Signpost at Grandeur Peak trailhead - click on image for lager version.

Weather:  Mostly clear sky, unseasonably cool and a gentle breeze:  A perfect day for doing what is normally one of the hottest hikes!
Present were:  Gordon, K7HFV;  Bruce, KI7OM, Clint, KA7OEI - and a brief appearance by Randy, KG7GI
Destination:  Grandeur Peak via Church Fork in Mill Creek Canyon.
Question of the day:  "Is that an invisible leash that you have on your dog?"
Total distance (GPS):   5.79 miles, round trip
Times:  Depart vehicle:  1839;  Reached trailhead:  1849;  Start of switchbacks:  1936;  Met Randy on his way down:  1957;  Reached first saddle:  2009;  Reached peak:  2044;  Depart Peak:  2109;  First saddle again:  2138;  End switchbacks:  2205;  Return to blacktop:  2244;  Return to vehicles:  2251
Approximate Distances (in miles):  Trailhead from road:  0.4;  Road to beginning of switchbacks:  1.1;  Road to lower saddle:  2.22;  Road to peak:  2.9
Altitudes in feet ASL (GPS approx):  Vehicle:  5696;  Trailhead:  5960;  Start of switchbacks:  6800;  First saddle:  7500;  Grandeur Peak:  8360  (USGS says 8299)
Altitude gain/loss (approx.):  2934 Ft. 
Local sunset on this date:  2100  (we gained 4 minutes of sun over the past week and we get 3 more minutes at the solstice)
Total 2006 WNH mileage (if you've gone on all of the hikes thus far):  8.75 miles
Total number of footsteps (according to my pedometer):  16334  (If you have shorter legs, your count will undoubtedly be higher...)

Images (332-1226k, .JPG):

• IMG03479 - A relatively new kiosk not too far above the trailhead informing hikers that they are on land owned by the Boy Scouts.
• IMG03483 - A view across the canyon showing the current extent of the snowpack on these north-facing slopes.
• IMG03490 - Randy, intercepted as he was on his way down the trail from the peak.
• IMG03494 - Across the canyon, down-canyon from a vantage point just short of the peak.
• IMG03495 - A somewhat un-exciting view of the peak, taken from just below.
• IMG03498 - The three of us on the peak.
• IMG03499 - Just before sunset, the "double sun" (the "real" one and the one reflected by the Great Salt Lake) as viewed across the valley and Antelope Island.

This is a composite of several smaller pictures.  Please note that due to the size, it may not display properly on some browsers and you may need to use an image viewer like Irfanview to view them properly and zoom in on some of the details.  Note that details (exposure, time, location, etc.) are noted in file's EXIF "Comments" field.

• Church Fork/Mill Creek wide-angle view - This is a composite of 6 pictures, taken from the switchbacks and looking down Church Fork.  (1.8 meg)

• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.
  
• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 1.3 meg.)
  

Much less snow was visible on north-facing slopes this week as compared to last week.

This hike was somewhat sparsely attended as compared to last week:  Several of the usual participants were either stuck with other duties or were recovering from mild illnesses - except for Randy, KG7GI, who decided to take advantage of the unseasonably cool weather and get a head-start on doing Grandeur Peak.

Deciding that Grandeur was a good idea, we first met (fighting a traffic jam) at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon and then (for most of us) backtracked to go up Mill Creek canyon.  (Yes, it would have been clever if we'd simply met at Olympus Hills instead and avoided the traffic jam altogether...)

Parking outside the gate at Church Fork (the gate officially closes at 10 PM and we didn't want to risk finding the car locked inside the gate) meant that the first few hundred yards were hiked on blacktop, weaving uphill through the picnic sites - all seemingly located just downwind of the pit toilets.  When we got to the official trailhead (where the pavement ends) we stood for a minute, deciphering the sign, deciding that it being the 14th was a day that dogs were supposed to be on leash.  Continuing up a the trail a few hundred more feet, we noticed a new kiosk informing hikers that they were now on land owned by the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts - see #3479 above.

We continued uneventfully up the trail and after a while, I called Randy on the radio:  He was still headed up and was about halfway along the switchbacks and was making pretty good time.  At this time we posited that we'd likely see Randy only on his return trip - a brief flash of blue in front of us followed by a brief red flash after he'd gone past - and that this would happen some time before we even attained the peak.  Sure enough, we met Randy on the switchbacks as he was coming down:  Fortunately, he'd slowed down just enough to avoid excessive Doppler shift and we were able to have a brief conversation before he continued down.

On the way up, we couldn't help but notice that the trail was very busy with a lot of hikers (and their dogs) going up and coming down.  We also noticed a phenomenon that we'd probably observed before, but this time its prevalence was striking to us:  All of the leashes were invisible and some of them seemed to be extremely long - obviously taking advantage of a "stealth leash" technology formerly unknown to us.  It also occurred to me that hiking in Mill Creek had one very definite difference as compared to hiking in Big or Little Cottonwood Canyons:  The trails in the latter two canyons don't frequently reek of dog crap.

We arrived at the peak 16 minutes before sunset and saw the warming of the colors and the "double sunset" of the reflection of the sun on the Great Salt Lake.  On the peak it was quite cold - probably no higher than the low 50's - so after 25 minutes of loitering, talking, trying to stay warm, and taking pictures, we headed back down as it was starting to get dark.  About halfway down the switchbacks, it became necessary to use flashlights as the Grandeur Peak trail is notoriously "grabby" in that there seem to be many tree roots and rocks arranged just to cause a "sudden change in 'delta-V'" (falling, that is.)  Miraculously, we all got back to the car without serious incident (but we all did plenty of tripping and stumbling - a lifetime hazard of the maladroit) and headed down to the canyon.

One advantage of the Grandeur Peak hike is that by the time the slower of the group finish, it is often so late that the tollbooth at the mouth of the canyon is closed.  This timing also implies a disadvantage:  There really aren't any good "sit-down" restaurants that are still open after 11pm within easy reach of the canyons, so we all went our own separate ways upon returning to the cold, windy Big Cottonwood parking lot.

Comments:

• 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 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" (if any) 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 2006 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike index page.