Sugarloaf Peak

Today we hiked to the top of Sugarloaf Peak. The picture above is the lifthouse at the top of the Sugarloaf Chair Lift. It should look familiar to many of you - even without the snow.

We started our hike in a parking lot close to the top of the Albion Chair Lift. We walked down past Alf's Restaurant (formerly known as Watson Shelter) near the bottom of the Sugarloaf Chair Lift. Then we started a long slow and sometimes steep climb up towards Sugarloaf Peak. We walked through several familiar areas that we recognized from the days when we used to ski at Alta. About halfway up the mountain we came upon a Marmot (they look like giant squirrels - see the picture). We hiked past the top of the Germania Lift and then through Sugarloaf Pass. On the pass we could see Mt. Timpanogos to the south, Twin Peaks and Mt. Baldy to the west and to the north we could see the tops of all the different mountain ranges as far as the eye could see. From the Pass we walked past the Sugarloaf Lifthouse and went up a short but very steep climb to the top of Sugarloaf Peak. According to our GPS system we were standing at 11,018 feet and we had climbed 2,088 feet from our car.

Standing on top of Sugarloaf Peak we could look several hundred feet straight down at Cecret Lake (pronounced Secret Lake - a long time ago the lake was misspelled by a miner when he staked a claim in the area. The misspelled word has stuck and it is still used today).

Looking directly east on Sugarloaf Peak is a magnificent towering rock formation known as Devils Castle. To get there we had to walk along the top of a ridgeline that on one side was a sheer cliff towering over Cecret Lake and the other side was a steep drop off over a boulder field looking down at a lake called Pittsburg Lake. Ricardo tried to stay as far away from the big drop off over Cecret Lake as possible but Flori had no problem with the heights and bounced along the edge of the cliff like it was no big deal. Ricardo tried not to look.

Once we got to Devils Castle we realized that to get to the very top we would have to climb up a series of several short cliffs and boulders with major exposure on both sides - something similar to the bad parts of Angels Landing in Zions but without the chain - yikes!!

Ricardo thought it would be best to bypass the climb to the top and thankfully Flori agreed. That meant to get back down we had two choices - go back the way we came over the ridgeline to Sugarloaf Peak or go down along the north face of Devils Castle up, over and around several major boulder fields. We decided to be adventurous and go the boulder route.

The trek down was slow but fun. Flori did a great job of choosing where to go and we made it down with only one fall on some loose rocks. In short it was a blast. As we descended we kept hearing voices but couldn't see anyone. Finally we looked up on the north wall going up to the top of Devils Castle and saw two climbers inching their way up the sheer cliff (look at the yellow dot in the middle of the picture). They were roped to each other but nothing else. We sat and watched them for a while.

After reaching the bottom of the boulder fields we decided to finish our hike on the trails near Cecret Lake. The wildflowers were unbelievably beautiful. Our photographs don't do them justice - they are something that really has to be seen in person.

As we came around a bend in the trail we suddenly found ourselves about 20 feet away from a giant bull moose standing in the trees. He didn't seem to pay any attention to us so we slipped by but as you can see from the picture he did turn and take a good look at us. Luckily that was all he did.

All in all the hike was great fun - especially seeing the magnificent views and all of the areas we knew so well from our skiing days. The round trip was 5.81 miles which took us 2 1/2 hours to complete. But we spent almost another hour stopping to look at the views and the flowers.

Enjoy the photos.

Dog Lake - Brighton

Today is July 24th 2007 - Pioneer Day. We took advantage of the holiday to take a short hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon to Dog Lake. Normally we hike (and jog) to Dog Lake from Millcreek Canyon but today we thought it would be fun to hike in from the "other" side of the mountain.

Yesterday Ricardo purchased a new handheld GPS unit that we were able to use for the first time on the trail. We could see our position on the map as we moved on down the trail as well as keep track of our altitude, distance and lots of other neat information. It was a lot of fun playing with the gadget. The trail forks after about 2 miles - left to Dog Lake and right to Desolation Lake. This time with the help of the sign and the GPS we stayed on the right trail. The wildflowers were out in bloom and we stopped along the trail to enjoy the beauty and serenity and we also took lots of pictures.

When we got to Dog Lake to our surprise we ran into Jim Preston. The funny thing about that was we saw Jim in his jeep on Fardown Ave as we left our house - so for us to meet at Dog Lake was quite amazing. Jim rode his bike up on the Millcreek trail with a friend. We talked with them for a while and Jim took a picture of both of us with Dog Lake in the background.

On the way back down the trail it became very cloudy and much cooler. It sprinkled on us a few times and looked like a big storm was brewing. We were glad to get back to the truck without getting wet.

For the record the hike was 4.72 miles roundtrip and our elevation gain was 1,662 feet. Not bad for a few hours of fun in the mountains. Enjoy the photos.

White Pine Lake 7-21-07

Today we hiked up to White Pine Lake. The trail begins about six miles from the entrance to Little Cottonwood Canyon - about one mile after the Tanners Flats Campground. The trail is actually an old pioneer mining road that hasn't been used for many years but is in pretty good shape and with the exception of a few areas wasn't too steep. The wild flowers were out in force which made the hike even more enjoyable.

We started up the trail about 7:00 a.m. and both of us were a little cold - mom was even wearing a long sleeved tee shirt. After one mile we came to a fork in the trail - a bridge crossed a small stream going right and what looked like the main trail went to the left. There was also a smaller trail that continued straight ahead. Unfortunately someone had removed the sign saying which way to go (great).

Not knowing where to go we decided the best course of action was to continue on the trail that went straight. The path soon became very small and difficult to travel - we had to sidestep a big muddy bog and bushwhack through several low hanging branches and bushes. We both soon realized we were definately not on any kind of a well traveled trail. However we saw that it did go up to a giant waterfall that was very pretty. After looking at the falls we backtracked to the junction to start over again.

Back at the fork in the trail we had to make a decision which way we wanted to go. We knew that one trail went to White Pine Lake and the other went to Red Pine Lake (which was actually our original destination). We finally decided that since we wanted to see both lakes it really didn't matter which way we went so we choose to go left - which turned out to be the trail to White Pine Lake.

The distance from the trailhead to White Pine Lake was 4 miles. The hike was beautiful - we saw meadows full of wildflowers, bustling brooks and unbelievable views of the Wasatch mountains. The elevation at White Pine Lake is a little over 11,000 feet making it almost as high as the top of the tram at Snowbird - so even though it didn't seem like it we had made a significant climb. The lake is in a large bowl surrounded by an old glacier field of boulders and rocks above the timberline - directly below White Baldy and Red Baldy Peaks. The lake was beautiful and very peaceful. We spent about 1/2 hour enjoying the beauty and serenity before we started back down the mountain.

The round trip of 8 miles took us five hours to complete - almost three hours to go up and only half that time to come back down with lots of stops to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. We decided we want to go back again in the winter on our snowshoes - then we noticed a sign on the road as we left the parking lot - "White Pine Slide Area - no parking or stopping from Dec to April". Maybe that isn't a good area to hike in the winter after all. We'll check it out before we slap on the snowshoes.

Enjoy the photos.

Alaska Day #7 Brooks Falls

Today we were scheduled to return to fish for King Salmon on the Nushagak River. However the weather report today at the Nushagak was dense fog meaning that we would run the risk of being able to land on the river but not take off. None of the float planes have any kind of radar notification system to let them know if another aircraft is nearby - everything is done visually by the pilot so flying in fog is very dangerous - especially in an area where lots of aircraft are present. So the general rule is that if the pilot can't see for at least a mile they don't fly. The prospect of having to stay overnight at "King Camp" and missing our flights home wasn't met with much enthusiasm so we went to plan B which was to go to Brooks Falls in the Katmai National Park.

Brooks Falls is a famous place in Alaska because it is where bears come to catch Sockeye Salmon as they travel up the Brooks River. Almost any picture you have ever seen of bears catching salmon - especially on a river or near a waterfall has been taken at Brooks Falls or the Brooks River. The falls are located in the Katmai National Park and the only way to get there is a 35 mile boat ride up the Brooks River from the ocean or by a float plane. Most people come by plane - in fact I have have included a photo of the airplane "parking lot". The cost for a round trip ticket to Brooks Falls on a charter float plane from Anchorage and back is around $600 a person so we felt quite fortunate to have seen the park and the bears for no additional cost.

We saw literally 25-30 bears - some quite close up. Before we could enter the park we had to watch a video telling us about the dangers of bears and how to act around them. However after watching them for awhile and being close to them they started to look more like pets - or big loveable teddy bears. However every once in a while we would see a bear with a wound from a fight - something that happens quite often as the bears fight for food or their favorite spot on the river. In fact when we first got to the park we heard several bears growling at each other - it was pretty intense.

After bear watching for several hours we jumped back into our float plane and flew back to the lodge and started packing for the return trip home - a grueling all nighter on the "red eye" from Anchorage to SLC. One thing I will miss from this trip is having an airplane always at my disposal. It has been fun being able to travel by private plane wherever we want whenever we want.

Enjoy the photos