Here's a photo dump of some of my hikes this summer: multiple times along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail where I was surprised on two days in May to find thousands of sego lilies; a hike to Silver Lake (up American Fork Canyon) and then further up to tiny Silver Glance Lake; a more gentle hike up Wadswroth Canyon (up Hobble Creek Canyon) and then most recently a September 4 hike with Joel to Lake Blanche up Big Cottonwood Canyon.
May 16 on the Shoreline Trail between north Springville and the Ironton Hill gravel pit.
May 30 on the same section of the trail. I have never seen so many sego lilies.
The whole hillside is dotted with white flowers. Sego lilies are the state flower of Utah. Early Mormon settlers would eat their bulbs for food.
I had thought to climb back up with a shovel to harvest some bulbs, but I'll leave them be for a hungrier time.
On June 27th I hiked up to Silver Lake and then higher up to pondish Silver Glance Lake. We climbed to Silver Lake six years ago. http://beitemmett.blogspot.com/2015/07/silver-lake.html
August 5th hike up shaded and not too steep Wardsworth Canyon.
Multiple faces in this rock. One looks like a cougar. A friend who regularly hikes this trail says that "cats" often are seen in the area. This was the only one I saw.
I enjoyed seeing several varieties of butterflies. A rare sight in town these days.
September 4th hike to Lake Blanche up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Joel joined me for this hike. He let me lead and set the pace (slower that he would go). This was a steep climb. My hiking poles helped a lot coming down.
So close to so many good ski areas.
Wonder who Blanche, Florence and Lillian were? Our other option for a hike was to Lakes Mary, Martha and Catherine at Brighton. We started hiking at 9:00 and reached Lake Blanche at 11:30. We ate lunch and explored for an hour then it took us 1 1/2 hours to descend.
Twin Peaks.
There were easy rock steps cutting through the lower corner of this rock flow.
A happy hiker. Sundial Peak in the distance.
Lake Blanche and Sundial Peak
Looking North to Big Cottonwood Canyon.
We visited with one fly fisherman while he caught two small, beautiful cutthroat trout. Both were released.
Lake Florence
The Lake Blanche trail is now one of my favorites.