Hiking the Ridge Trail

Yesterday I went on an eleven mile ugly run. I was tired. It was getting hot. I was in a hurry to get home before the plumber arrived. (He fixed the boiler for our hot water heater by digging the dead mouse out of the exhaust fan). I hope I don't have a day like that for my big marathon.

Today I went on a twelve mile hike with some neighbors. It is called the Ridge Hike with good reason. You start with a climb to about 9700 feet and then hike the ridge line for another 5 miles. The rest is spent climbing back down into The Canyons ski area.

The scenery is pretty amazing at the beginning of the hike. This side of the ridge looks into Big Cottonwood Canyon, with the Solitude and Brighton ski areas.



Our neighbors, Greg and Miriam.



Further down the hike, you can see down to Salt Lake City and across the valley to the monstrous Kennicott Copper Mine. It looks hazy, but this is about as good as it gets in Salt Lake this time of year.



There weren't that many piles of snow left, but you could find some.



A little mountain lake that had a deep emerald color.



There are some huge aspen groves on the hike. This should be a great hike in the fall when the leaves are changing. I love how the base of the aspens are all bent. As best I can tell, it comes from the heavy snow pack when the trees are young.



And then there were lots of wildflowers. They were everywhere. Nothing helps like the extra rain we were having a few weeks ago. How such pretty flowers grow in soil that looks like gravel, drought, snow pack, and high winds just boggles my mind.