it named for the ladies of the infamous brothels? Either way where else in Utah can you visit a brothel museum? I mean really, that alone is worth the trip!!!!
Helper Outlaw Car Show
We visited Helper on Labor Day Weekend, which seemed like an appropriate time to visit a town built on union labor at the turn of the century. As such, we were lucky enough to be there the same weekend as the annual Helper Outlaw Car Show which is held in the city park. This was a great chance to get out and see incredible vintage cars (many restored by Gary Devincent) but it was even more fun to watch these vintage cars driving up and down the uniquely American main street past the old hotels, restored service stations, and historic buildings. It was truly a living picture of those classic decades when the American automobile was king!
I was even fortunate enough to run into my old friend and coworker, Joe Morin with his pristinely restored 1937 Chevy. I enjoyed reminiscing about old times and catching up on family and I even had the honor of being allowed to sit behind the wheel of this magnificent vehicle. I can truly say that there is nothing more nostalgic than renewing old friendships at a car show in the park.
Shopping
Main Street in Helper has become a bit of a mecca for artists so there are several galleries to browse as well as some fun antiques shops. There is not a lot of shopping in Helper but it is fun to browse and smaller quantity of shops makes it perfect for us husbands with limited patience and pocket books.
East Carbon
The small town of East Carbon is a great jumping off point for OHV vehicles and there are multiple trails in the area. We originally rode out to East Carbon directly from Helper as there is an extensive marked trail system with a map that can be obtained at most gas stations and tourist information areas. East Carbon is famous for its huge coke ovens and coal tramway. This is a good location to trailer your OHV’s to climb over Bruin Point to Nine Mile Canyon and the views over this pass are incredible. If you plan to ride OHV’s (Off Highway Vehicles) to Nine Mile Canyon we recommend trailering to East Carbon and starting your ride there. We learned this the hard way as we ran out of enough daylight and gas to make if all the way from Helper to Nine Mile Canyon. Be advised that the coke ovens are a good day’s ride from Helper or Price.
Coke Ovens
Built to turn coal into hot burning coke for the smelters in California, these abandoned ovens are fascinating to explore. Coal from the mines in the nearby mountains, was transported to the coke ovens and turned into coke (no relation to the soft drink) and was then shipped via rail to the smelters. The coke ovens had an extensive rail yard to support the operation and the rail station and abandoned railways can still be seen and explored via OHV. The coke ovens themselves resemble ancient tombs and are by far the largest and most impressive coke ovens we have ever seen. The coke ovens are accessible via automobile so anyone can plan a visit to this fascinating site.
Coal Tramway
The road from East Carbon up to Bruin Point and over to Nine Mile Canyon has some beautiful scenery, however, the old coal tramway is equally impressive. Built to transport coal from the mountain mines down to the coke ovens in East Carbon, remnants of the old coal carts can still be seen hanging over the valley floor below. Many of the old tramway support structures have long since collapsed but are still fascinating to view and explore. These old coal tramways are such a piece of history and imagining these tramways operating at the height of their operation as they moved coal down the mountains, demonstrates the ingenuity and hard work that went into finding the coal that powered our nation.
Where to Eat
Balance Rock Eatery & Pub
We stayed in Helper and ate out for two meals at the Balance Rock Eatery & Pub and both breakfast and dinner was amazing. The restaurant is housed in an old furniture store and had a really cute theme and delicious food. We really enjoyed the small town feel of the pub and even the bathrooms were fun. Balance Rock had an extensive menu with many choices from burgers and sandwiches to full meals. They also have a large breakfast menu and I highly recommend the “Gomer Pile”!
Filling Station
On a warm sunny day, we recommend stopping and getting a float or ice cream at the Filling Station. Located right next to the Lincoln Hotel-Vintage Motor Company the outside tables and the unique setting make it a fun location to sit out and enjoy a cool drink or hot dog.
Where to Stay
Castle Rock RV Park- Camping
Because we had a larger group showing up and were towing our OHV’s we rented a cabin that slept six at the Castle Rock RV Park. This campground had some of the nicest facilities I have seen and the showers were immaculate. We rented a cabin that came with its own shower, bathroom, kitchen and TV and comfortably housed our party. The RV park has a water park for the kids and was pet friendly.
Lincoln Hotel- Luxury AirBNB Suites
One of the most unique lodging opportunities is right upstairs from the Vintage Motor Company in the restored Lincoln Hotel. The Devincent brothers have converted several of their properties into B&Bs including the Lincoln Hotel and one of their service stations. Staying a night in these unique properties sleeping next to the restored vehicles looked to be a fun way to spend a very unique and romantic evening (at least for the guys)! We were not aware of these suites prior to our visit but we definitely plan to return and stay a night in these unique properties!
Conclusion
If you are looking for a fun weekend close to just about everywhere in the state Carbon County is for you! Its mining and railroad roots mixed with its incredible natural history and beauty are a Showcase Showdown of amazing activities, incredible scenery, and friendly people…. and all of this adventure can be yours because….Price is Right!