Bonneville Shoreline Trail

This is a hike I read about in the April 17 edition of the Salt lake Tribune. It was the hike of the week, and is called the Thousand Oaks Section of Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  It is a nice hike if you have a little time before or after work, etc.  and want to do a little hike or run.  You have a view of the West for pretty much the whole time, so it would be cool to do a sunset hike, then bring a flashlight or headlamp to get back.  This section of the trail was completed last Fall.
     It starts at the Mount Olympus Trailhead on Wasatch Boulevard and about 5200 South.  My trekking poles reminded me that this was the first hike I took them on over 20 years ago! You can park on Wasatch Boulevard or up in the small parking lot.  Go up the steep wooden stairs. At the top of the stairs is Pete's Rock.  This is a popular spot for teens on dates to "watch the sunset."  A funny little story:  My son and some of his friends,  high school seniors, went  to the Senior Dinner Dance. After the dance, about 10 pm, he went with three other guys, still dressed in suits and ties, and climbed up to Pete's Rock, just because it is a fun place to go when you are not quite ready to go home for the night.  There were some other hikers up there, and one of them said, "So I take it Prom didn't go so well?!"
   Anyway, when you get to Pete's Rock, it appears that the trail ends, but just scramble about 10 feet up a few rocks, and you will see the trail again.  Continue on for less than 1/2 mile, and you will see a trail branching off to your left. This is the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  It has a few switchbacks to get around a large rock field. As I was passing the rock field, I heard the sound of falling rocks, and noticed a young deer going right up the middle of the rock field! It was really struggling, sliding back, etc. but finally made it to the top. It quickly climbed onto the top of a small peak, then just stood there majestically, enjoying the view! As you head North, the trees are more plentiful and you reach some beautiful pines. At about 2 1/2 miles into the hike, the trail splits. Many people turn around here. I went left, and ended up in a neighborhood of Olympus Cove. So you could start here  and hike South instead.  My GPS said that the address here is 4594 Thousand Oaks Drive.   I then hiked back up to the split, and followed the other direction for a while. It appears to go to Neff's Canyon, but I will have to explore that more another day. With my extra exploring, I hiked just under 7 miles.

Trailhead

Stairs up to Pete's Rock

View from base of Pete's Rock

Bonneville Shoreline Trail

Ambitious young buck

Colorful rock typical of Mount Olympus

Flowers exploding in yellow. I looked these up, and
I believe they are Oregon Grape.

Kennecott Copper Mine in the distance
Mountain Mahogany in foreground.

Many early Spring flowers

This spring escaped the confines of
rusty pipe many years ago.

Snow Cave

Friday was a gorgeous day with a clear blue sky. I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon just as dawn was breaking, and snowshoed up Guardsman's Pass to check out conditions for a winter camp with some scouts next weekend. I brought a shovel and a handsaw(to cut out blocks of snow), and dug a decent snow cave in 45 minutes. The temperature was 20 degrees. If I had not already committed to taking some boys up to Crystal Hot Springs that night, I may have been tempted to spend the night in the snow cave, but that will have to wait until next weekend.  On the way down the Canyon, I stopped by Silver Fork Lodge and warmed up by the wood fire as I sipped a cup of hot chocolate and ate a delicious cinnamon roll; a great way to spend a Friday morning!

Mount Olympus (South Trail)

I finally got a chance to get out for a nice hike Saturday. It was game day for the big Utah/BYU rivalry game.  I saw the Army ROTC carrying a large Utah flag and running the game ball along 1300 East. I later heard that they meet their BYU counterparts half way and transfer the ball to them; kind of cool!  We drove to the trailhead at 5600 South and Wasatch Boulevard, got the last parking spot, and started out at 8:15.  The weather was perfect. We took our time, and made the 7 mile hike in 61/2 hours including stops and a fairly long rest at the summit. It was slightly chilly at the top, but not enough to get a jacket out.  We saw many U of U fans, but surprisingly not a single BYU fan.  I brought and drank every drop of 3 liters of water, and was grateful for the extra ice cold bottle my daughter gave me!

At lower elevation, very few leaves got the memo that
the next day was the first day of Fall!

The view from the saddle is always inspiring.

Mule Hollow

     I had an unexpected couple of hours available today, so of course my trekking poles and I took off for  a quick hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  This is a 1.2 mile hike (2.4 miles round trip) up to what used to be a miner's cabin.  There is still plenty of mine stuff around, like rails from the ore cars, etc. The hike is pretty scenic, but the real scenery is behind you as you are  ascending the gulch;  across Big Cottonwood Canyon is an incredible view of  Stairs Gulch, the steepest longest avalanche pass in the Wasatch Range!  It has a 5000 feet vertical drop, which you  can't see well from the road, but have to hike up this trail for a good view. At the top is a virtual geocache, that gives some good info: http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCJJJW_deadly-monster-view?Submit6=Go
     To get to the trailhead, drive 3 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  If you have teenagers along, they may tell you that you have just passed through "Silent Rock," and it is bad luck if you are not silent when passing through here. It is an area where the road goes through a spot where there is rock on each side right next to the road. I am sure that ski bus drivers made that up to get a few precious moments of peace!  At the end of a new large concrete bridge, you  immediately turn left into a small parking lot. There is no sign, but this is the trailhead.  Head north up the trail, ignoring the many steep side trails you see, as these are accesses to the cliffs for rock climbers. The trail you want stays near the creek bed, and often is the creek bed. Today the bed was completely dry most of the way.  At about 1/2 mile, you will see a rock cairn with the best-looking trail going sharply up to the left. Do not take this sharp left, as it is another rock climber trail.  The trail is overgrown at times, but don't worry, you can't get lost, and when you get to the mine area it is extremely obvious; you can't miss it!  On the way down, if the going gets difficult, you may be in the stream bed, when the actual trail is to your right about 20 feet. (You can figure out how I know this!)

Looks like some old bunk bed frames

Looking south toward twin peaks
and Stairs Gulch

Tiny old rails

Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point

This Hike is in Grand Teton National Park.  We made a quick trip up there, leaving Salt Lake on Friday morning, and returning Sunday afternoon.  Friday we went horseback riding at Teton Village, and Saturday we went whitewater rafting and did this Jenny Lake hike.  One reason I wanted to do this, is that this gave me the opportunity to check out the beginning and end of a hike that I plan to do within the next year or two: Take the tram at Teton Village, then backpack along the Teton Crest trail, for about 30 miles, camping two or three nights, and then descend to Jenny Lake and take the ferry across to the Jenny Lake Visitors center.  Anyone want to join me?
     The word that comes to mind for Jenny Lake is PRISTINE!  As beautiful as photos are, they don't come anywhere near doing it justice.  The water is crystal clear, the giant pines are as aromatic as they are beautiful, and you have an incredible view of  the Teton peaks for much of the hike.
     When you get to the Jackson area, stop at the most amazing visitors center I have ever been to. They will give you all kinds of maps and directions for this hike.   From there, you drive about 45 minutes to the Jenny Lake visitors center.  The drive was beautiful, and we saw several moose along the way. You have to pay $25 for a seven day pass into the park, even if you are just spending the day.  From the Jenny Lake visitors center, we took the ferry ($7 one way or $12 round trip) across the lake.  It leaves every 15 minutes, and gives you a beautiful view of the area during the 1.5 mile trip. The hike up to Hidden Falls is just .6 miles, and it really is hidden! We missed the 100 foot detour the first time, and continued another .4 miles up to Inspiration Point, catching Hidden Falls on our way down.  We could have taken the ferry back, but opted to hike around the lake. The views are nothing short of  breathtaking!  The lower trail is closed for revegetation and repair, so we were directed to the upper trail, which was still very easy and probably much more scenic than the lower trail would have been. So taking the ferry one way,  our total hike was 4.75 miles.  If you have time, take the trail a little farther into Cascade Canyon for more beauty!

Jenny Lake from the ferry

The final ascent to Inspiration Point

Incredible Tetons

200 foot Hidden Falls cascade

View of Jenny Lake on return trail.

Willow Lake

This is a short, easy hike that I previously overlooked in the book, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Salt Lake City.  It is beautiful, and you have an excellent chance of seeing moose, especially at dawn and dusk. There are some nice areas to backpack into for a short getaway, or maybe to test out some new backpacking gear, etc. Drive 11.2 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon. You can park just past Silver Fork Lodge where the road curves. There is a large rock that marks the Trailhead, but no actual parking area. A short distance past the large rock, you see a large trail sign. maybe 5 minutes from this sign you will come to a wooden bridge. At this point you have the option of two trails to Willow lake. One way is to not cross the bridge and take the trail to the right. A second option is to cross the bridge and take that trail. They are about the same distance and level of difficulty. the trail across the bridge gets you away from road noise more quickly. I like to take this way up, and take the other trail back, as that way you hit a beautiful aspen grove on the way back down. The hike through aspens and pines is beautiful. In summer, wild flowers are abundant, and I am looking forward to going there in the fall for the yellow aspens, and in winter for snowshoeing!   At .8 miles, you step across the small Willow Creek, and soon come to a large meadow.  I expected to see the lake here, but it is a little farther ahead. As you approach the willows, take the trail fork to the left for the quickest view of the lake. This lake is unusual for this area, because the willows hide the lake until you are right at the lake, or looking down upon it.  The topo map on my gps just calls it, "small lake." The book, The Lady in the Ore Bucket,  calls it Willow Lake, and says the area was originally known as Willow Patch Fork, around 1888, and later as Willow Heights.  I did two of 3 geocaches in the area: You light up my life http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=b52cab02-1a97-4d6a-aca9-6d8909f0452a and Sugar and Spice; http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1faa0b8f-331a-4731-bd9f-1f58763d5f8a.

Some of the brightest colors I have seen

Willow Lake

Pretty fancy carvings, some from the 1940's

An enticing trail.

The trailhead

Mount Timpanogos from Timpooneke Trail

This is an awesome hike, especially this time of year with the wild flowers in bloom. If possible, do it on a week-day, as Saturdays are crowded.Be sure to pick up a pay envelope at the booth and hang a tag on your rear-view mirror to show that you have paid the $6 fee. There is a box at the campground that you can deposit it in. We drove up American Fork Canyon, right when the timp half marathon was going on. It was entertaining to watch the runners, but a slow process to get to the trailhead.  The parking lot was full, (and had been since 6 AM.), so we had to drive a mile past the trailhead to park on the road.  We signed in at the trailhead, and were rewarded with an amazing view, and blessed with a mostly overcast day.  The air was chilly at the summit, probably in the 40's, which felt great to me, but not to most people.  Clouds rolled in quickly, and it started raining fairly hard, and we did not want to experience lightning in the summit shack, even though it is grounded, so we descended quickly.  Shortly after leaving the summit, I was feeling pretty good, bounding down the rocks like a mountain goat, when some other hikers rounded a bend in the trail, and a girl said, "Wow a mountain goat!"  I was about to say, "Thanks," when I  followed their eyes over my shoulder, and a mountain goat was right behind me!  By the time I got my camera out, it wasn't too close, but I got a pretty good picture.
     The gps says our moving time was 7 hours 27 minutes, we hiked 17 miles, and our total ascent was 4,346 feet. (Some of that was the steep climb back to our car on the road.)  I carried 3 liters of water, but I still ran out, and this was a cooler day. If it had been warmer, I would recommend 4 to 5 liters. I had a water filter, but the only sources of water other than Emerald Lake, which would be a big detour, were streams about 3 miles from the trailhead, so I just continued on back.

A nest in a crag on a cliff. I wanted to put a peanut m&m
in for the picture, but didn't want to disturb it!

Summit looks a long way off!

The wildflowers alone were worth the hike.

Amazing view of Utah Lake from the saddle.

You feel like you are in an airplane at 11, 749 foot summit.

The mountain goat that snuck up behind me.