Slate Canyon Hike

This past Friday I slipped out of the office a bit early and hiked up Slate Canyon. The canyon sits between Mount Buckley and an unnamed peak just to the north. I hiked through this canyon several times two years ago, but I almost didn't recognize it this time. With the large amount of snow that Utah received this year, the stream coming down the canyon is a good bit more swollen than in years past, making the hike more challenging.



The trail crosses this stream six or seven times. As swollen as it is there is never an easy crossing.



At this point the steam is completely covering the trail. The only way to continue on up the canyon is to follow the follow the rocks in the middle here.



The only time I saw much in the way of snow on the hike when I came across the remains of a large avalanche that covered the trail. This was at an elevation of about 6500 ft. After crossing the snow field I did not really see much snow until I got to about 7200 ft on an east facing slope.



Other than crossing fast moving streams and snow fields, the only other excitement on the hike was almost stepping on this snake.



Although it was a short hike there was some wonderful scenery. This is a picture of a rock fin that some friends took me rock climbing on two years ago. Now the stream runs right up against the bottom of the fin.



This is picture is characteristic of the scenery in the canyon. It really is quite breathtaking.



Finally this is a picture of Mount Buckley. It tops out at roughly 9500 ft and has no trail to its summit. Other than getting out and enjoying the afternoon, scouting a potential way to the summit was the objective of my hike.

Bryce Canyon Trip - May 2005

In the first part of May, Sharon, the kids and I headed down to southern Utah to join my Mom, her sister Susan, and her brother-in-law Doug for the weekend. Our first stop took us to Bryce Canyon where it was lightly snowing. After checking in at the Bryce Canyon Lodge, Doug and I headed off for the Peak-a-Boo loop trail, while Sharon, Susan, Mom and the kids headed off to the rim of the canyon.



Here are Katherine and Jeffrey on the trail along the rim of the canyon. You can see how low the clouds are here and these are a good bit higher than when we first arrived.



Katherine, Jeffrey and Mom looking over the canyon.



A better view of Bryce from the rim.

That evening we had dinner at the lodge restaurant. The food was good and our waiter was excellent. In addition, there was a big fireplace which added to the ambiance. We got a bit lucky there in that the staff was able to come up with some firewood. Apparently they were assuming they were done with the fireplace for the season, but this cold snap changed things in a hurry.



The next morning Sharon, Susan, Doug and I went on a short out and back hike to the Tower Bridge formation. Although it was no longer snowing, the clouds were still down pretty low muting the colors of the formations somewhat.

After our hike we packed up and headed out on Route 12 towards out next stop at the Boulder Mountain Lodge. On the way we stopped at Mossy Cave for a quick look around. In addition, there were numerous scenic overlooks to stop at on Route 12.



Here Katherine and I are at one that overlooked some canyons. The view, which this picture doesn't do justice to, was spectacular.



This rock formation was beside the overlook in the previous picture. Katherine had a fun time scrambling up the rock and posing for pictures. Meanwhile Jeffrey passed the time asleep in the car.



That afternoon we arrived at the Boulder Mountain Lodge. Very nice accommodations out in the middle of no where. We had dinner at Hell's Backbone Grill, which is part of the lodge. It is a first class restaurant with a well deserved reputation for excellent food. Afterwards Katherine and Jeffrey had a good time playing in the field behind the lodge.



The next morning Sharon, Susan, Doug and I headed out to Lower Calf Creek Falls.



Another photo along the trail to the falls. Since it was still somewhat early in the day, the temperature along the trail was very mild. Also, given the early start, we had the trail to ourselves. We saw plenty of animal tracks including coyote, deer and turkey.



While we hiked the trail Mom and kids played along the rock formations close to the trailhead.



This final picture is of the falls at the end of the trail. Once again the picture doesn't do justice to the falls.