Mount Wolverine

I read in Thursday's Salt Lake Tribune about a cool website http://www.wasatchhiker.com/trails/name-search/ and the article said that the web master, Eric Bean's favorite hike was the hike to Mount Wolverine, so  I checked it out, and it is an awesome hike. I parked at Silver Lake Trailhead, went half-way around the lake, and took the trail to Twin Lakes. From there I took the trail on the North side of the dam that goes above the lake to Twin Lakes Pass. The view from there is awesome, and that alone would be a worthwhile hike, but I continued up the ridge top my left and did a geocache called  Mending My Ways. It was on a fairly large peak, that is un-named as far as I can tell.
     I then continued on to Mount wolverine, and found the cache there, called The Return of Wolverine.
Mount Wolverine is the tallest of the peaks in the Brighton area. The elevation is 10, 795 feet. From there, I could see the Salt Lake Valley, Kennecott Copper Mine, Cecret Lake, Snowbird, Alta, Midway, and Lake Mary. I was tempted to head down to Lake Mary and make a loop, but decided to save that for another day, and headed down the way I came. It took me just under 2 hours to get back to the trailhead. The entire hike was just over 7 miles including a little bit of exploring before reaching the pass. It was a gorgeous hike, with the Aspens greening up, and lots of wildflowers appearing. I used all of 2 liters of water that I brought, and should have applied sunscreen a little more frequently than once!

Ducklings in Silver Lake

Silver Lake view from trail to Twin Lakes

Trail to Twin Lakes Pass

Wildflowers along the way

Twin Lakes

Marker at Twin Lakes Pass

View from Twin Lakes Pass

"Mending My Ways" geocache

View from Mt. Wolverine

Twin Lakes viewed through twin rocks by twin
trekking poles

A Marmott on a rock

Ferguson Canyon

This is a beautiful quick hike near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It had been several years since I hiked this, but it was the "hike of the week" in the Salt Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com/csp/cms/sites/sltrib/Outdoors/hikes.csp?hike=479 so I went up there again.The link has good directions.  The hike took me about 2 1/2 hours, going very slowly.  There is an elevation gain of 1,600 feet in about 1 1/2 miles. As I reached the top of the steepest part, I was amazed that I was not breathing hard, and my heart rate was still pretty slow. I decided this was due to starting at a relatively low elevation ( 5,245 feet) , so plenty of oxygen! It is fun to watch people rock climbing as you hike the first part of the trail. Most of the climbers had a dog or two or three, all romping around happily with a stick in their mouths!  You will need at least a full liter of water, or a water filter. I had to park in the overflow parking but it only added 5 minutes to the hike.  I began the hike at 4 PM. It was nice and cool along the stream, but I much prefer to hike early in the morning when dawn is just breaking!

A rock climbing wall

The "portal" mentioned in the Tribune

One of many refreshing water falls

Another portal? Maybe a good place for a geocache!

Nice view of the Salt Lake Valley

My trekking poles enjoying the view

Interesting rock formations near the top

Near beginning of the hike.