Saturday, June 13, 2026 Suspension Bridge

 Draper Suspension Bridge #11

from Hidden Valley Park

hikers: 2

distance: 3.27 miles

elevation gain: 348 feet

    The trail from Hidden Valley Park is longer, but not as much elevation gain. It is a nice and enjoyable trail. Here is what it looked like on strava.

We parked at Hidden Valley Park and started at this sign near the corner of the parking lot.

There is a paved trail. There are also other ways to walk through the park and get on the trail.  

Eventually you get on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

This was a pretty part of the trail.

This is an access road that goes to some kind of water facility.

The Bonneville Shoreline trail goes down from this road.

Crosses a bridge over Little Willow Creek,

and goes up.

This is a rocky tail. There are some bikes.

Lots of views of the Valley since you are on the side of the mountain.

These rocks are my favorite part of this trail. You walk between them.

We saw a paraglider.

You can see the bridge ahead. Almost there.

A view looking down at the water from the bridge. 

From the Hidden Valley Park trailhead you stay on the Bonneville Shoreline trail. From the Orson Smith Park you do the Bridge Loop.

This was a good switchup from our usual hike. 

It takes a little more time but is not as steep and very pleasant.

June 6, 2026 Houston Hiking Club

 Nana & Grandpa's Houston Hiking Club 

Elizabeth Keiser Meyer Park

hikers: 2 littles and 2 bigs

distance: 1.47 miles

elevation gain: 0

What do you have to have to make it a hike? There was no elevation gain, it was a paved trail, but there were trees, a pond and 4 happy hikers. We dropped the parents off at the temple and went to a nearby park for our hike.

Our route.

Four happy hikers.

This 2-year-old was a really good hiker.

Look close! We found some little fishies.

May 29, 2026 Draper Suspension Bridge with Jacob

 Draper Suspension Bridge with Jacob

#10

hikers: 3 of us

time: 7:21 am, before work for Jacob

temp: 61 degrees

We went early enough that Jacob could join us before he went to work this morning.

There were some beautiful flowers along the trail.

Almost there.

May 23, 2026 Hiking Club to Silver Lake

 Grandpa & Nana's Hiking Club

Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon

hikers: 9 littles & 6 bigs

distance: 1 mile

elevation gain: 55 feet. stroller friendly although we did not have one

They have done a lot of work improving the trail around Silver Lake. Unfortunately it now costs $10 to park, or you can park down the road at Brighton and walk back. We have an America the Beautiful pass which covered our parking fee.

The trailhead. We went left from here, but you can go either direction and it is one big loop.

The boys heading out on the trail.

We came to some snow, which was a fun place to stop.

We continued through the trees.

About halfway around the lake we found a good spot to stop for lunch.

We continued on and enjoyed walking on the nice, new boardwalk.

It was a little cool but very pleasant today. The mountains are so beautiful.

May 22, 2026 Potato Hill

    Potato Hill

hikers: Lecia and Mark

distance: not far at all

elevation gain: slight hill

easy

great views

This had been on my to-hike list for a long time. Today we were coming back from Highland and were driving over the top of the mountain for fun and so this was right on our way. We stopped and there was plenty of parking. 

The trail head.

Pretty flower, I'm not sure what kind.

The Draper Temple

Sunset. The main attraction at Potato Hill.

May 15, 2026 Morning Suspension Bridge #9

  Morning Suspension Bridge 

#9

temperature:  52 degrees

distance:  2.03 miles

elevation gain:  439 feet

I get a slightly different distance, depending where I turn on Strava. Other than that it is mostly the same hike.  But today was an earlier start time, about 6:30 so the sun hadn't hit most of the valley when we started.

Lupine in bloom.

Looking straight down from the bridge.

The bridge and the mountain.

We always check the progress on this house. It has been abandoned 

for a long time but now it is being worked on. The garage has been framed.

May 7, 2026

 Herriman Stairs

hikers: Mark and Lecia

elevation gain: 270 feet according to strava but that might be off

distance: .84 mile

We did something different today! I've wanted to do these stairs for a while so we headed out to Herriman. This starts at the Wide Hollow Trailhead in Herriman.

These are the stairs we are going to go up.  I am not sure how many there are.

We reached the top and this was the view looking down.

The stairs go up to the Bonneville Shoreline trail. At the top, we went left and then took the right fork at this sign.

We went a little ways until we came around the hill and could see the Salt Lake Valley. There was an interesting property that had a home on it and the large property was fenced. Maybe they are just prepared to have more neighbors.

South end of the Salt Lake Valley. We turned

around here but would like to come back and hike farther.

Back to the stairs, looking down at the parking lot.

It was fun going up the stairs and exploring. It would be 

worth coming back. I think the grandkids would like it. 

This could be a great workout.

Out and back. Started on the left with the stairs, turned 

around at the end point on the right, but the trail kept going.