Desolation Lake in the Wasatch

Scenery near the road caught in the early morning sunlight.

This past Saturday, I had the great opportunity to get out with some of my friends from church--Robert and Luke--and hit the hiking trail. Actually, it was my first time going hiking with these guys and it was fun. They are both part of our church hiking group and Robert is the head of it. I will definitely think of them as friends from now on. I had already been thinking of them as my brothers in Christ.

Our destination was going to be Desolation Lake in the Wasatch Mountains. It was a trail I had been up a couple of times before, at least to the lake. I had been on the trail several more times, but they were shorter hikes for whatever reason--one being a snowshoeing expedition in which there were time constraints and a point where we just needed to head back down. That however, is a story all its own.

Looking up the canyon that is part of the Desolation trail.

This time our hike began at 8 am. The weather was a bit cooler than normal for the time of year it was, and when we began I was wearing a jacket. I got to lead for a while. I was actually the oldest on this trip, though Robert who I think said he was 51, had only recently donated a kidney (within the past month). Still, I felt a little like I was the most out of shape of the lot. I'm in good shape though and I'm going to be 60 in just a couple of weeks, so the way I look at it, it's just great that I'm still out there doing it. Luke, who appeared to be in his thirties was having no trouble.

View to the south east.

After a couple of miles, we passed a fork in the trail, the one to the left leading to Dog Lake.
Before long it got to be too hot from the exertion to continue wearing my jacket. I took it off. Somewhere around that point, Robert took the lead and I took the rear. Robert's pace was a little too stiff for me and I fell back a bit, still hiking, but at a pace that I could keep going. Every so often Robert and Luke would stop and let me catch up.
A mile or so later, we got to another detour to Dog Lake and discussed perhaps taking that on the way down.
We got to the lake in about two hours and took a selfie.

From L to R: Luke, Robert, and Shane

The lake was Beautiful and we stood and gazed at it and the surrounding terrain for a few moments, Robert describing other trails in the area. Across the lake what looked like some kind of Scout group or something was fishing. When we met up with them later, we didn't have the heart to tell them that there's no fish in that lake. Kind of like the days when I was in Scouts and they took me on a snipe hunt.

Desolation Lake

The guys fishing can be seen to the right on the bare portion of the shoreline.

The clouds had begun gathering as we had neared the lake and as we stood there, the sky darkened and a cold breeze cut like a knife. We all ended up adding another layer and Robert put on his gloves. We headed back down the trail.
As we headed down, it began snowing. At first, just one or two flakes every five seconds or so, but soon it was coming down pretty good. It lessened up a bit as we descended, and I have no idea if there was any kind of accumulation. From my vantage point, it was a short squall that would end soon. Still it was amazing to see on the second day of summer.

Snow coming down in late June up here is a rarity.

We passed the detour to Dog Lake and decided with the weather the way it was, we maybe should just head down.
Talking about other possible adventures in the future, including climbing Kessler Peak, we reached the bottom less than four hours from when our hike began.

Kessler Peak

Good hikes with good people are some of the finest moments in life.

Grandeur Peak this week: Trip Report

The selfie to prove I was there.

The morning began well. After several weeks of rainy weather, the Wasatch Front was finally calming down. I don't mind rain, but I hadn't wanted to hike in the mud. I had hiked a couple of times already this spring, just to get out. However, they were short hikes and I was ready to do something a bit more substantial. Since a lot of the high country hikes that I haven't done yet are still covered in snow, I decided that I would do Grandeur Peak--I had been up to the ridge once before, but had to turn around because I had time commitments that day and hadn't made it to the top.
Grandeur Peak, if you live in the Salt Lake Valley, is the peak just to the left of Mt. Olympus as you face the Wasatch Front. To get to the trailhead, enter Millcreek Canyon and go up a few miles, past the Boy Scout owned area on the right, to the picnic area called "Church Fork". If you get there after 8 am, you can drive through the picnic area to the trailhead. I got there early, so I parked on the canyon road and walked up the paved drive to the trailhead, adding maybe another half mile total to the hike.

The morning sky was Beautiful!

The scenery amazing!

Looking toward Mt. Olympus to the south.

The weather was great, although it was going to get warm. I had to make the choice of wearing a short-sleeve shirt, or a long-sleeve shirt to protect more of my skin from the sun. I chose the long-sleeve--a polo shirt with a little thicker material thinking that it might be a little cooler up there.
A mile or so into the hike, I was wanting the short-sleeve, lighter shirt as after the first part of the hike, which is rather pleasantly shaded and following the stream, it opens up and there is very little shade. I got hot.

Wildflowers in bloom!

But down at the beginning of the trail, it was nice and shady. Much of the lower forest is filled with deciduous trees--Cottonwoods and others of which I am not well-versed in their names. Not a lot of conifers though. Higher up it turns into scrub oak, dogwood, maple, and mountain mahogany. It was in those reaches I began to see little tent caterpillars--in some spots hundreds of them. These voracious insects can do immense damage to trees. I was hoping there weren't too many of them and that the National Forest Service was aware that they were there. I think the USU Extension Service puts out information on them periodically. I took a few close-ups of the beasts.

After that segment of the trail,  the sun had broken over the nearby peaks and was lighting up the mountains. It was Beautiful!

The timber thinned out and scrub oak and lower growing shrubs predominated. Not that the sun was out, it was HOT!

The openness meant the Sun was beating down!

Before long I reached the ridge, which was the furthest I had ever gone on that trail. From there it looks like it's just a short distance to the top, but looks are deceiving. it ended up being quite a bit further than I had thought. But right then, I looked down the other side of the ridge into Parley's Canyon. The gravel pit that is at the lower end of Parley's was quite visible from there.

Gravel pit at the lower end of Parley's Canyon.

It's probably another half mile or so to the top from there, and some pretty steep stuff with a few very minor scrambles.

Though Grandeur is a shorter peak in relation to others nearby, like Olympus, Mt. Raymond, etc., there is a nice 360 degree view once on top.

Views of the Salt Lake Valley predominated to the west.

The upper reaches of Parley's and views of Mountain Dell and Little Dell Reservoirs

A group of hikers had gathered on top and they were discussing the two snakes in the trail below. Evidently the snakes had arrived on the trail after I had passed because I never saw them, however apparently they were caught in the act of making baby snakes. On the way back down I was hoping to see them so I could tell them to "get a room". Each person I passed on the way down mentioned the snake until one didn't. "Did you see any snakes?" I asked. "No," she said, "but a lot of people have mentioned it." Since there were no snakes on the trail from the top to where I was, and since this hiker hadn't seen them either, I figured both of them had finally managed to either leave the trail of they actually found a room. Who knows?

The rest of the way back down was uneventful. At the bottom, I took a pic of the waterfall that's just above the picnic area.

Not a bad day at all and a great hike for my first lengthy one of the year. Another great adventure!