Weather:  Over 100 F that day in the valley, a few clouds, very hazy.
Present were:  Mike, K7DOU;  Tim, KK7EF;  Dale, WJ7L;  Brett, N7KG and his sons Nathan (KD7YYN) and Alex;  Gordon, K7HFV, Clint, KA7OEI.
Destination:  To the Desolation Lake overlook at the top of Beartrap Fork.
Question of the day:  "Where are you, Tim?"
Total distance:   4.44 miles, round trip (if you went to the top and then to the peak.)
Times:  Depart vehicle:  1850;  Reached meadow-ish area:  1923;  Reached pass:  2016;  Overlook into Parley's:  2024;  Reached Deolation Peak:  2100;  The meadow-ish area, again:  2139 ;  Return to vehicle:  2206;  The rest of the party arrives:  2222
Altitudes in feet ASL (approx) from GPS:  Vehicle:  7570;  Meadow-ish area:  8475;  Pass:  9813;  Overlook into Parley's:  9682;  Desolation Peak:  10000
Elevation gain/loss:  To the pass:  2243;  To Desolation Peak:  2430
Local sunset on this date:  8:54 PM - (We've lost nearly 5 minutes of daylight since last week.)

We went to this same place in 2004 - click here to see pictures from that trip.  Elevation readings will be slightly different owing to different GPS readings.

Images (188-1115k each, .JPG):
 

• IMG02627 - A view across the canyon.
• IMG02629 - Clint, crossing the stream on a log bridge.
• IMG02630 - The obligatory "falling water" shot from one of the log bridges.
• IMG02633 - A shot up-canyon from within Beartrap Fork.  #2634 is similar, but zoomed in on some of the peaks.
• IMG02635 - Dale, on the trail traversing above Desolation Lake.
• IMG02639 - Desolation Lake itself.  The "warm" color is due to the haze from wildfires elsewhere in the western U.S.
• IMG02641 - Tree skeletons highlighted by the setting sun.  Similar is #2640.
• IMG02642 - The trail above Desolation Lake, toward the pass at the top of Beartrap.
• IMG02644 - A field of wildflowers, along the trail above Desolation Lake.
• IMG02647 - The setting sun with the Great Salt Lake and some islands.
• IMG02651 - The last remnants of the setting sun, as seen from the top of Desolation Peak.
• IMG02653 - Dale, looking up-canyon toward Brighton.
• IMG02662 - A "Bad Moon a'risin" as seen from the pass at the top of Beartrap Fork. Similar is #2664.

Note that GPS elevation data is sometimes a bit "ratty" due to frequent blockage and degradation of the satellite signal.

• The recorded GPS track of the hike.
• The elevation profile of the hike
• A more detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks)

It was hot in the valley on this day - something that necessitated one of the higher-altitude hikes.  Unfortunately (for our hiking, anyway) some of the more traditional cooler, higher altitude hikes were still out of the question owing to a fair amount of snowpack - particularly on those trails with a lot of shade and northern exposure.  Dale had even mentioned seeing the area around Cecret Lake still having a lot of snow and avalanche debris around it - not to mention the rest of the route to Sugarloaf.

We decided on Beartrap Fork, notified Tim (who was running a bit late) by radio and headed up-canyon.  After passing the Spruces campground area, we came upon and parked at the innocuous entrance with the (barely marked) metal gate, heading up the trail.  After a short distance, it became clear that this (lower portion) was either very lightly traveled, or had simply been (nearly) overwhelmed by plant growth:  The hiking trail, while still distinct, was often crowded by greenery - sometimes of the stinging (nettle) kind.

With the amount of moisture from the past spring, the wildflower show was quite spectacular, with lot of fully-bloomed sticky geraniums (of various colors) dotting the landscape.  Along some of the stream crossings the growth was even more vigorous, with the plants along the trail being well over 4 feet tall in places.

After hiking for a short while, Tim called on the radio and announced that he'd arrived and was starting up the trail.  Not too far up the trail, there is an important junction - and the proper route is the one less traveled-by (for it could make all of the difference...) and we'd believed that we'd talked Tim through taking this one.  Occasional calls to Tim indicated that he'd been making pretty good progress - until he disappeared from the radio altogether.  Hmmm...

Nevertheless, Dale and I (who were in the lead) pressed on.  Higher up, the streambed dried up and the annoying, buzzing, biting and flying creatures seemed to be getting more numerous.  Shortly after crossing over to the west side of the (now dry) streambed, we emerged from the aspen and started up the final, steep ascent.  One notable feature about this ascent is that it makes a long traverse along the side of the ravine and as the soil gets rockier, the trail starts to peter out, leaving you to make your own way to the ridge where you suddenly happen on the well-worn desolation lake trail (and, if not careful, get run over by mountain bikers.)  While the disappearance of the trail might seem to be disconcerting, one need only take note, on you way up, about where the trail was so that you know to look for it on the way down, rather than bushwhacking your way through the bottom of the ravine.  (Once you are down very far, it's pretty easy to spot the trail, anyway...)

Dale and I arrived at the pass and crossed over to the north side, overlooking into Parley's Canyon, and taking in the glass-smooth water of Desolation lake, the spectacular show of wildflowers, the warming skies of the impending sunset, and fighting off the bugs.  While we were sitting and relaxing, eating a snack, Tim suddenly appeared on the radio, announcing that he'd made it to the peak.  Which peak?  We weren't quite sure, but we could tell that he wasn't line-of-sight with us because his signal wasn't full-quieting on the radio.  We were also confused somewhat when he said that he wasn't able to see Desolation Lake at all from where he was.

At about this time, we heard from Brett and Co. who had decided not to press on any further (although they had gotten further than Mike and Gordon.)  We figure that they were probably with 100 feet of the pass - but couldn't be sure, not having spotted them, but could hear them.

We decided to head back to the pass and, based on his description (and signal strength) we headed up to the peak that was just to the east of where we had been and, sure enough, he was there.  Getting to the peak, we caught the last glimpses of the sun as it disappeared below the horizon:  We were disappointed that we did not observe the "Green Flash" but we attributed that to the fact that there might have been too much haze (due to wildfires) and possibly because the atmosphere at 4000+ feet elevation is just not dense enough to cause this effect.

Shortly after sunset, we started down - but were derailed for a few minutes by the sight of a large-looking and very orange moon rising in the east.  This caused us to take a few pictures, trying to prop ourselves against rocks and trees (not having a tripod) and jockeying for the best position.  Eventually, we headed the rest of the way down, eventually catching up with (and passing) the rest of the group.  Once we got to the car, Tim departed immediately, knowing that he had to be at work at 5 AM the next day.  After another 15-20 minutes, the rest of the groups appeared at the trailhead, we piled into our respective vehicles, and headed down.

On the way down the canyon, usual deer-avoidance measures were necessarily undertaken and most of us got together and met at the TGI Friday's near Cottonwood Mall (Which does close at 11 PM on Wednesdays) for a traditional after-hike "dime lime" - making it through the door just 10 minutes before their closing time.
 

• Some of these images - particularly those taken near the time of sunset-  are fairly strongly cast yellow/orange.  This is due to the atmosphere being very hazy because of large fires in the western U.S.
• 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 188-1115k 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 and were taken using the 18-50mm zoom lens, except as noted in the EXIF data.

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