Friday, March 27, 2020

Hell Canyon

hikers: Mark and Lecia

First hike of the season and it was a new one for me.  Who knew Hell Canyon is near Ensign Peak.  We were at the capitol for Mark to pick up something from work and he showed me where he has taken hikes/walks at lunch.  There weren't a lot of people but according to him there were more than he used to see during his lunchtime walks.  If you are in Salt Lake its a convenient little hike because it is so accessible.

To get to this hike you go north of the Utah State Capitol on Columbus Street and park at the top of the street.  The street turns right, that's your only option, and that's the road you follow.  Follow the road go through the gate and continue walking along the curvy road.  Once you get around the curves you'll see a neighborhood and just before the first house on the left there is a gravel path that goes off to the left.  That is the path you take.  There is a doggy doo doo can there, dogs are allowed on this hike.  

The first park of the hike goes uphill and then you are right by the backyards of those big houses on the hill.  This is the view.  If you know where to look you can see Mark's office window!

After that it flattens out until you get to Hell Canyon.  The trail goes along the side of the mountain next to the backyards and soon you are looking off to the west and over victory road.  Not a beautiful view if you are just looking down but if you look out you really have a view.  Same view the big houses on the hill have.  Continue on and you feel like you are walking to North Salt Lake.  You'll come to the sign that says Hell Canyon.  

Go to the right on that trail.  Once you get into that little canyon the trail starts to climb and has some switchbacks.  We got into the canyon and went a ways but eventually it was so muddy we decided it was time to turn around.   We had snow this past week and there were patches of snow next to the trail.  We probably went about 3/4 mile from where we parked before turning around.

There is also a trail head on Victory Road.  We could see it as we were hiking along near the houses. 

Friday, October 25, 2019

Mount Timpanogos Trail to First Falls

hikers:  mark and lecia

The trail starts at the parking lot just above Aspen Grove.  

It's just past the booth where you pay to go up the Alpine Loop so there is a $6 charge.

On a beautiful day the parking lot would be packed but this late in the season there was plenty of parking.  

This is also the parking lot where you start the trail to Stewart Falls.

It's a much used and well worn trail.  As you can see it is marked to help you stay on track.  The trail is paved in some parts.

We were hoping for some fall color and leaves but at this point in the season the leaves were all on the ground.

We saw a few hikers including one that had summited  Timp earlier and was on his way down. 

Mostly we saw photographers.  Here and also all along our drive on the Alpine Loop.

And here are the first falls!  

It's about a mile to get from the parking lot to the falls.

This is as far as we went today and it worked perfectly because the sun was going down but we got back to the parking lot before it was dark.    

What a beautiful view heading back down the trail!

October 4, 2019

Snow Canyon State Park

Hikers:   Mark & Lecia

We were in St. George to watch Landon run the marathon on Saturday and since we got there Friday afternoon we went to Snow Canyon for some hiking.  Neither Mark or I had ever been to Snow Canyon but we did some fun hikes.  One of the things I loved about the hiking trails was that they were well marked.  If it wasn't obvious where the trail went you would see a sign.

It didn't necessarily tell you the name of the trail but it let you know you were on the trail and at times that was really helpful.  Also the trails weren't crowded.  We did see other people but the further we got from the trail head the fewer people we saw.

Jenny's Canyon

This was a fun little hike, and I do mean little!  Only a half mile round trip.  Very family friendly.

You walk through sand.  At the end of the trail you can go left to a slot canyon and right to an overlook.

The small slot canyon is a fantastic reward for such a short hike.

This is a picture from the overlook.

The next hike was a combination of several trails: 

Petrified Dunes/Hidden Pinyon/West Canyon Road/Lava Flow Trail/Butterfly Trail

I don't know how far we went but we started out on the petrified dunes and that was an awesome place to walk and explore.  

We just walked along and then I noticed that there were these markers anchored in the rock and if you kept following them they eventually took you to the end of the rock. See the anchor with arrows in the next picture.  Well, if you look you can see one even further and so you know where to go.  I didn't even know if we could go down from this rock but there was a marker down there so we just kept going!

We went down from the rock, saw a trail sign and just kept going until we came to an overlook.  Then we backtracked a little took another trail for a short ways, Hidden Pinyon, that took us to the West Canyon Road that we could see from the overlook.   Lucky thing we had taken the map they gave us at the pay station.  Without it we couldn't have hiked the loop made up by all these trails.  Like I mentioned before, the trail markers were really helpful, but they didn't say what trail you were on.  

Interesting moss growing on some rocks.

After walking along the  West Canyon Road we finally came to the Lava Flow Trail.

We had to hike quite a ways on that trail before we came to the Lava Tubes.  We saw a couple of them.  One especially was quite impressive and I suppose people explore them but I am not sure how you get down there and we were happy to look at it from above.

We only saw a couple of the lava tubes before we turned onto the butterfly trail.  Maybe we missed some great things by not going all the way on the Lava Flow Trail, but our car was parked at the trail head to the butterfly trail.  It turned out to be an interesting trail through lava fields, and included going up some rock, and in an area with more vegetation we saw this cute rabbit!  He just sat there chewing while we looked at him.

Here's the map that we used to find the different trails and hike a loop.  We started at the parking lot for the petrified dunes and the butterfly trail head.

There is a variety of terrain we hiked through, even in the short distances we went.  All of them were quite sunny and we stopped a couple of times to empty sand from our shoes!

September 14, 2019

Pa'rus Trail

hikers:  Lecia, Mark

This is more of a walk than a trail.  It starts at the South Campground and goes to Canyon Junction.  It's paved all the way.  It would be fun to bike it. We walked it in the morning and there is not a lot of shade so I would not do it in the afternoon on a hot day.   I didn't take any pictures but here's a description of what we did.
We started at the visitor's center and got slightly off track by exploring the south side of the river where the watchman trail goes. This is a shady area along the river and there is access to the river that would be fun for kids.  But back to our walk along the Pa'rus trail. From the visitors center you go north and cross the road and the trail is on the north side of the river. We walked a couple of miles until we got to the Canyon Junction.  There is nice river access there as well.  We picked up the shuttle at Canyon Junction and rode it back to the visitors center, then we walked another half mile to get to our campground. 
Jacob had stayed at the campground and while we were walking he packed up the tent and all of our camping gear!  
This is a walk you could enjoy at night and have a good view of the night sky.  Maybe we can to that another day - I mean night.  

September 13, 2019

Canyon Overlook Trail

Hikers:  mark, lecia, jacob

This could have been a nice trail but it was way to crowded at sunset and DON'T take small children on this hike!   Don't let the 1 mile round trip/163 ft elevation change fool you into thinking its a good hike for kids.  We didn't have small children with us but my mom instincts remind me that this would not be a good place to hike with little kids.

This was our second hike in the day.  This trail was recommended for sunset and lots of people showed up at sunset.  The hike starts from a trail head just east of the tunnel on the east side of Zion Nation Park.  

We drove past the trail head and parking lot because it was upon us before we realized it and besides it was full.  We kept going until we found a place to park along the road.  

Then we walked back and came to this sign and kept 

walking for 500 feet until we came to the trail head.

This is the trail head.  

The point is: there is not a lot of parking.

The description of the trail says "long drop-offs, mostly fenced"  and be aware, steep drop offs."  Yep, this is true.

This sort of thing.

And this.

There's Jacob.  He would rather run a trail than hike it.

But I did let him get ahead even more than usual so I

 could get a picture after he rounded the bend.

Here's the view from the top!

As you can see there is some fencing.  What I am not showing you is the crowds 

of people all over the rocks, including some places where there is no fencing.   

This is the first time ever we have been on this trail and my recommendations are to go when it's not so busy, whenever that might be, maybe in the morning hours, and don't take small children. 

September 13, 2019

THE NARROWS

hikers: Mark, Lecia, Jacob

This was the first hike that Jacob has really wanted to do in a long time.  It was Seth that got him excited about it and unfortunately Seth was not able to come.  But we were still excited to do the Narrows so this was our main adventure at Zion National Park.  We started out on the Riverside Walk, which starts at the temple of Sinawava. At the end of the walk, about a mile, is where the Narrows start.

Here we are at the beginning of the Narrows.

The weather was perfect for hiking with no sign of flash floods.  We didn't start very early, which is a good idea because it is cool with those high canyon walls and it would really be cold in the morning.  As you can see there are a lot of other hikers.  The further you go, the fewer hikers there are.  

A lot of people had rented shoes, with ankle support, and hiking poles.  These are the shoes I wore and they worked great.  Jacob had some water shoes, the only shoes he had brought with him.  Unfortunately he forgot to bring his shoes! Mark brought hiking poles for us, although any sturdy stick would do.  But you definitely want some kind of hiking stick or pole.  Bring a light jacket too because it is chilly in the shade and there is a lot of shade.

This is where the path forks and you can go right, up Orderville Canyon, or left, further up the main canyon of the narrows.  When we came with our family several years ago we went up Orderville Canyon.  This time we went further up the narrows.   Look how clear that water is!  It is freezing cold.  We were used to it after this far though and didn't even feel the cold.  

I know Mark looks super prepared with that backpack.  He is.  That's the way he hikes.

Looking back 10 years ago:

I just have to include this picture of us hiking the narrows 10 years ago!  

As you can see Seth was not with us then since he was in Portugal.  

He has missed it twice and we will have to do it again when he can come. 

A little more reminiscing, Jacob was only 8 and needed to be ferried across some parts.  But it was definitely doable for him.

And here he is now.  He's got this!

Look at those beautiful canyon walls.  You really have to be there to see the beauty.

We went about 2 1/2  miles up the narrows from where the Riverside Walk ends.  

We found a little patch of sun and stopped to eat our lunch.  After that we turned around and 

went back.  It was much easier going downstream and by the end you feel like you have really accomplished something and had an adventure.  It was a beautiful day and an amazing hike.   

Whether you go a little ways or a longer ways, it is fun to get in the 

water enjoy hiking the Narrows because it is so unique.

August 26, 2019 Willow Lake

hikers:  Dad, Mom, Seth, Marisa, Lydia

The willow heights trail head is about 11 and a half miles up big cottonwood canyon, from the stoplight where you turn to head up the canyon.  Its a little ways past the donut falls parking area and the trail head is on the left had side of the road.  There is room for cars to pull off and park on the right hand side of the road. This was such a fun little hike I can't believe we haven't done it before.  Since it was a Monday morning we didn't run into a lot of people.  

This is the trail head.  You see the sign if you are headed down the canyon.

You see this marker as you begin the hike.

The 600 feet of elevation gain is all on the first part of the trail.  Once you get there its a fairly flat hike around the lake in some beautiful aspen.  

When you come to the fork in the path, go left.  Unless you have kids that are old enough to hike without  being carried and really want an adventure. In that case you can go right. We came back down on the path you see on the right, and going down it is steep but doable but I don't recommend going up that way.

There are a couple of creek crossings but not a lot of water this time of the year.  In the spring it might be more of a challenge.

 

There were lots of wildflowers.  These are only some of them.

This is Willow Lake.

We saw ducks, chipmunk, squirrels, hoof prints from deer and maybe moose at the lake, and a mother deer and her baby when we finished the hike.

There were a lot of aspen.  I hope we can come back in the fall and see them when they have turned to gold. 

Our ratio of adults to kids was 4:1. Plenty of people to carry a one and half year old, however she prefers not to be carried but to walk.  We carried her anyway because it was too far for her and we didn't want to take all day.  For kids just a little older it would be a good hike if they hike without whining.  It is beautiful and the lake would make a nice place for a picnic.  You could even camp there if you wanted to backpack in with your gear.