Tuesday, November 18, 2021 Jungle Trail, in Draper

Jungle Trail

trail:  We started at the Carolina Hills Trailhead in Draper.  

hikers:  Dad or Grandpa, Mom or Nana, Marisa, Rees, and the two girls!

length of hike: about a mile and it is a loop.  It is an easy hike and made for kids! I can't wait to bring the other grandkids here.

The trailhead is in a cul de sac but it wasn't busy the day we were there and there was room for parking.  

Ready to hike?

Follow the signs for the Jungle Trail!

Just keep walking!  And watch for bikes.

"If you see a horse say Hay!"

I guess you need to watch for horses too. But we didn't see any.

And watch for poison ivy!  There were lost of warning signs!

Off to the right, across a creek, you can catch a glimpse of the Jungle trail just before you get to the turnoff.

The turnoff to the jungle trail was just before this sign warning that there are downhill bikes on the left, to stay to the right!  If you pass that sign you've gone too far.  

There is good signage.  This is where we turned on to the Jungle Trail.

It's made for kids!

But adults are allowed too.  

Then you follow the signs to go back to the trail that takes you to the Caroline Hills trail head.  

Cross the bridge, turn left, and you're almost back where you started.  

This was a fun little hike!

Monday, October 11, 2021 Aspen Grove trail to the second falls

 For future reference, this was the perfect weekend to drive the Alpine Loop.  These things change from year to year but we hit it just right this time!

hikers:  mark, lecia, seth

trail:  the Aspen Grove side of  Mount Timpanogos up to the 2nd falls.

length:  2.5 miles round trip (1 mile to first falls, another .25 miles to second falls); 770 ft. elevation gain.

We parked in the parking lot  that is just above the toll booth near Aspen Grove.  There is a fee for this canyon, whether you are driving through or stopping to hike.  This time we started on the American Fork Canyon side and drove over the Alpine Loop.  The parking lot near Aspen Grove is for access to the Mt. Timpanogos trail and also the trailhead for Stewart Falls.  The trails start near the restrooms.  

Driving the Alpine Loop.

Gold on the mountains.  It really was a beautiful time of year.

Trailhead at the edge of the parking lot.  

Another good thing about this time of year, at least on a Monday afternoon, 

was that the parking lot wasn't full.  This is a well used trail and can get very busy.

Gold on the trail!

There's a bridge to cross and parts of the trail are paved.  

Look around and you can see signs of avalanches!

We have hiked up this trail quite a few times over the years.  Once, several years ago we saw a moose.  Today we saw something very interesting.  There was this critter on the trail.

Here is a close up of his victim.  From listening to the kids who had just passed this before we got there, it  had just happened!  Right before their eyes!

The one critter, I can't remember what it was called, was hauling off the dead squirrel, even though he was smaller than the squirrel.

We arrived at the first falls and kept going because 2nd falls is not a lot further.

Seth at 2nd falls.

September 6, 2021 Ensign Peak

Hikers:  12 of us

This hike is easy.  It is uphill, 374 feet of elevation gain, but its only .8 miles.  So even though you are going uphill it is not a difficult hike.

Since Mark's birthday is tomorrow, we met the family at the Ensign Peak trailhead to begin his birthday celebration.  I think this is the first time I have put this hike on this blog so it has been a while since we have been here.  

The trail starts above the state capitol. We went up the stairs at the trailhead.

And up the sidewalk.

 Then up more stairs.

You get to the actual trail and it is not shady or very scenic.

But you keep going up, and when  you are at the top of Ensign Peak you will see a monument to the pioneers and a view of the entire Salt Lake Valley! 

If its a clear day there is not a better view. 

This is the same peak that Brigham Young and seven other pioneer leaders climbed just days after their arrival to get a view of the valley.

The hiking crew!

Friday, August 6, 2021 Capitol Reef: Grand Wash, Sulpher Creek, and Sunset Point

After sleeping in the campground, which is like a grassy park, with the deer wandering around and amazing stars on a clear night, we took it easy in the morning but still fit in a few hikes.  I highly recommend the campground if you can get a spot.  

Grand Wash

We hiked the Grand Wash when we were here a couple of years ago so this time we started from the other end.  It is out and back unless you have another car at the other end, which we did not either time, and both times we didn't hike the entire way before we turned around.  So now Mark and I have hiked the entire thing!

I had planned we would hike the capital Gorge Trail this time, but due to recent rains and flooding that wasn't an option.

Grand Wash is listed as an easy hike, 2.2 miles one way, and 200 ft of elevation gain.  It is a wash and some parts are narrower than others but most of it is pretty wide.  However, you wouldn't hike it in a storm due to risk of flash floods!  But it's kind of a must do walk if you are at Capitol Reef.  Since we started from highway 24 on the east side of the wash, we didn't even need to pay the entrance fee to the park.  Across the highway from the east end trailhead you can walk down to the Freemont River and that was a pleasant diversion and lovely place to cool off.  

See the warning sign?  That warns you to avoid hiking in canyons when storms are present!!!

There was rain in the week or two before we visited.  

You can see how the water ran across the dirt and sand.

This is the geology in the wash.

We are standing in one of the narrower areas. 

 It is a deep narrow canyon, but not a  narrow slot canyon.

Sulpher Creek

Even thought the Sulpher Creek trail ends up at the visitor center, it is considered a back country hiking route, which means it is not a maintained trail.  It starts on highway 24 and goes 5.8 miles through a deep canyon with a stream in it, and ends near the visitor's center.  You need to leave a vehicle at each end, or hike for 3.3 miles along highway 24 to the starting point, or hitchhike!  Instead of any of those options we chose to hike from the bottom up to the 3rd waterfall, so we didn't do the entire hike, which I am sure was fabulous, but hiking to the 3rd falls and back was well worth it even though it is just a small portion of the trail.  No regrets. And this section would be doable for young kids.  The entire thing would not.  However, I do think hiking from top to bottom would be amazing, even though getting down the 3rd falls would  definitely be an adventure.  Some people would not be up to that.  I'm not sure about me!

So here is our experience:

To hike up the trail from the end, you go behind the visitor center where you will see Sulpher Creek.  You walk upstream, in or out of the water.  I had on sandals that were good for the water, except they did get all kids of small rocks inside which made for frequent emptying, but the point is I was prepared to walk in the water and did so most of the way.  Mark was not.  He was able to go all the way to the 3rd falls without getting his feet in the water.  

You just follow the creek and it looks like this.

This is the third waterfall, and this is as far as we went.  The people in the water were coming from the top of the Sulphur Creek trail.  When you get to the third waterfall you have to jump in the water.  It was maybe a 6 foot jump.  Some were jumping in at the middle section of the photo and many would go over to the ledge to the right, jump in and repeat.  

This was an interesting optical illusion.  

The water is flowing right to left but it looks impossible.  

That's why it is an optical illusion.  Maybe you just have to be there.

It was less than a mile(.7 mile) from the visitor center to the third waterfall, and then back, but if you aren't going to do the entire thing then its worth going at least that far.  It is not a hard hike at all but it is kind of slow since you are going through water.  

Doable for kids, and it could take longer if you were playing in the water.

note:  another great place for enjoying the water is downstream Sulphur Creek, near the picnicking area, before it joins the Freemont River! 

Sunset Point Trail

This is a short, easy, little walk with a view at the end.  I guess it's a good place to see the sunset but we weren't there then.  We were leaving the park and just stopped for one last look around.  It is out and back, .4 miles one way.  

The trail is easy to follow.  It is mostly flat but at the end 

you realize you are up high and there are some cliffs.  

Ethan climbed the rocks and it was a great photo opportunity 

but if I had small children I would hold on to them tightly!

This was such a short hike but a good view, 

if you have time while you are driving by you should do it.

There is another viewpoint that starts at the same trailhead, goosenecks overlook, and it is only .1 miles.  We didn't walk to that viewpoint because we were ready to be on our way home and had already had a good view at sunset point.

July 5, 2021 Capitol Reef

We picked a few hikes to do at Capitol Reef National Park and we probably would have done more, or ones that we haven't done before, if it hadn't been so hot during the day.  A lot of the hikes lack shade, but we found some good hikes and some good shade too, not always combined.  The first hike after we got there was the Hickman Bridge.  Ethan, Mark, and I were on this trip and the three of us were the hikers!

Hickman Bridge

According to the information we picked up at the visitor's center this hike is rated as moderate, is .9 miles one way, of course that means it is nearly 2 miles since you aren't just going to go to the natural bridge and stay, you've got to go back!, and has an elevation gain of 400 feet.  That is why it is in the moderate category.  

This is a hike that we did when we here here a couple of years ago in November, but it is convenient and pretty and was worth repeating.  This is where you start.  It is a well traveled trail, lots of hikers here.

Here is a map of a large area and you can see the trail to the Hickman bridge is a short one!  It is on the top right quadrant of the map.

There are stairs you climb.  And switchbacks that give you that elevation gain.

There are interesting rocks, that make you puzzle over the geology of this area.

A survey marker.

It was completely dry while we were there but there had been rain in the previous weeks and we saw this little puddle.

Here is the natural bridge!

And here we are while a nice person took a picture of us.  I don't know why it looks like we are leaning and about to tip over.  optical illusion!  We were just standing there.

A view looking down into the valley.

Some of the vegetation.

I thought this was interesting rock at the base of this mountain.

Here it is  up close!  

Thanks to the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) workers 

for all they did back in the day to improve the trails here!