Images (391-980k, .JPG):

• IMG03585 - Brett & Co. preparing for the hike
• IMG03586 - Trudging up the trail
• IMG03587 - Looking down Beartrap Fork
• IMG03597 - Unknown red flower (a variant of Indian Paintbrush, perhaps?)
• IMG03599 - Looking down on the glass-smooth surface of Desolation Lake.  Similar is #3600
• IMG03620a - The obligatory group picture.  L->R:  Bruce, Nathan, Brett, Alex, Dale, Gordon, Clint

These are composites of several smaller pictures.  Please note that due to size, they 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.

• Beartrap Pano 1 - A wide-angle shot looking down the trail into Beartrap Fork and across the canyon:  Some of those in the group may be seen coming up the trail. (948k)
  
• Beartrap Pano 2 - A wide-angle shot taken at the "stopping point" and looking down onto Desolation Lake.  (1007k)
  

• 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, 1535k)
  

In the parking lot, we were trying to decide whether we should do Clayton Peak or Beartrap Fork.  Because of the possible threat of lightning, we decided on a hike that wouldn't put us on top of the (local) world, exposing ourselves to the highest possible voltage gradient.  So, we went up the canyon, overshot the trailhead (as usual) and then flipped a U-turn (actually, we meant to do that, as it put the vehicles on the correct side of the road...) and parked at the unmarked trailhead.

For the first several hundred yards of trail, the route follows an access road - but it splits several times.  One can't help but be reminded of Robert Frost when one takes the one more/less traveled-by - which in this case would make all the difference.

The trail was surprisingly dry:  In the Salt Lake Valley, certain portions were deluged earlier in the day - but the plants were not droplet-laden.  The only signs of recent precipitation were the fact that the ground was somewhat damp in some places (although rarely muddy) and the air was quite humid - something that made some of the uphill progress somewhat more arduous even though it was fairly cool.

The Beartrap Fork trail has about as many stream-crossings on it as any that we do on a Wednesday Night (at least 8 of them...) but fortunately, the stream isn't really a torrent and it's generally quite passable.  As in the case of Mill-D (North) last week, there were a few places where bifurcation of the stream was evident with a portion of the flow following the trail.  These were only of slight challenge on the return trip as that was done by flashlight and with such lighting, it is sometimes difficult to discern between dark dirt and mud - something that influences one's gait and path.  Fortunately, this week's hike saw no unanticipated external hydration events.

This is, in fact, one of the steepest hikes of the normal Wednesday Night Hike season with one of the largest elevation gains:  As is our wont, we remind ourselves of the mantra "It may be steep, but it's long..." to console ourselves during our uphill exertions - and as someone (sort of) said, "... and that makes all the difference."  Further encouragement of this sort may be experienced by those that hike on this trail wearing shorts:  The occasional brush with stinging nettle reminds one of the relative verdancy of this particular fork if the wide variety of wildflowers on show hadn't already done so.

Near the top of the fork, one breaks out of the last line of aspens and just above this, the trail becomes indistinct, requiring the hiker to find his/her own way to the ridge.  Dale, hitherto content to maintain Bruce's moderate pace, broke ahead of the main group and I followed a bit behind at a slightly slower pace.  Before too long, Dale disappeared over the horizon at about the same time another hiker appeared, suddenly looked alarmed, and quickly disappeared back over the ridge.  Hmmm...  It wasn't until I'd attained the ridge that I ran across this hiker once again and I'd asked him why he seemed to have run off when we saw me.  I was relieved that my first guess wasn't correct when he said that he'd suddenly remember that he'd left his walking stick on top and that he beat a hasty retreat to retrieve it.

Continuing onward, I met up with Dale and we proceeded north along the trail (stopping briefly to talk to a mountain biker) and then parked our carcasses at the turn where the trail goes down toward a place called "Red Lover's Ridge" (or something like that.)  This small segment of the Great Western Trail has, to our knowledge, been responsible for several helicopter flights when a mountain biker attempts to ride downhill on this ridge, only to find him/herself catapulted over the handlebars and dashed onto the rocks:  The wary biker walks (or carries) their bicycle over this point to avoid loss of blood and brain cell.

After a few minutes, the rest of the group arrived and we enjoyed a spectacular vista of a glass-smooth surface of Desolation Lake as well as the dramatic cloud lighting of the setting sun.  After the eating of snacks and snapping of photos, we headed back down the trail.

As mentioned before, the descent occurred without incident with Dale and I arrive at the trailhead about 10 minutes before the rest of the group.  By the time we got down to the bottom of the canyon, it was 20 minutes before 11 pm - too late to grab dinner at one of the traditional spots - and everyone went home.

According to Keller, Richard F. Burton - one of the principles of the Big Cottonwood Lumber Company - had been taken up Mill-E.  He wrote that at that time, there was a small hut with one or two doors that fell when a bear tugged on the bait.  While it isn't known if this trap was set by the same person, someone named Mag Littleford had a cabin near Beartrap Fork and was known in later years to trap bears there.

Above the top of Beartrap Fork (and "sort of" in Mill D North Fork)  is Desolation Lake:  The origin of the name of this lake is unknown.

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.

Historical info about Beartrap Fork was taken from "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller