'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.

On the trail again...

Lake Catherine

Happy dance for me! I finally tool my first post surgery hike... Hiked up the Brighton lakes, Mary, Martha and Catherine... 2 miles up to Lake Catherine, a 1200 foot elevation gain, an honest to goodness trail with rocks and roots and obstacles.. By local and my hiking buddies standards, an easy-ish hike... but a small milestone for me. Not sure I'm ready for epic adventures, as my knee certainly isn't quite "right" yet, but it sure felt good to be out there.. I had good company too, Matt's girlfriend Alicia came along with me.

Lake Martha

Lake Mary

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Summers Big Hike.... Mt Timpanogos

Mt. Timapanogos... My big hike for the year. I was lucky to join my friend Susan's annual Timp hike... It's a long hike, about 16 miles over 4600 foot elevation gain to the 11,749 ft summit. My friends have it all figured out... we went during peak wild flower season. We shuttled cars, so we could hike up the Timpanokee trail and down the Aspen grove trail. It's a lot of work, but an amazing hike. First switchbacking through the trees to the amazing wildflower meadow. Then up a rocky trail to the saddle, then winding and stairstepping to the top. We headed down the the other side of the mountain to the glacier, we slid down a snowy luge run to get to Emerald Lake. Mountain goats were abundant on cliffs near the lake. As we switch back down the Aspen Grove trial we are treated to water falls created by the glacial melt off. The wild flowers could not have been much more amazing, the views spectacular!

I took many more pictures... you can see them on my facebook page and of course this was also a cheeseburger summit!

What I did on my summer vacation..

Clearly it wasn't blogging, LOL. Of course the reality is that as an old working person I don't really get a summer vacation... just more weeks of work and hot weather! But even without a really vacation I managed to get some local fun in, and mostly for the benefit of my daughter who reads this but doesn't see the pictures I post on facebook, I figure I'll share... even it it is a bit after the fact.

So one cool thing I did this summer... My friends and I hiked up to the Little Cloud Bowl at Snowbird to watch them fly in the towers for the new Little Cloud ski lift. It was pretty cool to watch the helicopters at work, those pilots appear to have mad skills. Hovering above the platform, tethered to the tower as it gets screwed down, pirouetting on the end of the cable. Pilot hanging his head out the window, watching what's happening on the ground, controlling the helicopter. Mad skills I'm sure! Besides watching the helicopters, the hike from the base to the top of the tram was incredible too. The wildflowers in Little Cloud Bowl were some of the most beautiful I've seen in my lifetime. Amazing!

Spring Wild Flowers, Utah Style

I spent the weekend camping in the central Utah desert and found these lovely spring wild flowers! Thought I'd share a little color to brighten your Monday!

Where the deer and the antelope play...

I'm sure I've mentioned before that living here in Utah we are a bit spoiled by all the wonderful, spectacular places we have to go adventuring. This weekend I headed out with a bunch of friends to one of my favorite local adventure spots - Antelope Island, an island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake, conveniently connected by a man made causeway so getting there is easy. Sunday we hiked the Sentry Peak trail, a trail I had not hiked before. A 6.5 mile loop up over the hill to base of Sentry peak, a leisurely hike at low (for Utah) altitude and not much elevation gain ~940 ft) We were treated to sweeping views of the island range land, the beautiful lake surrounding the island, and the snow capped mountains of the Wasatch and Stansbury mountain range. Wild flowers were blooming, and the wild life abundant. Lots of birds, we flushed a few chukars, and saw quite a few lizards, and of course buffalo. Despite being named Antelope Island, antelope sitings are relatively rare. We were lucky enough to see a few antelope off in the distance, but nothing I could snap a picture of. The island is more famous for it herd of buffalo, and got to see lots and lots on our hike, more today than any other time. I just love the feeling of standing on a hill high above the Great Salt Lake, taking in the incredible scenery. I wish my pictures did it justice.