Hiking Inspiration

Before I get to this weeks hike I wanted to share with you where I get my hiking inspiration.  Two great books.  The first one is "Hiking The Wasatch" by John Veranth.  I've had this book for many years.  In fact, I wore out my first copy and just recently purchased a new one.  This book describes every hike you could ever want to do along the Wasatch front.  The second book is "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Salt Lake City" by Greg Witt which I just barely bought and already love.  I especially like the trail descriptions in this book and the maps provided are simple and easy to follow. (I'm not a fan of topographical maps)  You can tell both authors have a great passion for hiking our beautiful Wasatch mountains and their passion is infectious!

Desolation Trail to Salt Lake Overlook

The Desolation Trail begins just east of the Millcreek Inn in Millcreek Canyon.  The distance is 4.8 miles round-trip with an elevation gain of 1250 feet.  What I love about this trail is you are walking through a lovely, pine fragrant forest.  The climb is gradual thanks to a series of easy switchbacks and the views of the Salt Lake Valley are very impressive.  This is definitely a great hike for spring, summer and fall.  Also a good beginners hike.   Millcreek Canyon is dog friendly and there is a fee of $3.00 per car ($2 for seniors) paid as you leave the canyon.

 

  There was still quite a bit of snow on the trail yesterday and a giant fallen tree to climb over, but that made it all the more fun.

No doubt which direction is north!

CraZy Hiker Chicks Top 10 Reasons to Hike

#10 Hiking is an excellent cure for boredom.

#9 Hiking will strengthen your legs.  You may even notice calf muscles.

#8 On hiking trails you meet the most friendly people.  And even friendlier dogs. 

#7 Winter hiking allows you to escape the inversion in the valley and breathe CLEAN, FRESH AIR! 

#6 Hiking relieves stress, worry and anxiety - GUARANTEED!

 

Season Finale

I realize it is a little late in the year to write about Solitude Nordic Center.  Season is over . . . . makes me sad!  We had the most marvelous winter this year and truly did have the "GREATEST SNOW ON EARTH" to play in.  One of my very favorite snowshoe spots is the Nordic Center in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Martha and I  paid a visit this week, but alas it was closed. This post is dedicated to the memory of a great season at 

Solitude Nordic Center

Costs only $5.00 for a snowshoe pass - best deal in canyon!

First time and so excited!

Soaking up the sun and fresh air!

Beautiful Mount Millicent

Silver Lake in Winter

Wildlife

CraZy Hiker Chicks Top 10 Reasons to Hike

#10 Hiking is an excellent cure for boredom.

#9 Hiking will strengthen your legs.  You may even notice calf muscles.

#8 On hiking trails you meet the most friendly people.  And even friendlier dogs. 

#7 Winter hiking allows you to escape the inversion in the valley and breathe CLEAN, FRESH AIR!

Mighty Mount Olympus

From my bedroom window I have a perfect view of Mount Olympus.  Every morning when I open my blinds there it is bigger than life.  I tried climbing Olympus several years ago with Marc, Cory and Mike.  I couldn't make it.  I sent the boys on ahead and felt defeated.  I also lost both big toe nails on that climb and Mount Olympus has intimated me ever sense.  Well not any more!  Plus today I changed my goal.  I decided I didn't need to reach the summit to enjoy this hike.  My goal today was to make it to Tolcat Canyon stream crossing which is a distance of 1.7 miles with an elevation gain of 1,290 feet.  I was hiking alone today so I took my time and thoroughly enjoyed the hike.  It also helped that today was cool at 47 degrees. The views again were magnificent and the glacier lilies were a bloomin'!

Far above the freeway with Oquirrh mountains in background.

Salt Lake City downtown under the juniper tree.

Looking southeast at Twin Peaks

"For myself I hold no preferences among flowers so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous!"   Edward Abbey

Glacier Lily

I could hear the waterfall before I could see it.

Tolcat Canyon Stream.  I reached my goal and made a new friend.

Crazy Hiker Chicks Top 10 Reasons to Hike

#10 Hiking is an excellent cure for boredom.

#9 Hiking will strengthen your legs.  You may even notice calf muscles.

#8 On hiking trails you meet the most friendly people.  And even friendlier dogs.

April Snow Brings Out the Snowshoes!

I'm not putting my snowshoes away just yet!  Monday's storm brought over a foot of fresh snow to the Brighton area of Big Cottonwood.  Snow conditions yesterday afternoon were awesome!  This was my first experience with snowshoeing in April and I was treated to the most spectacular mountain vistas!

Guardsman Pass

The state road known as Guardsman Pass takes you from Big Cottonwood canyon over the mountain pass into either Heber Valley or Park City.  In winter this road is one of the few places where snowmobiles are allowed to traverse the roads.  But it is also a great snowshoe trail and the mountain is big enough for all to enjoy!  The snowshoe route is about 3 miles roundtrip and took slightly more than 3 hours total for us to snowshoe to the pass and back.  You will follow the snowmobile road for about 3/4 mile then veer to the right from the state road and head into the forest of lodge pole pines -- BEAUTIFUL!  At this point there is a sign warning snowmobilers to stay on the state road, but it is obvious that many ignore the sign.  The terrain gets pretty steep from here to the top of the pass and it is helpful to follow snowmobile tracks as much as possible.  This hike is challenging!  And my legs ached after 3 hours of hiking in the snow, but I love it!

At the top of Guardsman we found this amazing old tree.

The mountain vistas were gorgeous on this sunny afternoon.  We are looking back towards Gobblers Knob and Mount Raymond on the right.

I'm lucky to have a friend that loves the outdoors as much as I do!

I guess we can share the mountain if we have to!

Crazy Hiker Chicks Top 10 Reasons to Hike

# 10  Hiking is an excellent cure for boredom.

# 9   Hiking will strengthen your legs.  You may even notice calf muscles!

Mountain Goat Sighting

I hike for a lot of different reasons and sometimes like today when I have nothing else going on I'll plan a hike.  And quite often I break the cardinal rule of hiking and go alone.  The amazing thing about hiking for me is that I am always (99.9 percent of the time) treated to something special.  Today it was seeing mountain goats.  Two of them . . .  Mr. and Mrs.  Big, shaggy, beautiful mountain goats!  Wait!   I'm getting ahead of myself.  The mountain goats were spotted at the end of my hike so back to the beginning . . . . 

Giant Granite Boulders of Little Cottonwood

This hike begins at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon from the UTA Park n Ride on the north side of the road.  This Park n Ride is well hidden from the main canyon road, but you will see a sign pointing the way.  It is on the opposite side of the road from the Temple Quarry and Little Cottonwood trail heads.  Park at the very far east end of the lot near the bathrooms.  You can see the beginning of a small trail, climb up and start exploring.  I followed the trail to some huge 1000 ft granite slabs that were geared for serious rock climbers.  I climbed over big granite boulders until I reach a place that looked back down into the Salt Lake Valley.  I had a lot of fun climbing boulders and I stopped to watch a pro climb up one of the granite slabs.  But the highlight was spotting the mountain goats.  Apparently, people see the goats on the mountainside all the time because very conveniently there is a telescope provided right at the parking lot to get an up close and personal view of these amazing goats.  

Trail goes right through this wall.  Looks like a pipe did to at one time.

Rock climbers paradise.

Huge slabs of granite and nice views across the canyon.

Granite boulder up close.  I need this piece for my kitchen counter tops!

Very fun time climbing on the boulders.

I brought home a piece of granite.  It's very beautiful!

  Rock Garden

Again, what is this plant???

  The mountain goats are right on the edge of these rocks . . . really!

Disclaimer:  I borrowed the photo of the mountain goat from the internet.  My little Olympus Tough Shot couldn't zoom in close enough, but this is what the goats looked like through the telescope provided at the Park n Ride.

    

Crazy Hiker Chick's Top 10 Reasons to Hike

# 10    Hiking is an excellent cure for boredom!

"The Living Room"

Come on up and sit a spell!

The "living room" hike begins in the foothills just above Research Park near the University of Utah.  Very clever people have arranged flat slabs of sandstone into arm chairs, sofas and foot rests.  There are different arrangements every time I hike up there.  So head on up take a seat and enjoy great views of the Salt Lake Valley. 

Room with a view!

Just chillin'

Where's the big screen TV?

 Today we discovered "the kitchen"

Further up the mountain behind the living room less than a quarter mile we found this rock wall and called it the kitchen.  The wall was probably built by some crazy college kids.  It was really quite impressive.

 

Fire pit in the kitchen

Heading down the trail we found what appeared to be a science experiment.  There was something big, scary looking and dead in the bottle.

Another great view of the city.  See if you can find the state capital building.

The hike is about 2.5 miles roundtrip with an additional little bit to see the kitchen.  The elevation gain is about 1010 feet.  To find the trail head drive towards Red Butte Gardens and the new Museum of Natural History turn right on Colorow Drive and just before you reach the Huntsman Corp building you will see the trail head on the left.  The "living room" is a very popular hike!

 

Trail Head

 

 "Get outdoors!  Get into nature and make your own discoveries".  Scott, the paleontologist (PBS)