A Feast Along the Alferd Packer Trail
From Provo, Utah, to Denver, Colorado.
Categories: Renegade Roads
By: Johnny D. Boggs 03/01/2008
Which reminds me: The Brick Oven is known for its pizza. If you don’t mind fighting off all those Brigham Young University students, you can find just about every ethnic food around these parts, and you can even get a drink in Utah. Add to that all the natural beauty like Bridal Veil Falls, Cascade Springs and the Provo Canyon Scenic Byway, and you wonder why Alferd (some argue it’s Alfred) Packer ever left Provo, Utah.
He probably wished he hadn’t.
Born on November 21, 1842, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Packer served briefly in the 16th U.S. Infantry and Eight Iowa Cavalry during the Civil War—discharged for epilepsy—and drifted. Yet his adventures began here in Provo, in 1873.
Gold had been discovered in Summit County, Colorado, and Packer, in need of a grubstake, hired on as a guide to bring a group of prospectors from the comforts of Provo all the way to Breckenridge. Had they known how much ski-lift tickets would cost in Breckenridge, they might have stayed put. They left Provo in late November.
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