Rattlesnake Gulch to Church Fork

This is another Millcreek Canyon hike that starts about one mile past the toll booth. Park on the left side of the road and head up Rattlesnake Gulch. At .7 miles there is a sign for the Pipeline Trail. Go to the right. From this point, there will be some more switch backs, then the trail is easy and quite level. You will have a nice view of the Boy Scout Camp, Camp Tracy.  After a couple of miles, the trail will drop down into a gorgeous area of large pines.  At this point you will see a sign pointing to the trail to Grandeur Peak to the left, but I went down to the right and through the Church Fork picnic area. When you get down to the main road of Millcreek Canyon, you will have gone 3.3 miles. From this point I took off my snowshoes and hiked down the road to my vehicle. This was 1.7 miles, and I had gone exactly 5 miles total.

A large fin of rock just before the switchbacks begin.
I was told it is a remnant of an ancient stream bed.

Along the Pipeline trail

It snowed the entire hike, but the sun
peaked out occasionally.

I went to the right today.

One more chance to go to the left.

I just couldn't stop taking pictures
on this gorgeous snowy day!

Remnants of pipeline straps.

For some reason I had a hunger for raw carrots
after seeing these icicles.

An apparent alien buried in the snow!

Getting close to Church Fork

Glad I had my sunglasses today

Top of Church Fork area

This sign tells about mining claims donated
to the Boy Scouts in 1919. 

Silver Fork Snowshoe Hike

This is an easy hike and a nice get-away. You can find details on this and other hikes on a cool website:http://www.snowshoeutah.com/Table-of-Contents.html  I drove 12 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon and parked in the lowest Solitude parking lot. I then followed the road in the lower right side of the lot. This goes past a bunch of cabins. One was for sale for  $1, 750,000.00!  When you can see that the road is ending (about .9 miles from the parking lot), look for a trail off to your right. Where the trail forks, stay to the right.  This is a beautiful area with lots of large pines.  At about the 2 mile mark (from the parking lot) you get to a blocked-off mine. My gps map identifies this as the Alta Tunnel.  There are some conduits coming out of it, hooked up to a couple of solar panels. I wonder what this is for. Perhaps some kind of monitoring equipment or maybe water pumps?  I considered crossing the gulch and making this a loop hike, but the powder snow on the north-facing slope was so deep that I sank to my knees even with my snowshoes on. Maybe next time I will wear the tails on my shoes for more buoyancy.

If you want to use this outhouse you will have
to shovel out a couple of feet of snow!

Nice large pines

Trekking poles ponder the saying, "Curiosity killed the cat."

Mouse tracks remind me of stitching on
a baseball.

The snow on this fallen log looked like a giant mouth, complete with a white uvula in back!

A busy woodpecker

Blue Jay on tree right next to woodpecker

Rattlesnake Gulch Snowshoeing

This morning I drove up Millcreek Canyon, just under one mile from the pay booth. I parked on the left side of the road near a sign that said Pipeline Trail.  It was still dark, so I took my time putting on my snowshoes, so I would not have to use my headlamp.  I headed up the gulch following some large switchbacks on a moderately steep trail.  I remember hiking this trail with Lizzy one summer, and we took a "shortcut" that was almost impossibly steep and difficult to get up. It took us near a cave entrance that smelled very strongly of dead animal, and we did not go in there, not only due to the odor, but due to the fact that this is mountain lion country, and I suspected that may be a mountain lion den.  I  stayed on the main trail today, but saw mountain lion tracks in the snow crossing the main trail toward the cave.    About .7 miles up the gulch I came to a sign pointing to Grandeur Peak to the right, and Pipeline Trail to the left. I went to the left. At this point the trail levels out and follows the old pipeline bed. There are a few pieces of pipeline fittings along the way. There is also a very sturdy old metal sign with the lettering long-gone. Perhaps it said, Do Not Walk On Pipeline?  The cool thing is if you hit it with your trekking pole, it sounds a great gong, exactly like a church bell!  You can hear it reverberating for about 20 seconds.
     As I continued along the trail, the sky was gorgeous in the East with the rising sun.  Just as I rounded a curve in the trail, the sun struck the Oquirrh Mountain peaks across the Salt Lake Valley, illuminating Kennecott Copper Mine.  The entire hike took me about 2 hours and was 3.5 miles long.

Map at trailhead

Trekking poles resting after steep hike

trekking poles had a competition
to see which could make the
loudest gong!

Still dark enough to see the waning moon

I saw 7 mule deer

rounding the curve

Kennecott Copper Mine to the West

Sunrise in the East

Interesting geological formations, look like geodes