Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Just 12 miles northeast of St. George near Leeds is the ghost town of Babylon. I have been here before and, to me, the two parts of its history are fascinating.

There is little left of the town that was established in 1877. The purpose of its existence was the Stormont Mill that supported about 20 families. There were no services available — they depended on Leeds or Silver Reef some 6 miles’ ride for supplies.

Why the name of the town is Babylon is a source of speculation, but the biblical name of the wicked city Babylon is consistent with the culture of the day. Members of the church led by Brigham Young were not comfortable with the stereotypical nature of a mining camp so the name could have been given for those purposes. By 1890, there is little record of any activity and the ghosts took over.

Babylon came alive again in the 1980s when politician John Vought bought the town property to build a retirement home. His $250,000 investment caught fire in the process of construction and burned down to the foundation, and the ghosts returned.

This is what I rode out to see with my wife, Gayle, and our friends — Terry and Michelle Maxfield. I was going on memory trying to find the Babylon House, which is something I didn’t want to tell our little group. I had a GPS track but I was having trouble loading it, so I was on my own. Gayle won’t go with me unless I know where I am going, so finding it was important.

Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner

We turned off of Highway 91 onto East 900 North, which took us right to the Babylon House. It is a beautiful setting for a home situated as it is above the banks of the Virgin River.

Our plan was to go from Babylon to Toquerville Falls. Getting to the falls and maintaining the image of a knowledgeable guide was making me nervous because the last time I made this ride, I was following a six-year-old GPS track. Again, I was leading the ride and it was a trail I had been on before, but the terrain had changed drastically. The pass the track went over was severely washed out, making it impassable and a piece of fenced property required me to find another way around.

It reminded me of a similar feeling when leading a group of riders on the Grassy Mountain Trails earlier this year. I got lost for a while, but the people following me said that they weren’t lost because they were following me.

I could see a track on my GPS that looked promising, so I followed it. It had rained the night before and the trails were sandy. There were fresh tire tracks on the trail I was following. I figured maybe that guy knew where he was going, so I followed those tracks and the trail on my GPS.

It worked! We made the connection to Toquerville and got on the trail to the falls. I looked like I knew where I was going.

Photo supplied

With all the moisture we have received this year, the ride through this section was so enjoyable. The vibrant greens of the sagebrush and the color of the wildflowers against the backdrop of the red rock cliffs was beautiful. The pungent smell of the sagebrush that walled the trail wafted up as we wound our way through this high desert country — what a ride.

Coming into Toquerville, we crossed a creek and made our way to the north of town, turning onto Spring Road. Passenger cars have made this trip in the past, but not anymore. The first section of this road is a rough old cob.

The road smoothed out and we made it to the falls. The spring runoff made these falls spectacular. While the volume of water going over the falls was more than I have ever seen, it was still safe to drive our machines across the top. I love the sound the water made going over those falls and we took time to enjoy our lunch to the sound of that music.

We took the highway out of Toquerville back to Highway 91 to get back to the trucks, finishing a ride of 44 miles. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and consider taking your own ride from Babylon to Toquerville Falls.

Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.

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