Spiral Jetty Pandemic Style

As Salt Lake was pretty shut down do to the pandemic, everyone must have decided to visit the remote outdoor place. I have never seen the Spiral Jetty so busy. Usually when we visit there's perhaps a couple of other cars in the parking lot, today the lot was full and cars line the road for quite a way. A crazy nunber of people for this remote, normally peaceful spot. The noise was crazy too. Even way up on the hill you could hear this cacaphohy on voices and screaming kids and it seemed decidely un-peaceful. But despite the crowds and sounds there was still plenty to see. The everchanging shoreline, mud, salt, water and foam scapes are alway so fascinating!

Salt Study at the Spiral Jetty

Another trip to the Spiral Jetty. This time with a mission, this time to try to rescue some salt encrusted juvenile pelicans. The things you do when your friends are bird rehabilitators! The birds proves too distant and flighty to be rescued, hopefully they survived on their own.

After giving up on the birds we were able to wander and enjoy the mother nature's salty creations. Not a spectacular day for photography, but a wonderful day for salt crystals.

And why is the water pink you ask? As the lake lake level decreases due (it's very low right now!) the salt concentration increases, especially on the north end that is cordoned off from the rest of the lake by the Union Pacific Railroad dike. The halophilic bacteria in the lake make the pretty pink color. Click here for some cool drone footage of the lake

A season of Lost Lake....

2017 was the year of "Old Dog Adventures"... Meaning that Kona, the 'old dog' wasn't really up for much hiking, so we did a lot exploration by car with short hike/walks as dictated by what the dog was willing to do. We decided it would be a good year to explore the Uintas, where there are some less steep hikes than what the Wasatch offers. We headed up the first week the Mirror Lake highway was open, and then the second, and then decided our quest for the summer would be make it up to Lost Lake for a weekly photo as well as explore other areas of the Uintas.

As it turned out it proved quite interesting to go the same place every week and see what changes mother nature had in store for us, I especially had fun watching the transition of the wild flowers over an entire season.

Week 1 June 9 - the first week the Mirror Lake Highway was open

Week 2 June 18

Week 3 June 25

Week 4 July 2

Week 5 July 9

Week 6 July 16

Week 7 July 23

Week 8 July 29

Week 9 August 5

Week 10 - August 13

Week 11 August 19

Week 12 August 28

Week 13 Sept 2

Week 14 Sept 10

Week 15 Sept 17

Week 16 Sept 24 Kaboom... on the way to Uintas in a snow storm the BF's car made a loud thunking sound, lost power, coasted to stop and ended it's life with a few engine flames... thus ending our weekly Lost Lake streak.

Week 17 Oct 1

Week 19 Oct 15

Week 23 November 12

'Tis the season...

... wildflower season that is. Albion Basin in Alta, Utah is world renowned for it's mountain wild flowers. One of my favorite places in the winter is also a favorite place in the summer. My love for the wild flowers might be rivaled by that of the hummingbirds, who were busily gathering nectar among the horse mint.