Red Splash On A Rainy Day

High desert paintbrush blooms in the "Oquirrh foothills" SE of Tooele, Utah. If you don't mind a little rain and mud, NOW is a great time to explore Settlement Canyon above (the city) of Tooele. Rising above the paintbrush is the top 1/3rd of 9,207' Clipper Peak, standing between Middle Canyon and the Bingham (open pit) copper mine. Tooele, (pronounced tu-ella), is located on the western slopes of the Oquirrh Mountains in Tooele Valley, the next valley west of the well-known Salt Lake Valley. The UNUSUAL name for the town is thought (by some) to have evolved from an old Ute Indian word for tumbleweed. Others hypothesize that the name comes from "tu-wanda," the Goshute word for "bear," or from "tule," a Spanish word of Aztec origin, meaning bulrush. And .. that's no BULL !!! May 3, 2009