Bill's Aviation Log

There are various narratives explaining the name "Starvation". One account describes a group of fur trappers stranded in harsh
winter conditions who survived by stealing a local Native American cache of food, which resulted in their starvation. Another
account tells the opposite story, with the Indians doing the stealing and the trappers starving. A third story involves a
local rancher who attempted to graze livestock in the area, and they all starved. The most probable explanation for the name
involves settlers in the early 1900s trying to survive along the banks of the Strawberry River, in the area now occupied by the
reservoir. These settlers dealt with near-starvation in a hostile environment. Winters in the area are long and cold, and their
livestock often died. The area's short growing season was hindered by floods, hail, early frost and other problems. These settlers
nicknamed the area Starvation.

Day 5 - Strawberry River/Reservoir
There was still a lot of daylight left and before calling it a day at Vernal, I headed west to check out the Strawberry River and Reservoir, plus an airport community airstrip named Thunder Ridge. I flew along this colorful ridge just south of Vernal.

In the east, this kind of terrain would be remarkable. In eastern Utah, it's common.

I passed by Roosevelt Municipal Airport (74V).

Then I came to Starvation Reservoir. Now why is it named that? From Wikipedia: There are various narratives explaining the name "Starvation". One account describes a group of fur trappers stranded in harsh winter conditions who survived by stealing a local Native American cache of food, which resulted in their starvation. Another account tells the opposite story, with the Indians doing the stealing and the trappers starving. A third story involves a local rancher who attempted to graze livestock in the area, and they all starved. The most probable explanation for the name involves settlers in the early 1900s trying to survive along the banks of the Strawberry River, in the area now occupied by the reservoir. These settlers dealt with near-starvation in a hostile environment. Winters in the area are long and cold, and their livestock often died. The area's short growing season was hindered by floods, hail, early frost and other problems. These settlers nicknamed the area Starvation.

Then I got on the Strawberry River.



It soon turned into a scenic little canyon.

A little horse ranch along the river in the canyon.

That has to be what is marked on the Sectional airchart as Pinnacle Rock.



I continued on but as you can see, the terrain is rising quickly. I bugged out of the canyon soon afterward.

I continued on to the big Strawberry Reservoir.









I headed east out of Strawberry and soon came to Thunder Ridge which is an airport community. The runway looks in good shape but I did not see many houses around.

Must be early days for this airport community. It is centrally located to some great flying spots though. Leaving Thunder Ridge, I continued east to Vernal where I would stop for the day.


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Day 5 - Strawberry River/Reservoir