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!