Best Hikes Near Salt Lake City

25 trails in 2 months. That's where I have been...out on the trail. The first of August, Falcon Guides contracted with me to write their Best Hikes Near Salt Lake City guidebook and I've been racing against the weather to get as much research done as possible before snow comes and we are out enjoying the snowshoe trails and ski runs. It's been a big hiking year!Miss Molly and the boys have made a few runs with me. The Meet-Up hiking groups have been key, and friends have filled in the hiking gaps.

Davis County, Weber County, Salt Lake County, Utah County...I only wish I were going slower and savoring each moment, instead I feel like I'm just ticking them off as fast as I can. The good side - burning some calories. The down side - missing out on contemplative spiritual moments the trails offer.

Maybe it's time to take the last few trails of the season and head out alone and find some time to meld with the energy of the mountains.

Adams Canyon Again - July 2010

Twice in one year! I guess that's what book research does to you. This time George Coleman and I took our kids up the trail. It was a nice night. That first 1/2 mile is always a sandy slog, but once in the canyon it's a beautiful hike. Davis County's most popular hike. Ethan oozes energy, bouncing off rocks and running the trail. Boys are awesome! Megan has a harder time of it, but Elsie was a real trooper. The waterfall - ahhhh!

Ensign Peak

We are famous. Today Ethan, Matt Thalman, Josh Page, Molly and I hiked Ensign Peak. I've never been before. It was the perfect trail for these guys. Short, interesting little dirt trails, rocks to climb on and we quickly got to the destination. The trail is grassy and dry, but the overlook takes in the entire SLC valley. The spot where Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and other future prophets of the church stood to look over the valley and envision their layout of the city, this is most certainly the spot for that! A clear view right down the center of the valley with the Oquirrhs on the right and the Wasatch Range on the left. Took us only about 15 minutes to get to the top. But, back to the reason we are famous - Channel 2 News was there to look at the trail and they interviewed me. I got a plug in for the book. We just finished watching it. They got all the boys, Molly dog barking at the camera, and my interview was pretty smooth. Fun trail for kids!

4th of July - Rocky Mountain Raceway

Hadn't been to the RMRW before and I got a couple passes on writing trade from Travel Host, so I took the fam. for the 4th. Long night, hard seats, lots of racing (the boys loved the train races). They put on a A+ fireworks show at the end, but all in all I was glad to go home. Not really my bag, but you don't know til you try it.

Wasatch Crest Trail

The Wasatch Crest trail is one of Utah's finest mountain biking trails, but if you've got the whole day it's a gorgeous hiking trail too. The views are just unbelievable down both sides of the crest. This trail is long on foot, but worth it. Wildflowers punctuate the area during July and August! This trail will be in the hiking book too. Rick Gardner and I biked this and the Pipeline trail mid-July. Good climb from Guardsman, but the downhill on a bike is a blast! Good fun and a great ride!

Days of Thunder

All I can say is I think this hike ruined me to the sport of backpacking. Who knew? Bells Canyon is a steep granite canyon that frankly is little more than a staircase of rocks rising at 1000' elevation each mile. 10 hours to do 5 miles. The next day Mike Scalora and I hiked to the North Thundermountain overlook up fields of granite boulders. Feels like you've gone miles when you've only gone yards. Couldn't walk for 4 days after I got home. Didn't hit the trail again for 2 whole weeks. I'm thinking of bagging my attempt on all the 11,000 foot peaks. Uggg! I must give due credit to the wonderful falls on the way up! The trail to the lower and upper falls will be included in the guidebook.

Lift-Assisted Mountain Biking in Paradise

I had forgotten how beautiful Sundance Ski Resort really is. Biking below Timpanogos, the waterfalls cascading down the mountains, the green groves of trees, ferns, grasses and flowers (and the smell of them)...well, the scenery is definitely part of what makes a day of biking here worth ever penny of the $20 for the lift pass. And, hey, it's a much better price than the $28 you pay at Deer Valley. Was working on a story for Travel Host magazine and a feature for Lori's Mountain Report this month on KALL 700, so had camera and recorder along. George, Greg, Rick and Vincent came along for the ride (pun intended). Greg and Vince stuck to the trails, even on the uphill, then left early, but George, Rick and I stayed until 5:00 pm-- So glad I brought my own car. Shakes and sandwiches for lunch on the wooden deck next to the creek. Total 5-star day. They don't have a ton of terrain (25 miles), but the routes are good--you just get to do them over and over. There's a great cross-country trail (Archie's Trail) that zooms you out to the edge and has some nice scenic drop-offs. The second type of terrain is tighter, switchback single track in the trees. Luved it!

Mountain Biking the Mid Mountain Trail

The Mid Mountain trail is a 25-mile long trail that begins at the Deer Valley ski resort, crosses the mountains through The Canyons ski resort, and stays near the 8000' mark for most of the trail. Lots of up and down. There is about 2200 ft. of elevation gain, but just as much drop. Depends on where you start and where you stop. George, Rick and I road it this past Saturday and it was a gorgeous day to be out!! Superb. Challenging ride. By the end we were pretty well worn. If you begin at Stein Erickson Lodge you don't have a big climb up to the trail (my style). The first part of the trail has a fair bit of climbing. Takes a bit to get my lactic acid worked out of the muscles. Views along this trail are magnificent. Along the entire trail you are crossing above Summit County and all the resorts, housing developments, bodies of water, mountains, the entire shebang is visible. The last 14 or so miles of the trail pick up on some larger rocky sections. At times I thought my bike was going to fall apart on the downhill, and certainly part of the fatigue was found in my hands and arms from the shaking - could have used a full-suspension bike. Currently there are about 8-10 trees down across the trail in this last 14 mile stretch. One is huge - you must walk up the mountain to get around it. Definately needs some trail maintenance. Lots of satisfaction in riding this trail. Took us 4 hours and 55 minutes to do the 25 miles. Good times!

Antelope Meadows Yurt

June 8-9th Gene, myself, and my boys all backpacked into Antelope Meadows yurt, owned by Blue Sky Adventure, to get the deets for an update on the YurtsOfUtah.com website and a KALL radio report.

One might think that a 2.5 mile backpack should be no big deal, but as this is Blue Sky Adventures first year with the yurt they had not yet marked the trails. Feeling that pointing out the yurt on the next mountain should be enough to help us get there, we followed the verbal directions as best we could, and finally after 3 miles looked down upon a yurt. "Interesting" I thought. "This yurt has a house next door. That's not usual." So we made our way down the mountain, happy to be at the end of our pack, only to find it was a saloon-style restaurant owned by another company completely, and closed down. Luckily, a phone call informed us we only had to follow the reservoir and head south to find our yurt.

The adventure had just begun. I'll sing the praises of solar lighting, a big fire pit, laminate wood floors and the clean that comes with new. No question this is the nicest yurt in the Utah yurt system. The location is a lot of fun also because Blue Sky has kayaks they keep on the reservoir, so my boys and I played Lewis and Clark as we paddled around the water looking for frogs and exploring the water world.

This yurt gets an A+ for convenience. If you don't want to hike in, you can drive to the yurt. Road comes right up, and it's a good thing, because just as the boys fell asleep we started hearing something below the yurt clawing and chewing. Loud and persistent, 2 hours later we were getting no sleep and were slightly freaked out as to what was trying to eat out the bottom of the yurt. Not one, not two, but I could hear 3 different eating patterns. I called the owner at 12:30 a.m. to let him know some nocturnal animals were having their way with the yurt and he may want to come do something about it if he wished his yurt to be around very long.

The ranch manager and his assistant used that road, drove to the yurt at 1 a.m. and shot 2 large porcupines that were hurriedly eating away at the yurt and seemed immune to our attempts to throw rocks at them, dump water on them through the deck, or scare them off with the piercing light of headlamp. The things you learn...who knew that trex deck was a porcupines favorite food? Turns out that the salt found in adhesive used in laminate is a primary fetish of porcupines.

We tried to BBQ steaks on the charcoal grill, but I don't think the grill got hot enough. Ended up throwing most of the steak in the fire pit. Slept on air mattresses, which are indeed comfy alternatives to the floor. Luckily mine had an automatic inflator attached as it had to be filled regularly.

This yurt is set up for groups, couples, families, retreats. Blue Sky is an adventure company that will send out fly-fishing guides, kayak instructors, and even a rock climbing instructor if you want. They are on the verge of a much larger development - the yurt is just the first step. For info. on the yurt go to www.yurtsofutah.com.

This was Ethan's first official backpack trip! He did great! Molly dog went along too. Gene's first packpack with the broken hip. A fine adventure. Except we got lost on the way back too.

Holbrook Creek Trail: Bountiful

Holbrook Creek trailhead sits just south of the Bountiful LDS Temple. There is a nice little parking area with room for plenty of cars. The drop into the canyon is a bit steep on a wide gravel trail, but at the bottom you are immediately met by Holbrook Creek and tiny falls that dump out of the canyon. If you want to make it to the top you will have to cross the river repeatedly, so a pair of Chacos isn't a bad idea. I've hiked it twice in mine this year.

Clouds rolled in just as Gene, S, L, Molly dog and I started. By all expectations this should be a great trail for Miss Molly, but her curly black hair turned out to be Velcro for the burrs in the area. Wow! Globs bigger than my hand. Poor little thing. Bath, scissors, struggling... it was not a fun experience. I have conceded that perhaps she is not a trail doggy. But, I digress...Everything is green now. The creek is running full and happy. The trail, if you persevere to the dead end rock, is about 2.5 miles to the top and sits at about 5960'. Very pleasant spot for an afternoon jaunt. Obviously dogs are allowed, just clean up after them.

This trail is popular, but not as frequented as the nearby Mueller Park. Holbrook is a more level trail than Mueller Park, and it follows the creek, which is always nice. Both can be snowshoed, hiked, enjoyed!!

Little Red Riding Hood Century

This past weekend Monique and I rode the Little Red in Cache Valley for our annual Girl's Weekend. I hate to admit it, but we took the 57 mile route instead of the entire 100 miles, but we didn't regret it. The support, food stops, and route markings were great. 3100 riders rode this year. It gets harder to get into every year because if you forget and don't register as soon as it opens you often lose the chance. I only saw one person I knew out of all those women, crazy as I'm from Cache Valley. The route started in Lewiston and ran through all the little towns on that side of the valley. Gorgeous open, green space! The 100 mile section ran up into Idaho. It's not hard at all to ride that distance when they have refuel sections every 15-20 miles. We bought biking socks and picked up our jerseys at the registration booth the night before the ride. Live bands, silent auctions, more food...

Luckily no problems at all. We road in to the finish line where the big bad wolf handed us glasses of iced gatorade with a strawberry floating on top. All good fun. The weather was perfect!!

Waterfall Canyon: Ogden

The Waterfall Canyon trail in Ogden is a beautiful little trail that climbs up a canyon to the areas largest waterfall (or at least the largest I have seen in the area). The trail is popular and sees a fair amount of traffic. Just over 2.5 miles round trip, it's kid friendly and dogs are also allowed. Gene,Varena, Holly Ty and myself carpooled to the 29th St. trailhead in Ogden where we met up with the Davis County hiking meet-up group and spent the morning on the trail. The trail follows the stream to the falls at the top. I had heard the waterfall was 200 feet high, and I was prepared to be impressed, but when we actually reached it, it was thrilling. Beautiful, wide, dramatic. Though we didn't do it, I was told you could climb up the cliffs to the south of the waterfall in order to get up and on top of the falls. Gene did really well with his broken hip still healing. On the way down it started hailing, but we were prepared for rain and just enjoyed the greenery. Found one tree with a huge swarm of bees in a bundle around the trunk. I haven't seen that before. Takes about 2 hours to hike. To get to the trailhead just follow 29th St. all the way to the foothills. The trailhead is well developed and is a trailhead for a handful of hikes in the area. Plenty of parking. No bathroom or water.

Deaf Smith Canyon: New Find

On my search for new canyons and trails my friend Todd brought me to Deaf Smith. I'd never even heard of this place before. Not much of a trailhead, just a deadend on a residential road up off of Wasatch Boulevard between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. The first part of the hike takes you up into the foothills, then you have to walk on a driveway/road to get into the canyon. I'll say upfront that this canyon trail is an exploratory trail. The first section of the trail is easy to see and well defined, but soon enough the trail starts deadending here and there and one must climb rocks and cross the stream to reconnect and find the next section of trail. There are a few climbing routes, old and not much used it appears. We hit a couple sections where we had to climb up and over rock faces and though it was very exposed, the hand and foot holds were generous. It's a nice little canyon, just go prepared to explore your way up it.

Desert Scuba

My son reaches down to touch the nose of the Nurse shark as it saunters up from the bottom of the bay to snatch a fish from Ron, Sea Base’s care taker. The little Mollys swarm a hand or foot left still in the water, and nibble at the surface skin as they swarm. Four-foot Angel fish jump for the food Ron tosses into the water, their powerful bodies quick and strong.
The ocean? Sea World? No, it’s Utah’s desert, nine hundred miles from the nearest ocean. In Grantsville, out past Toole, 40 miles west of Salt Lake City, Bonneville Seabase is a group of salty geothermal springs that have been turned into bays – diving bays. Three pools that drop as deep as 63 feet are stocked by Linda Nelson and her husband George Sanders, with a dozen varieties of tropical fish that technically shouldn’t be able to survive in this water.
This is Utah’s inland diving ocean. With three connecting bays, platforms for divers, a sunken ship called the “Sheer Joy” as well as a water tunnel connecting White Rocks Bay to Habitiat Bay, this unique inland ocean was designed as a dive training site where scuba divers can come and do their deep water dives to complete their certification. My sons and I are here on assignment from Wasatch Woman magazine. For more info tune into the magazine. Keeping it real: visibility was very low. Had we not been there for feeding time I'm not sure i would have believed the fish were really there. I've heard some people feel ripped off after going out and seeing nothing, but others feel like it's the most surreal experience to be seeing tropic fish, including the shark, in the middle of the desert. Some huge fish cruise these waters. The place rents out all your digs and gear.

Kays Creek Parkway: Layton

Family friendly trail! This is a community walkway in what appears to be a nature preserve area.One of many sections that Layton is developing, the path is paved and from the Adam J. Walker trailhead (Center trailhead) you can head either east to the Oak Forest trailhead, or the Canyon View trailhead. There is also a west trailhead that is unnamed (1450 E. access). From the Adam Walker trailhead it is .75 mile to either trailhead. A scout put up nice fauna markers along the trails with detailed descriptions of the animals in the area. My boys jumped off the trail, down into Kays Creek, (small and winding)and spent the afternoon with boy toys: rocks, water, sticks, mud, reeds. The trail is flat heading west and gains 200' heading east to the Oak Forest Access. Bird song was profuse! Dogs allowed on a leash. The greenery is filled in nicely and we had a great afternoon in a nature retreat around Hobbs reservoire which provides Kays Creek irrigation. The area feels secluded but sits right in the middle of a residential area.

Ferguson Canyon: Salt Lake Hike

All I can say is that this has been a great week for groovy new canyon finds! I attended a hiking presentation at REI last week where I bought the book from the presenter. (Will leave book unnamed) With the book I found the trailhead, but after that all his beta was wrong. There is no way the author hiked this trail. Though the book says it's an easy hike it is actually quite challenging. The trail is primarily a boulder path once you pass the 1/2 mile mark, and it climbs and climbs. There is over 1000' of elevation gain in the first mile. The highlights of this hike are the waterfalls!! One after another. The air is cool and fresh and wet. Boulders the size of 20" televisions make up the path, but it follows the stream up this narrow canyon. My GPS says it was about 2 miles to the top where the trail leads up and out of the canyon to the north, then crosses over to a lookout point down into Big Cottonwood Canyon. Phenom views from here as well as great views in the first portion of the trail. Granite bubbles make for well used climbing walls along the route and an interesting granite cave in the first 1/2 mile. Loved the trail! Take a walking stick.