Weather:  Cool/cold, cloudy, and some light rain.
Present were:  Mike, K7DOU;  Ron, K7RJ;  Dale, WJ7L;  Gordon, K7HFV;  Clint, KA7OEI;  Tim, KK7EF;  Brett, N7KG with his sons Nathan (KD7YYN) and Alex.
Destination:  The meadow up Broads Fork of Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Question of the day:  "Are you really going up to the meadow?"  With the weather like it was (somewhat rainy) and the trail like it was (wet/muddy turning to some snow higher up) we were wondering what the trail and meadow would be like higher up.
Total distance:  Approx.  3.3 miles - for those that went to the meadow (and returned.)
Times:  Depart vehicle:  1840;  Arrive at bridge:  1917;  Arrive at Meadow:  2013;  Depart Meadow:  2030;  Return to bridge:  2059;  Return to vehicle:  2129.
Altitudes in feet ASL (approx):  Vehicle/parking:  6170;  Bridge Crossing:  7220;  Meadow above pond:  8258;  (Where Brett, Gordon and Alex stopped:  7400)
Elevation gain/loss:  2088 feet, approx.  (1230 for Brett and Co.)
Local sunset on this date:  8:57 pm

We went to this same place in 2004 - click here to see pictures from that trip.

Images (359-961k each, .JPG):

Not a lot of pictures this time:  Gray, cloudy conditions aren't usually conducive to dramatically-lit photographs...

• IMG02392 - Dale, standing on the bridge.  (1/2 sec. exposure to "smooth" the water...)  #2393 is the same, except with the ghost of a moving Ron.  (We just wanted to see what it would look like...)
• IMG02394h - The stream, in motion.  (Half-size due to slight blurring because of being a handheld long exposure.)
• IMG02396 - Tim, Dale, and Ron, standing in a meadow just above the bridge. (Not the meadow...)
• IMG02397 - A shot down-canyon into the dramatic lighting, sometime before sunset.
• IMG02398 - Ron and Dale, backdropped by the majestic Dromedary and O'Sullivan Peaks, neither of which are visible.  #2401 includes Tim.
• IMG02402 - A view toward the Twin Peaks cirque, uncluttered by people.
• IMG02406 - Yet another sunset view.  (Remember:  There will never be another sunset exactly like that...)

• The recorded GPS track of the hike.
• The elevation profile of the hike (downhill) (Ignore the elevation glitch at the end:  The last part of the trail is along a north-facing slope - something that's not conducive to seeing the GPS satellites that never get above 62 degrees elevation with respect to the southern horizon at this latitude...)
• A more-detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks)

Being that it was somewhat cold, cloudy and rainy when we started, we figured that it wasn't likely to get much worse.  Fortunately, we were right, for a change.

While the temperatures were likely in the low 40's (I didn't hear anyone offer a thermometer reading - probably for the best...) one could keep warm by moving - especially uphill.  We started out in a drizzle - but it never got to be much more than that.  Snow didn't appear regularly on the trail until we got well past the bridge (above about 7400 feet elevation or so) and by the time we got to the meadow (near 8300 feet) there was several inches of very grainy snow on the ground.

The normally-spectacular view of the various peaks surrounding the Twin Peaks cirque was obscured by clouds.  What was visible was a cold-looking landscape of cliffs clad snow and ice, with clear evidence of snowslides farther up the cirque.

The entire group did not chose to go the the meadow:  Brett, Alex and Gordon got a little ways above the bridge and decided that they were not appropriately shod for hiking through the mud and snow higher higher up on the trail.  Instead, they headed slowly down, engaging in mycological pursuits - the hunt for edible fungi (mushrooms) in particular.  At the end of the hike, they displayed quite a variety of found fungi - some edible, others not.

• 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 359-961k in size, .JPG and are in chronological order.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them may 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.  Note that cropping/noise reduction required the use of another program which may have removed some/most of this EXIF data.
• Images suffixed with "h" are half-size.  This was done for images that were somewhat out of focus (due to misfocus or camera/subject movement associated with long shutter times) or those that required some extra noise reduction and had lost some detail anyway.
• All images taken using a Sigma SD-10 camera using the 18-50mm zoom lens.

Additional notes:

• Elevations/distances may vary as compared to maps or previous years' hikes owing to slightly different routes, quality of GPS data, or just plain screwing things up.

Go to the 2005 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike index page.