October 31, 2024 Ensign Peak and the radio towers

 Hell Canyon to Ensign Peak and the Radio Towers

hikers:  Mark & Lecia

distance: not really sure.  My phone died so strava quit recording! 8 miles, maybe more.

elevation gain: I don't know but it felt like a lot.  My phone died at 1628 ft, so it was more than that!

I have wanted to hike to Ensign Peak from Hell Canyon for a while and so we did that today, on Halloween! We happened to be "in the neighborhood" after viewing a cute Halloween parade!  After hiking to Ensign Peak, mark suggested going to the radio towers also, so we did.  It was quite a hike!  But I made it. There and back.

The cute Halloween parade.

We parked in a neighborhood above the state capital and and walked up the road, through a gated entrance to a newer neighborhood, where the trail started. 

There is also a trailhead on Victory Road. You park at the trail head on Victory road and head uphill. This is where the trails meet up.

It's a pretty view of the valley once you get up on the hillside.

You walk past the backyards of some large houses on your way to Hell Canyon.

That little sign in front of my shadow points the way to Hell Canyon.

Hell Canyon is a small canyon with a well used trail that has a sharp drop-off on one side.  

There was some fall color in the canyon.

After the canyon you come to a road that is used for service vehicles that go to the radio towers.  You cross the road the trail continues with lots of switchbacks and eventually you come to a trail that goes to Ensign Peak.  At that point we turned right and went to Ensign Peak.  If you turn left it will take you to the Bonneville Shoreline trail and also to the radio towers.  We didn't see many people until we started on the Ensign Peak trail.

View from Ensign Peak

After coming back down from Ensign Peak Mark suggested going to the radio towers.  He did this hike just a few months ago.  So we headed off to the radio towers.

Instead of going back down to Hell Canyon we headed up this steep hill to get to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. We followed the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and then turned off and onto a trail, not marked, to the radio towers. 

After a while I was sure Mark did not know where we were going, and I questioned him several times, but it turns out he did know where he was going. It was up a lot of up the hill only to see a valley and another hill.  Kind of like hiking the coastline in California.  Only drier and less vegetation.

This was my last photo before my phone died.  Once we got to the top of the hill there was another hill in front of us!

We finally made it to the towers. With a sign that said "Watch for snakes"  it wasn't really a welcoming place.  Mark took  pictures with his phone to prove we made it.

  A view of the  Salt Lake Valley.

This was definitely a difficult hike for me and don't do it in the summer as there is no shade.  On a crisp fall day, Halloween to be exact, that didn't matter because it was good weather for this hike. We hadn't seen any hikers but at the towers we saw a biker!!! I think he came up the service road.

After my complaining we headed down another way.  It was not up and down, it was just down and that would have been a difficult hike going the other direction.  So it is probably good we didn't go up that way. We eventually joined back to the Bonneville Shoreline trail, passed the fork for the trail we had taken on the way to the radio towers, and ended back at the Ensign Peak trail. We headed back towards Hell Canyon but instead of going through Hell Canyon we took the radio tower service road, until we got to the fancy neighborhood. There was a spur that took us between 2 houses and down to the trail on the hillside below the houses and we wound our way back to the car.

Since my phone died on the way up the hill to the radio tower, I don't have a complete map of where we went but this partially shows our path. This distance and elevation gain is also incomplete.

I didn't love this hike and wouldn't recommend it.  But if I hadn't done it I would never have known that.  It was a difficult hike and not really rewarding but its good to do hard things.  I made it!  I scouted out the trail and now I know to choose something else next time! 

November 17, 2024 Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge

 Suspension Bridge Loop

hikers:  Mark and Lecia

length: 2.3 miles

elevation gain: 439

This is the first time this year that we have hiked up to the suspension bridge. 

We started hiking up the trail from the Orson Smith Park.

Then we hiked along the aquaduct trail, which was a flat trail more like a road.

Look up the mountain side and that's where we are going.

The trail takes you past some houses.  You have a view of the valley and also of some backyards.

  Then we went up Ralph's trail to the bridge.  Ralph's trail is a steep trail.  

There's the bridge.

There's the view looking down from the center of the bridge.  You feel the vibrations when others are on it, especially bikes.  It sways in the wind.  

This is near the bridge.  I really do appreciate the people that donated, time, money, their skills, and heart so that we have this bridge and trail.  

You can go up further to the old bridge, which is a small bridge and a nice addition to the hike, but this time we did not do that.  After crossing the bridge we came down the trail on the other side and completed the loop.

The bridge is part of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and you follow it a ways before turning to complete the loop back to the Orson Smith Park.

This is a pretty portion of the trail and the views of the valley and the setting sun are beautiful.

September 26, 2024 Mill B South, Big Cottonwood Canyon

 Mill B South

hikers:  Lecia & Mark

length:  .7 miles

elevation gain:  91 feet

type of trail:  paved.  You could take a stroller or wheelchair on it but it is not flat. You are going uphill.

After hiking to Willow Lake we stopped at mill B on our way down the canyon.  We were lucky there was parking in the parking lot. Probably because it was a Thursday! The trail starts at the end of the parking lot that is at the beginning of the s curve.  This is a short paved trail that follows Big Cottonwood Creek.  The water was noisy and beautiful!  

The hike.

It is a paved trail.

The trail is alongside Big Cottonwood Creek.

This is the trail you turn off on to go to Lake Blanche.

This was an interesting tree.

Another view of the river.

The trail ended and this is where we turned around. 

An adventurous soul could go further but it would take some scrambling.

September 26, 2024 Willow Lake Hike, Big Cottonwood Canyon

Willow Lake Hike

hikers:  Mark & Lecia

distance: 2 and a half miles

elevation gain:  562 feet

We did this on a Thursday morning.  There were people on the trail and lots of cars at the trailhead but still room to park.  You park along the road for this hike.  It is not a long hike but there is over 5 hundred feet elevation gain so a lot of it is steep.

Here is the map of where we went.

We started at this marker on the north side of the road.  It is a ways above donut falls and you just have to watch for this on the north side of the road.  It is after mile most 13 and there are cars parked along the road.

Here is the trail.  A lot of it is shady.

You'll see this and know you are on the trail!

There are some stream crossings.  

Here is another one.

After a while you arrive at Willow Lake.

There were some beautiful fall aspens, and lots of beautiful aspens that were still green!

The colors on the ground were changing too.

If you look at the map you can see we did a loop.  

You don't have to do a loop but this is where we joined back on the trail.  By then we were almost back at the beginning.  This is a really nice hike in spring, summer, or fall. 

September 2, 2024 Labor Day Urban Hike at Red Butte Garden

 Red Butte Garden

Urban Hike

hikers:  mark and lecia

distance:  2.42 miles

elevation gain:  534 ft.

It was a free day at Red Butte Garden so we decided to go explore.  We had never been on the trails and didn't even know what was there beyond the paved garden areas.

We took the outer trail all the way around, including a detour to the stone house.  The trail is labeled as Zeke's trail on this map. 

Onward and Upward.

View of Salt Lake

The stone house.   

This is where they used to quarry red sandstone for homes, buildings at Ft. Douglas and the Salt Lake Temple.  The sandstone was torn out and replaced with granite before the temple was actually built.

This was on the way down when we were next to the stream.  

You can't see it but we could hear it!  It was so pleasant and pretty.

After the hike we took some time to walk around the gardens.

Saturday, August 10, 2024 THE GROTTO

 The Grotto

in Payson Canyon

hikers:  2 littles, 5 bigs

Only .65 miles round trip and it only took 17 minutes of hiking.

This is a fun, little hike that is not too hard for kids but with some stream crossings and a log for a bridge, so you know it is a hike.  

We were on our way home from Payson Lakes.  It wouldn't be worth the drive from our house just for the hike, but we were in the neighborhood. 

Payson Lake

Luckily there was parking when we got to the Grotto trailhead. Everyone cooperated for a photo!

Not hard, but not a walk in the park either.

The Grotto.  I think it is really cool!, but it was very crowded, including a mermaid having a photo shoot.  We didn't stay long  but started on our way back  down, walking thru the stream. 

If you are in Payson Canyon and driving by this is definitely worth a stop.  It didn't take long and for the amount of effort you get a fun hike and cool destination!