Weather:  Overcast - windy near the pass - but no precip.
Present were:  Gordon, K7HFV; Clint, KA7OEI; Bruce, KI7OM; Randy, KG7GI; Randy, N7BRP
Destination:  Up Beartrap Fork of Big Cottonwood Canyon, then to the pass overlooking Desolation Lake.
Comments:  It took 1:20 to 1:45 for the various parts of the group to get to the pass overlooking the lake.  This is one of the steeper of the "regular" hikes, gaining over 2200 feet from the road.  (The elevation on top was about 9750 ft ASL.)
Question of the day:  Because of the steepness, the group was rather strung out along the trail.  Because of that - and the need to breathe - there was somewhat less discussion than normal, so I don't think that there were too many questions other than the usual "Are we there, yet?"
Total distance:  About 3.7 miles, up and back.
Times:  Depart vehicle:  1836;  Reached junction of Great Western Trail:  2000;  Reached turn in trail above desolation lake (the "turnaround" point):  2006;  Departed turn:  2028;  Return to junction and joined the rest of the group:  2032;  Departed rocky outcrop near junction:  2054;  Return to vehicle:  2102.
Altitudes in feet ASL (approx):  Vehicle:  7540;  Junction of Great Western Trail:  9800;  "Turnaround Point":  9740;  Rocky outcrop:  9815
Elevation gain/loss:  Approx. 2275 feet.
Local sunset on this date:  9:01 pm

Images (250-900k each, .JPG):

• IMG00940 - A purple "Sticky Geranium" - one of several varieties seen.
• IMG00942 - Another "Sticky Geranium" - but this one is white with just a touch of purple striation.  These two varieties were seen growing next to each other.
• IMG00945 - Trees/logs in the streambed.  (The focus is slightly favoring the foreground...)
• IMG00947 - A spiny caterpillar munching away.
• IMG00948 - If you look very carefully in the center of this picture, you'll see a doe, having had its grazing interrupted.  (I didn't have a long lens handy, hence the wide shot.)
• IMG00951r - View from "most of the way" up Beartrap Fork looking down the canyon. A similar - but not as well-composed picture is #950r.
• IMG00953 - Some small blue flowers.  These were everywhere near the pass. (Image is slightly grainy owing to initial underexposure.  #955 is similar, but not as well focused.)
• IMG00956r - A view from the pass across Big Cottonwood canyon, up-canyon.
• IMG00960r - A view toward the west-northwest from the pass, about 1 hour before sunset - complete with "Jesus beams."
• IMG00961r - Jesus beams over Desolation Lake.  Similar are #'s 962r and 963r.
• IMG00964r - Across canyon.  The Broad's Fork Twin Peaks are visible just to the left of center.
• IMG00965r - More sunset/beams over Desolation Lake - nearer to the northern pass. Similar is #966r.
• IMG00967 - The obligatory shot from the northern pass looking down toward Summit park and Kimball Junction.
• IMG00968 - Some sort of rope contraption at the pass.  'Dunno what it is... (Oh, there are some flowers, rocks, and branches there, too...)
• IMG00970r - Desolation Lake yet again:  The Jesus beams have gone.  Similar, but less-well framed is #969r.
• IMG00973r - Up the trail, heading back toward the south pass.
• IMG00977 - Indian Paintbrush-like flowers.  At about sunset, a phenomenon often occurs where many flowers appear to be fluorescent - seeming to glow brighter than the ambient light would allow - as these flowers were doing.
• IMG00979 - Randy and Randy talking about something...
• IMG00981 - View across and up-canyon.  Wolverine and Sunset Peaks are visible.
• IMG00982 - The Desolation Lake trail, as it winds its way eastward.
• IMG00984 - Yet one more view including Desolation Lake - taken 20 minutes before sunset.
• IMG00985 - Down the ridge, looking down-canyon, into the valley.
• IMG00989r - A lone, dead, tree with Twin Lakes Pass (and the American Fork Twin Peaks) in the background.

Maps/profiles:

• A topo map showing the traveled route, as recorded with a GPS receiver.
• An elevation profile of the trip.
• GPS track on a more detailed map.

• If you want one (or more) of these images and wish some sort of adjustment (color, brightness, exposure, etc.) please let me know:  All of these image have been processed in some way.
• These images are 250k-900k in size, .JPG and are in chronological order.
• Several of the images (e.g. #961) were "exposed for highlights" to preserve detail in the bright portions  This necessarily resulted in underexposure of the darker parts of the scene.  When the darker portions were recovered in post-processing, there may be some noise visible.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them have definite focus/exposure "issues."
• EXIF data is present for most of the images, showing time, date, and precise exposure conditions.  Recent versions of Irfanview will show this in the "View->Image Information->EXIF" tab.
• All images taken using a Sigma SD-10 camera using the 18-50mm zoom lens.

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