Altamont's Community

Here is information about our Community and School:

Altamont Elementary School has an enrollment of about 355 students in grades Kindergarten through 6th. There are presently two classes of each grade level, except Kindergarten which has three! Our school pulls students from throughout the surrounding communities including Altamont, Altonah, Boneta, Bluebell, Mt. Emmons, Mountain Home, Talmage, and Upalco. At one time our school was an open school, but several years ago the rooms were enclosed. Because of this, most of our rooms have an odd shape, but that makes it interesting!

Our playground has a paved area where we play basketball, kickball, tetherball, hopscotch, etc. We have a grassy field where we play soccer and other sports. We also have a softball diamond behind the school in the field. After school, just like most children everywhere we find lots to do. We play with our friends, ride bikes, watch tv, play video games, go to scouting activities or dancing and piano lessons, and do chores and homework (only if we really have to!). We enjoy riding bikes and horses and going hiking and camping and have great fun here.

In our class, we currently have 28 students...... 14 boys and 14 girls! We have 2 that walk, 8 that are dropped off by a parent and 18 that ride a bus most days. Most of our students live in houses. We have no apartments in the area.

Altamont is a rural community of about 250 people in the northeastern corner of Utah. We are located in Duchesne County. We are at the foot of the Uinta Mountains, the only major mountain range in the USA that runs east and west. Altamont has an elevation of about 6400 feet above sea level. We have cold winters and pleasant summers. Altamont is the center of a farming and ranching area that has a population of about 2000. There are also many oil deposits nearby, and the oil industry is a major employer in the area.

If you were to come to Altamont, you could visit the High Uintas Wilderness Area where Kings Peak, elevation 13,528, is the highest point in Utah. People from all over come here in the summer and fall to relax by hunting in the local mountains and fishing in the beautiful streams. We also have world class fly-fishing in still waters that interests many people.

Many of our community members work about 20 miles away from us in the city of Roosevelt. The county hospital and many businesses are found there, including the movie theaters and swimming pool. If we want Walmart, Kmart, Lowes, and skating rinks or indoor pools, we have to travel on to Vernal.

We are only a little over an hour away from Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, Utah. You can see actual dinosaur bones there embedded in the rock mountainside just as they were found. It really is fascinating to see. We enjoy going there on field trips from our school. While going through Vernal, you also need to stop at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park and Dinosaur Gardens.

Flaming Gorge is also a beautiful sight to see. Be sure to check it out, too!

Not far away, as well, you can find perfectly preserved pictographs left by the ancient Anasazi and Fremont cultures that existed from 1 A.D. to the l300's. Nine Mile Canyon is my personal favorite. Here you might see hundreds of rock art figures. You may even find yourself in the exact area where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid holed up.

As we have mentioned, we are very near the mountains. All around us you can also find desert. There are not many trees down here. Sagebrush is abundant and our ground seems to produce many rocks! There are prairie dogs in that same deserty area. In the mountains, we have coyotes, elk, bear and other animals normally found in that environment. There are deer. In fact, there are two young deer that roam the neighborhood of our town daily.