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!

July 10, 2021 Rocky Mouth Falls

 July 10, 2021

Rocky Mouth Falls

hikers: Ethan, Lecia, Mark

distance: about a mile, since we went a little way on the spur that goes to the bonneville shoreline trail.

elevation gain:  just under 300 feet.

This is such a fun and convenient little hike.  It has been on this blog before and that is because we do it at least once every summer.  

It's easy to get to, easy to hike (and a good hike for kids although we didn't have any with us), a good hike and worthwhile destination.

This is next to the parking lot where you start the hike, just off Wasatch Blvd.  Surprisingly we almost always find a parking spot although we have parked on Wasatch Blvd. before.

First park of the hike is these stairs. At the top is a sign that points you in the right direction to go through a neighborhood.

Walking through the neighborhood to get to the trailhead.

trailhead

First part of the trail.

A sign points the way to go.  If you veer right it takes you to the Bonneville shoreline trail.  On our way back we took this trail for a little ways.

The falls!  There wasn't a lot of water and it doesn't look very exciting but even without water this is a cool place.  Literally.  It is beautiful and lots of rocks and this time we hardly saw any people.  Sometimes it is crowded with people.  There are rocks you can sit on and it is very pleasant.

As I said before, on the way back we took a split off the main trail that leads to the Bonneville shoreline trail.  

We crossed this bridge and headed up the trail a ways.  There were some good views on the trail but we didn't go far before turning around.

When we were driving home we stopped at Hidden Valley Park because we saw this big, beautiful American Flag flying in a nearby canyon. 

I walked over towards the canyon to get a better look.  The flag was so beautiful in the breeze.  Turns out it is only up between the 4th of July and the 24th of July so we were lucky to be over there and see it!  

Little Willow Canyon is a hike we could do another day.  Maybe next Summer in the middle of July so we can see the flag!

June 26, 2021 Browns Valley Open Space

June 26, 2021

 Browns Valley open space

Vacaville, CA

hikers: Brian, Carol, Mark, Lecia, and Bailey the dog.

distance: we went a couple of miles. We hiked to the top of a hill with a view, and back the same way.

    We spent the night at Brian and Carol's home and the next morning they took us on a hike.  The trailhead was just a couple of blocks from their house so we walked there.  Isn't that great to have hiking so close to home?

They like to bring their grandsons, who are maybe 6 and 8ish, here to hike when they are in town.  

    It looks dry and barren.  Much of it was this time of year with the recent hot weather .  It was a good thing we went in the morning because there isn't a lot of shade.  It wouldn't be pleasant on a hot afternoon.  

                                                 There were a few things growing.

It is uphill.  The further you go the better the view.  

This is Bailey.  Brian borrowed her from his neighbor for the hike. We came to a huge rock and Bailey was ready for a rest.  

There were some trees and this one had a really fun rope swing!

At the top of the hill was a bench,

and a nice view of Vacaville!

Bailey kept the pace nice and slow for the rest of us but on the way down 

it was too much for her.  Brian helped her out.  You can see she is not a small dog.