Alpine Loop and Cascade Springs Interpretive Trail

Distance: Very short (probably around 1 mile)
Elevation Gain: None, although there were a couple of short, steep walks, and a bridge or two were quite curvy.  :)
Highest Peak: N/A
Time: About 45 minutes if you walk around the whole place
General Impression:  It was very pretty, but very crowded and not much of a hike really.  I would go back with older relatives or younger children, but I wouldn't rush back again just for myself.

On Thursday of last week we decided to check out a free Boot-camp provided by LuluLemon at 9th and 9th.  And it KILLED us.  I mean, it was literally painful to move in any way, shape, or form for days afterward.  I can't begin to count how many burpees the instructor made us do, but it was 10 times more burpees than I've ever done before.  Steve basically did die for about an hour after the class, but luckily he came back to life after eating some Thai salad rolls and soup.

So on Sunday, our usual hiking day, we were a bit weary of taking on a big, multi-hour hike.  We also wanted to check out some more Fall colors, and a friend recommended Alpine Loop.  This is technically a drive, not a hike.  And WHAT A DRIVE IT IS!

We paid $6.00 at the entry to the canyon/park place as we were planning to stop.  If you plan to drive right through, you don't need to pay.  Then we stopped at the visitors center to empty our bladders and check out the info.  There were lots of kids everywhere.  Kids, kids, kids.

Driving on from there, we headed up into the mountains and passed more and more beautiful views of mountains, trees, and colorful leaves.  It was amazing.  And our Phish soundtrack didn't hurt.  We got out a few times to take pictures, which I'll let speak for themselves.

Along the drive, we took a little detour to stop and check out the Cascade Springs, which are some naturally forming pools with sediment or something/I'll let Steve explain this one a bit better.  They have built a very accessible boardwalk and path in and around the springs, consisting of three short loops you could walk around for a total of 45 minutes, so this is what I'll consider our "hike" for the purposes of this hiking Utah blog.  There were again lots of kids and families and flip flops here, so remember this one for visiting family or when we have babies or something.  But it was very beautiful and a nice, easy walk in nature.  We felt lucky, again, to be living in Utah.

There was no real elevation gain to speak of, and it's really the easiest walk ever, but it's pretty! 

Wasatch Mountains: Wilson Peak (near the towns of Midway and Weber)

Distance: 7 or 8 miles (we really need to start using the Garmin for hiking)
Elevation Gain: About 1,200 ft
Highest Peak: 8,497 ft
Time: About four hours including some time for lunch and to put moleskin on a blister.
General Impression: BEST HIKE SO FAR!  That might not say much, but this hike had the most impressively beautiful view of the Wasatch and Unita mountain ranges and the valleys below.  The fall colors are out in near-abundance and we LOVED IT!

The volunteer at the Wasatch Mountain State Park Visitor's Center told us to just drive up the road a little while until we passed a big hairpin turn to the left, and then a smaller but still noticeable turn to the right.  Soon after these two turns we would come to a clearing on our right with a path and a culvert.  We found all of these things with no problem, though we were a bit worried we'd miss it as there are no signs whatsoever.  The guy was right, though, and the turns are "hairpinny" enough that you'll know it when you see it.

We set off on our hike at 10:30 in the morning, heading up, up, up a path/road that showed signs of car tracks here and there.  Early on in the hike we passed two small water obstacles, but it had just rained the night before, so don't expect these all the time.  Also, there were banks or rocks to step on and avoid submerging our feet in any water, so we high-fived and pressed on.

The trail was pretty steep, with long switchbacks that sometimes felt never-ending but were never too too bad.  The benefit is that we were often rewarded with stunning views of the colourful valley below.  We could see our car getting smaller and smaller and we climbed higher and higher.  There were lovely wild flowers all around, and lots of trees.  

Once we reached the top, which took I have no idea how long, we headed along the rim trail (I think that's what they call it), which consisted of tall yellow grasses and very few trees.  We could see over to the other valley below, so the view was simply astounding. 

Steve was stung or bitten by an insect at one point.  Although it was pretty painful, he was fine and he pressed on. It didn't really look like anything, but by the next morning his wrist had swelled up about an inch more than it's normal size and was itchy, hot, and painful.  Poor guy.

I felt like I had a small stone in my shoe so I stopped to shake it out, but nothing really fell out.  While I love the feeling of my Asolo's, I do find that they need emptying now and then during a hike which can be rather annoying.  I hiked up towards Steve, who had gotten ahead of me, feeling tired and pissed off that the feeling of the rock still hadn't gone away.  When I reached him, we looked again and found an angry blister had appeared on my heel.  Steve patched me up with some Moleskin from our first aid kit and we pressed on.

Soon the landscape changed from grasses to forest.  The trees were lovely birches I think, though my tree-knowledge is really lacking.  

After about two and a half hours we reached the top.  There we found a little building with all kinds of radio antennae or something sticking out of it.  I'm not exactly sure what they were.  We found a spot with a view (what a view!) and sat and ate our salami, bread, and artisan cheese.  It was delicious and peaceful and swell.

The walk down felt kind of long but not too bad I guess.  We often feel ready to be done about an hour or so before we actually are.  I'd really like to do a hike that was not an out-and-back to see what it feels like.

The total hike took about 4 hours and was very beautiful!  Thank you Mt. Wilson, or whatever your name is!

Wasatch Mountain State Park: Visitor's Center and Spring Pond Loop

Distance:  Approximately 2 miles
Elevation Gain: Not that much.  We need an altimeter.
Time:  About an hour and a half
General Impression:  Beautiful!  This was easy and nice for a short afternoon hike.

This weekend we decided at about 10:00AM on Saturday morning that we were going camping for the night.  We didn't actually arrive at Wasatch Mountain State Park until probably around 2:00PM or something like that, and after setting up our tent and everything, we didn't have all that much time left before it would start getting dark.  We decided to do a quick hike while we still had the time.  Right across from the visitor's center are a few well-marked trails that we walked along for about an hour and a half.  We started on what they call the Visitor's Loop and then took a small detour around the Spring Pond loop.

It was lovely.  The colors have started to turn and every now and then we were greeted with a splash of red or yellow.  We walked along a well-maintained but narrow dirt/mud path with tall grasses tickling our legs.  And of course, we were very impressed with the mountain views.

I had my DSLR camera with me, which I haven't taken hiking until now.  It was nice to have it and be able to take beautiful pictures, but it slowed me down and I think Steve got a bit impatient with me.  We certainly got some beautiful pictures, though!  Overall it was a very pretty and easy hike that I would definitely recommend if you're in the area!  Apparently you can also do some apple picking which could be fun.  We didn't see anyone else on the trail, by the way.

The High Uintas: Grandaddy Lake

Distance: 7 miles
Elevation Gain: About 1000 feet
Highest Point: 10,640 ft at Hades Pass
Time: About five hours
General Impression: So beautiful!  It was quiet, the scenery was incredible with grassy meadows, rocky trails, lovely trees and flowers, and pretty streams and views of the lakes in the area.  A true gem!

All I can say about this one is WOW.  Not only was the trail beautiful, but we felt great.  We didn't tire and need to stop nearly as much as we did on our Lake Mary hike.  So either we're slowly getting more fit, or we're slowly getting more used to the high altitude, or there's something else going on.  Anyway, we both were feeling great and we loved every bit of this hike.

We had a later start than we intended (cooking and cleaning up breakfast at our Hades campsite took longer than we planned) and only got to the trailhead at around noon.  Knowing we wanted to be back at our campsite well before dark, we had kind of a tight timeline on this hike.  We set off, walking along the rocky trail (really, it was quite rocky) and feeling absolutely alone in this beautiful landscape.  There was a small babbling brooke near the beginning of the trail and after that we didn't see any more water again until we reached Hades Pass and caught a view of the lakes.


 We passed a few backpackers, making their way back down after an overnight stay, and exchanged very friendly hellos with them all.  There were a couple of brave families with little children, but really not too many as the trail is not so easy to traverse.

It felt like we reached Hades Pass in no time, and then it took maybe another 45 minutes to get to Grandaddy Lake.  We noticed campers and fishers set up all around the lake, but it was large and peaceful and we were able to find a couple of rocks to sit on to eat our picnic lunch of bread, cheese, and salami.  I pumped us two bottles full of lake water and then we basically had to turn around and head back down immediately so as to avoid being too late on the mountain.  

The hike down felt equally easy and fun, though we were both ready for it to be over and done with by the time we reached the car.  It took about 5 hours, with pretty limited stopping, so I'd say this was our longest hike to date!  We were really happy and excited about how good it felt and how pretty it was.

We give this hike four thumbs up!