Big N. Utah Optical Illusion: Ben Lomond Peak Higher Than Willard Peak (not)

         Ben Lomond Peak  (center) and Willard Peak (second bump to the left of BL). Ben Lomond         looks taller here by some sort of illusion, as seen from near Weber State University in Ogden.


  BEN Lomond Peak is NOT higher than nearby Willard Peak.
  It just often times appears that it is taller, in some sort of geographical optical illusion, perhaps one of the biggest such cases in all of Northern Utah.
  Ben Lomond stands at 9,712 feet above sea level.
  Willard Peak is 9,764 feet above sea level, or 52 feet HIGH than Ben Lomond Peak is.
  However, look at Ben Lomond from the south, near Weber State University (top photo) and it appears much taller than Willard Peak is.
  Even look at Ben Lomond and Willard peaks from I-15 coming southbound near the Utah-Idaho stateline and the former appears taller by far than Willard Peak (a southeastern view).
  The only 2 places where Willard seems taller are:
1. From atop either Willard or Ben Lomond Peaks.
2. From Cache County, the south side of Utah State University OR from the south side of the Logan LDS Temple and looking straight south (bottom photo).
  I have no idea why this common illusion is in place, but at least from the straight north is not in play.

 Willard Peak (center) is 52 feet higher than Ben Lomond Peak (left of Willard Peak) and actually appears taller in this viewpoint from the north, as seen from near the Logan LDS Temple in Logan..

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net  

Ogden, Utah: 'No Mountains to Climb'?

  PICTURED ABOVE is an almost comical tourist billboard from 1930 in Echo Canyon, some 40 miles east of Ogden, Utah.
The sign proclaims that Ogden has "No mountains to climb."
It is unsure what the billboard was talking about, perhaps that a visit to Ogden doesn't require climbing any mountains; or that you only drive through canyons to reach Ogden from that point?
Anyway, it is ironic now considering that more than 8 decades later, Ogden has made a name for itself in outdoor recreation -- including in hiking and skiing on the tops of its Wasatch Mountains.
Also ironic is that Ben Lomond Peak, north of Ogden, inspired the world-famous Paramount Motion Pictures logo.
It is an intriguing to note that the sign promoted both Devil's Slide and Devil's Gate. And, also Ogden Canyon.
(There is a very similar looking Devil's Slide just north of the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park, so this formation is unusual, but not unique.)
Devil's Gate, just a couple of miles east of the mouth of Weber Canyon, was actually considered a hindrance until it was bypassed by the modern I-84 in the mid-1960s.
Before the freeway, Devil's Gate required a horseshoe kind of turn to get through the canyon.
In fact, Devil's Gate was often referred to as "Scrambled egg curve," as many a truck lost their loads twisting and turning too fast through that bend.
Also, Devil's Gate is what made the 1847 Mormon Pioneers arrive in the Salt Lake Valley through Emigration Canyon, rather than Weber Canyon.
The Devil's Gate, where the rough Weber River flowed, was such a formidable barrier for wagons, that it required a detour to the promised land.

              Willard Peak, a great Ogden area mountain to climb.