Mount Millicent

One of the best things about our new house is having a next-door neighbor that also likes to hike, and who has been to places I've still never been. Casey (my neighbor) and I have decided to try to hike every other week through the rest of the summer, and our first hike was up to the top of Mount Millicent. 

Milly Express

This wasn't a hike that I even had on my list. I'd never considered it before. It seemed a little dangerous with all the rock hopping near the top. Casey had already climbed it, though, and he was still alive so it couldn't be too bad, right?

View of Mount Millicent from way down below

We started at the Brighton parking lot and headed up the service road to Twin Lakes (this was my contribution; by taking this road instead of the trail that Casey would normally take we saved a mile each way). It was a relentlessly steep climb, but before we even stopped to take a rest we arrived at the lake. After a few pictures of the lake and the dam we continued up the winding service road to the top of the ski lift.

Twin Lakes from the Dam

As we left the dam we heard a metallic banging noise coming from near the lake. We looked through the trees and saw some guy with a metal baseball bat hitting dead branches of downed trees. After having scenes from horror movies flash through my mind we realized he was gathering firewood, but didn't have an axe (or much sense).

We continued up the hill to the top of the lift and that's where the fun began. This was the part that I was most nervous about. We had to pick our way up a steep, rocky slope, as you can see in the picture below. It was like walking up a very irregular staircase.

Casey looking for the best way up the mountain

About 1/4 of the way up I actually started enjoying it. The rocks were pretty stable (every now and then one would shift) and it went much better than I thought it would.

After a climb of 600 vertical feet we reached the top, and as we were taking in the impressive views the mosquitoes came out. We didn't see any near the lake, but a thousand feet higher at the top of the mountain they were everywhere.

Lake Mary with Clayton, Pioneer, and Sunset peaks

We spent quite a bit of time up on top identifying all the other peaks around us, making plans for future hikes. I think I was putting off climbing back down due in part to the fear of descending on the rocks that we had climbed up. My fears were unfounded, though, as I quickly discovered it was easy to climb down the rocks.

Meese

As we returned to the trail (or road, or whatever) we started making good time down the mountain until we suddenly looked up and saw two moose 100 feet in front of us on the trail. We quickly backed up and wondered how to get around them. Wee shouted at them, clacked our trekking poles, anything we could think of to get them to move.

They didn't move. Had they been 50 feet off the trail we might have tried to cautiously get around them, but being close enough to the trail that we could poke them with our trekking poles we decided to backtrack up the hill a bit and find another way around.

We made it easily back to the lake, and from there back to the car and headed home. It was a great after-work hike that took us 1,900 feet up in a total of 3.6 miles. Yeah, that's steep.

Grandeur Peak 2.0

This weekend I had originally planned to hike up Mt Timpanogos with my friend Casey Friday afternoon, spend the night up near the top, then head to the peak and back home Saturday morning. The weather forecast looked good at first; maybe a little chilly, but dry. The forecast changed throughout the week, though, and by Thursday it was obvious that we'd be trudging through a foot or more of snow with temperatures in the 20s and 30s.

So we decided to postpone the trip and hope we'd still be able to find a weekend this year to do it. Driving home from work Friday, looking up at the newly frosted mountains, I knew I couldn't stay away from them this weekend.

We decided to hike up to Grandeur Peak from Millcreek Canyon. I attempted it last year, but there was more snow than I was comfortable with and I turned back less than a half mile from the peak. This time we ran into snow almost immediately, but with another year of experience and other people on the trail the snow didn't keep us from reaching the peak.

The trail was a bit icy in places, a bit slushy in others, and even muddy in a few places. On the way back down the icy places became slushy, the slushy places muddy, and the muddy places--well, they were still muddy.

Grandeur Peak isn't the highest peak, but its proximity to Salt Lake City provides some incredible views. The day was a little bit hazy, but we were still able to get some good pictures and enjoyed our time at the peak.

There were dozens of cars at the trail head when we arrived, and there were quite a few people on the trail. Not so many people that it felt crowded, but a lot more people than we thought we'd see on a cold October Saturday.

In all, we hiked about 7 miles (for a yearly total of 82.25 miles) and climbed about 2400'. It was great to get out hiking on a beautiful day and add another peak to my completed list.

Clayton Peak (Mount Majestic)

Last Thursday I went for a quick hike right after work. Well, a "quick hike" that was 7 miles and took 3 1/2 hours. That's quick, right?

This year the hardest part of my hiking habit has been picking the right place to go. Last year I hiked a lot of the trails that I've wanted to hike for years, so I've had to do more research to find hikes that fit my hiking style.

Whenever I'm not sure where to go, I start my search in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Since it has been so hot lately I wanted to head somewhere high up the canyon, so I ended up at Brighton, right at the top of the canyon.

I took the Lake Mary trail to the junction with Dog Lake about 2/3 of a mile up the trail...

Then took the fork to Clayton Peak about 100 feet from the first junction. 

The Clayton Peak trail heads East from Dog Lake and crosses a ton of ski slopes. It was neat to be in the trees for awhile, and then pop out onto a ski slope and have incredible views of the canyon. And every now and then I passed under the chair lifts.

The trail was in great shape the whole 3 miles to the top. In fact, from the descriptions I'd read about the trail, I thought there would be a lot more rock hopping toward the top. The trail went right to the top, but it got pretty steep the last half mile or so.

The above picture is the first good view I got of Clayton Peak. You can see a road a few hundred feet below the top, and a ski lift off to the left side. 

One of the concerns I had on this hike was the afternoons thunderstorms we've been having the last couple weeks. The clouds spit on me a bit most of the way up, but I wouldn't even classify the precipitation as "sprinkles". I was on the lookout for lightning the whole time, too. Annie was a bit nervous about the possibility of lightning (I guess I was too) but I reassured her that I'd turn around at the first sign of lightning.

After about 2.25 miles the trail arrives at Snake Creek Pass, and from there you climb another 750 vertical feet over .75 miles. That's a little misleading, though. You hike half that distance on a pretty flat road, then climb 750' over .30 miles or so. It's steep. It's a climb. If you don't feel up to climbing to the peak, the views are still just about as good from Snake Creek Pass.

On the last climb the trail stays on the West side of the ridge about halfway up, then at a certain point it shifts over to the East. It's really easy to miss the shift, though, because the trail seems to continue up the West side. Look for the cairn pictured above to know when to switch over to the East side of the ridge.

I was getting a little concerned near the peak. There were clouds flying across the sky all over, many of them dropping tons of rain. The wind also picked up and knocked me off my feet a couple times. I still didn't see any lightning, though. At the top there's a nice little mailbox wedged into the rocks with some notebooks in there so you can sign in. Apparently a lot of people like to leave granola bar wrappers in it. I guess the .01 ounces is too much weight to carry downhill. Whatever.

I was rewarded for my effort with some amazing views. I could see all the way to Mount Timpanogos to the South, down into the Heber Valley to the East, and all of Big Cottonwood Canyon to the West. When I got to the peak I saw my first glimpses of the sun. It started peaking out from behind the clouds creating beautiful shadows on all the mountains all around.

I lost count of all the lakes I could see from the peak. I could see Lake Mary, Twin Lakes, Silver Lake, Lackawaxen Lake, Bloods Lake, and Lake Brimhall. There could have been others, too, but it was hard to tell with the shadows.

On the way down the wind stopped, the rain stopped, and the mosquitoes went away. I was feeling so good and moving so fast that I decided to take the short detour to Dog Lake.

Then I took the long detour to Lake Mary, just to make sure it was still there. It was, and it still looks great.

In all, I hiked almost exactly 7 miles and climbed 2400 feet in 3.5 hours. Not a bad little hike for a weeknight.

Dog Lake via Butler Fork/Mill A Basin

When I woke up Friday morning I knew I wanted to go for a hike right after work, but I had no idea where to go. I didn't feel like climbing to any tall peaks, and didn't feel like driving up the steep Little Cottonwood Canyon road. I thought that maybe there would be a hike worth doing up Millcreek Canyon, but worried a little about finding a spot to park, and then still having to pay the $3 fee to drive through the ugliest of the three canyons. Did I just say that?

After a little lunchtime research I determined that Big Cottonwood Canyon held the answer. I still wasn't completely sure where I'd go (I thought maybe Little Water Peak) but I knew I could get there (and there would be plenty of parking) from either Butler Fork or Mill D North. I also saw an intriguing post about going up Butler Fork to the Mill A Basin, then returning on the Desolation trail to God Lake. That seemed like the way to go.

I've gotten to the point where I don't like hiking back down the same trail I hiked up. Sure, the scenery changes a little because you're walking the same way, but if I'm out to explore new trails why would I walk the same one twice? So this year I've been trying to find loops that I can do, or arrange to have someone pick me up at the end of a long trail and take me back to my car. I hate inconveniencing people, though, so I try to do the loops whenever possible.

I had never really even heard of the Butler Fork trail, but I remember wondering why all those cars were always parked just West of the dogleg in the main road. I'd read that the trail was really steep at first, but that didn't prepare me for how steep the trail actually was.

The picture I took of the steep part ended up a bit blurry, but believe me, it was steep. The steepness only lasted a little while, though, and then it got really pleasant. The trail was a bit overgrown, though. Maybe the steepness scares people off so it doesn't get the use it should. With how pretty the trail is it should be getting a LOT more use. 

The trail heads up the canyon for about a mile and then splits; the trail on the right continues up Butler Fork, and the trail on the left heads toward the Mill A Basin. I stood there at the sign for quite awhile weighing my options. Taking the right fork would lead me to Dog Lake in under two miles and I could take the Mill D trail back down with about 4 miles of hiking. Not a bad after-work hike. Taking the left fork would guarantee at least 7 miles of hiking, and would likely be on less-traveled trails. I don't know why it took so long to decide. Obviously the path less traveled by is the one to take, even if it doubles the length of the hike.

After another half mile (1 mile total, though it seemed like much farther) the trail begins the first of 15 switchbacks to get up onto the ridge. I don't know why they couldn't have added a few switchbacks in before that, but it was nice to finally have some levelish trail. About halfway up the switchbacks there was a great view up the canyon (above) and a pretty good view down the canyon (below).

On one of the last switchbacks (maybe the last; I lost count) there's a faint trail leading to Circle All peak. I decided to take the short (0.2mi each way) detour to see the views (and to say that I climbed to the top of a peak). The short trail was mostly level, and got really steep right near the end. It wasn't at all difficult and the views were amazing. I called Annie to let her know my updated plans just in case things went badly (spoiler alert: they didn't).

The above picture is the view from Circle All peak to the north. You can sort of see the trail I'd be taking later just below the rocks.

Look at all those trees. The above picture is looking West from Circle All peak toward the Mill A Basin. There are so many trees in there.

Annie always encourages me to take pictures of myself while I'm out hiking (probably to prove that I'm not just lifting pictures from the Internet and watching movies or something. I dunno) So here's a picture of me.

Back on the main trail I continued up to the top of the ridge where the trail turned North. After about a quarter mile walking along the top of the ridge, the trail split. To the left was the Mill A Basin; to the right was Dog Lake. I went to the right. 

This section of trail was absolutely beautiful. It may be my new favorite place in all of the Wasatch mountain range. There were so many trees and great views and birds chirping and complete solitude that it's hard to imagine a better place to go hiking. Well, except that the trail is a bit overgrown. Maybe "a bit" is underselling it a little. The trail is very overgrown, but it was always easy to find; it just took a bit of extra effort to push the bushes that looked like they may be poisonous out of the way.

I could seriously spend all day staring at trees like this.

The above picture is my favorite of the 50+ pictures I took on this hike. It's my Sacred Grove picture.

The trail contoured around the mountains back to the East. In the above picture, you can see Circle All Peak just to the right of the tree in the foreground (the big one). To the right of the peak is the ridge I hiked North on, and from there I hiked 3 miles to where I took this picture. The canyon at the bottom of the picture is Butler Fork; that's where I would have come up had I taken the right fork in the trail early on.

Is it possible to get tired of seeing pictures of trees like this? Maybe. This is the last one, I promise.

The Desolation trail met up with the Butler Fork trail about a half mile before Dog Lake, which meant that I had to make another choice: go down Butler Fork or continue on to the lake and descend Mill D. At this point I had already hiked 5 miles; it was only about 2 miles to descend Butler Fork, but I'd miss the lake, and I knew it would be at least another 3.5 to take Mill D (1/2 mile to the Lake, 2 miles to the road, and another mile ON the road). The fact that you just saw a picture of Dog Lake should let you know what decision I made. And if you zoom in on the picture of the lake you may be able to see a deer right in the middle.

I watched the sun set through the trees over the lake, then headed down the trail.

It was interesting to finish the hike a mile up the road from where I started it. It started to get dark as I walked back to the car, and there were cars speeding down the canyon, so I decided to put my headlamp on backward with the red lights flashing so nobody would run me over. Or at least so nobody would accidentally run me over.

I made it to the car just after 9pm, having started the hike just before 5pm, for a total time of 4 hours 15 minutes. I hiked 9 miles (almost exactly) and climbed 2,600 feet (most of that in the first 1,5 miles) to reach an elevation of 8,850 feet. I also stood on top of Circle All Peak and walked around Dog Lake. And I reaffirmed that Big Cottonwood Canyon is definitely my favorite of the three.

Grandeur Peak

Who would have thought I'd be able to hike on November 30th?  I had hung up my backpack for the year and wasn't planning to do any more hiking till next spring, but the weather this week has been so great I figured I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and hike again.

I don't think that I've been up Millcreek Canyon since I was a cub scout, so I was pretty excited to go check it out. Maybe it looks better when there are leaves on the trees, but I wasn't overly impressed. It was fine, and I tried to enjoy it, but it's just not my favorite canyon.

The trail to Grandeur Peak starts at the top of the Church Fork picnic area.  What I didn't realize is that the Church Fork picnic area closes for winter, so you have to park out on the main road, adding another steep 1/2 mile of hiking to the day. That was fine, though. At least there was no traffic on the road.

 Once I got on the actual trail I really started to enjoy the hike. The trail follows a stream for about a mile or so, and I was a little surprised at how much water was in it this time of year.  I guess the snow that fell a couple weeks ago is melting off and filling the stream. It was nice to have the sound of the water to hike next to.

There were a couple "bridges" over the stream as the trail continued to climb.

About 2/3 of a mile up the trail (or 1 1/3 miles for me, hiking from the road) the trail takes a hard left and starts switching back up to the ridge, leaving the stream behind for good.  It was at this point I realized there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.

The trail went up and up, switching back and forth along the mountain, until at about 2 miles from the start of the trail (or 2.5 for me) the trail hit the top of the ridge and I could see down into Parley's Canyon. 

It was interesting to look South and see all the snow on the mountains.  Looking from South to North it looks like the mountains are all pretty much snow-free, but looking North to South they're covered.

The above picture shows Mount Olympus to the far right, and the picture below continues showing the ridge between Millcreek and Big Cottonwood Canyons.  One of my goals for this winter is to learn all of the peaks and protuberances in the Central Wasatch Mountains so I can look smart and point out what peaks are in the pictures, but I can't do that yet.  I just barely figured out which canyon is which!

After another half mile of hiking I got my first glimpse down into the Salt Lake Valley. It wasn't a great glimpse, but pretty good.

From that point on, though, everything was covered in snow. I had hit a few small patches here and there, and there was a bit of ice on the trail, but it didn't look at all fun to continue on through the snow.  I probably could have made it to the peak--it looks like a lot of other people have since it snowed--but it's just not worth the risk. On the whole hike I only saw 7 other people and three dogs, and most of those were just milling around near the bottom of the trail, appearing unable to make it to the top. There was little chance that anyone would be climbing to the peak after me so if I fell or got injured nobody would even know.

I did have great cell phone reception up there, and I always hike with my HAM radio, just in case, but it simply wasn't worth the risk.  I've decided that I enjoy the hike a lot more than the destination, and risking my life for a slightly better view and some bragging rights just doesn't make sense to me.

The hike down was pretty uneventful. It's amazing how sometimes you don't notice how steep a trail is until you hike back down. It was a stinking steep trail.

In all, I hiked 6 miles--3 up and 3 down--and climbed 2100 vertical feet.  It wasn't my favorite hike of the year, but it wasn't too bad, either.