Silver Lake (American Fork Canyon)

Ok, this hike is one of my all-time favorites!  It is difficult to imagine a more scenic hike, with beautiful lakes, pines, aspens, waterfalls, wildlife, and a chance for some great fishing!  My brother-in-law told me about it, and I couldn't wait to try it out!  Do not confuse this lake with the Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon that has a boardwalk around it.  The trailhead is less than an hour away from the Salt Lake Valley.  The hike is 4.25 miles round-trip, but the views are so spectacular that it seemed much shorter to me.  Families with smiling young kids carrying fishing gear and dogs on leashes were seen on our way back down.  From I-15 take the Highland/Alpine/Cabella's Exit and head East on UT 92 up American fork Canyon. (You can follow the Timponogos Cave signs).
At the mouth of the canyon you will need to stop at the booth to pay the $6 for a 3 day pass, then head up the canyon past Timponogos Cave. When the road splits, turn left and enjoy the gorgeous drive up to Tibble Fork Reservoir.  Keep going on the paved road following the signs to Granite Flats Campground.  Just as you see the Granite Flats Campground pay booth, you will see a dirt road on your right.  Turn right on this dirt road and follow it for 3.2 miles.  The road can be travelled in any vehicle, but you will need to steer around rocks in a few areas and take it slow.  At the end of the road, you will arrive at beautiful Silver Lake Flat. ( GPS  coordinates N 40* 30.419' W 111* 39.389') Park in the large parking lot, get out and stretch, enjoying the view of the lake with Mount Timponogos in the background.  The trail begins to the right of the restrooms.   It is one of those irresistibly- inviting trails that you just can't help but explore.  The trail is quite shaded with beautiful Aspens and Pines for the first mile, and lined with amazing wildflowers.  After the trail crosses the bubbling brook in about a mile,  you arrive at some switchbacks, and the trail is a little steeper, but the views are so spectacular that you don't even notice.  As you gain in elevation, you see several waterfalls streaming down from the majestic granite cliffs.  Before you know it, you are on the shore of Silver Lake  with a huge smile on your face, breathing the fragrant Alpine air! (GPS coordinates N 40* 31.302 W 111* 40.299)

Silver Flats Lake

An inviting trail

View along the trail

Silver Flats lake and Timp in the background.

One of several waterfalls

Trekking Poles resting on granite boulder at
Silver Lake.

The Livingroom

This is a fun, fairly short (3.75 miles round-trip), fairly steep hike.  There is not much shade, so early morning, or during cool times of year would be best. I hiked mid day and it was a bit warm, and I used all of 2 liters of water that I brought. This was the "Hike of the week" in the Salt Lake Tribune for June 12, 2014.  I have also heard this hike called  "The Flintstones Livingroom" or "The Furniture." The trailhead is just to the right of Red Butte Gardens. (gps coordinates are:               N40* 45.723' W 111* 49.435')  To get there  Take Foothill Boulevard to Wakara Way all the way to the top, and turn right on Colorow Drive. You can see the trailhead immediately on your left. Just park along the road and head up the trail.  The trail zigzags through some trees for a few minutes, then crosses the Bonneville Shoreline trail. A short distance after crossing the Bonneville Shoreline trail, take a left, heading North, then East. you will be just outside Red Butte Gardens property for a while. At the back of Red Butte Gardens you will see trails headed in many directions. Backtrack maybe 50 feet, and head up a trail that zigzags up to the ridge line. When you get to the ridge line, you will see a prominent outcropping of rock, called "The Finger." (Gps coordinates N 40* 45.888' W 111* 48.986.')  Follow the ridge line up towards the finger.  The trail goes near the finger, so you may just as well scramble up the rocks to the finger, to see a great view. Then get back on the trail and head farther on up the ridge line until you get to "The Livingroom."  Have a seat on some of the surprisingly -comfortable furniture and enjoy the view! The love seat was taken up by a couple apparently on their first date from the snatches of conversation that I heard. They did not leave until a bug crawled on her and she screamed, but by then I was also ready to leave! This would be an incredible place to watch the sun set, but you would need a good light to get back down!  You can go back the way you came, but I found a trail that went down to the gulch to the South and went that way instead. The area is full of cool geocaches you can do along the way.  A geocache called "The Furniture" GC445 is above the Livingroom. It s a good one, and has a great view.

View from a point before climbing up to "the Finger."

The Finger

Trekking poles taking a well-deserved rest on chair.

View of Kennecott Copper Mine in the distance

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.