We spent the morning doing our usual clean-up of Gma's yard. With me and Dina being there in May, there was not as much to do this time. We cut the grass and trimmed the trees and were done just after lunch. That gave us time to look up a short hike. We found an uphill hike to a waterfall in Sandy that looked fun. Amber was going to meet us at the trailhead when she got off work. She ended up having to stay at work a bit late, so Shannon and I killed time by walking around the Temple Quarry Trail at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Little Cottonwood Creek at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon
The Temple Quarry Trail is a short paved path through the Temple Granite Quarry Historical Monument. This area is where the granite stones used to build the Salt Lake Temple were found. The stones were not hewn from the mountain, but rather from boulders that had fallen off the mountain and rested in the canyon floor. The temple was constructed between 1853 and 1893 using stones transported about 20 miles from this canyon into what is now downtown Salt Lake City. The temple is largest LDS temple in terms of floor area at over 253,000 square feet. The stones averaged about three tons in weight, with some weighing over five tons. They were pulled by teams of four to eight oxen initially, which took three to four days to go roundtrip to the temple site and back. Later, the stones were transported by railroad. Stones from this quarry were also used to build the Utah State Capital Building and LDS Conference Center. We learned a lot about the history of the quarry and temple while we hiked a nice trail along the peaceful creek. The stones in the creek were all smooth and perfect. It made me want to load some up in the car to add to our landscaping at home.
Video: The peaceful Little Cottonwood Creek
Amber was finished with work by the time we ended our quarry loop. We then drove a few miles south to the Rocky Mouth Falls Trailhead. Amber was there waiting. It was a short out-and-back hike to a waterfall, but a bit of a challenge with some steep climbing and stairs. It is only about half a mile to Rocky Mouth Falls from the parking lot, but you earn every step of it. It starts in a little wooded area, then pops out in a neighborhood where you walk a few yards on the road and then take a little trail between two houses. Once beyond the houses, you climb steeply through the woods into the nearest canyon and then up for a few more yards to reach the falls. Water flow isn't a lot, but what water is falling comes down about 40 feet through a crevice in the rock. It is fed by a natural spring. There are spots of moss providing some bright green on the dark rocks that make up the canyon. I really liked this one. It is way up there on my waterfall rankings.
Going up between the two houses
Approaching Rocky Mouth Falls
Rocky Mouth Falls
There was a path off to the left of the falls that I thought would provide a better view from overhead. I went up the trail, which was really more like a wash. I climbed to a point where I thought I could slide across the rocks and get a view of the falls, but it was too sketchy. I got about halfway and ran out of foot holds, forcing me to turn back to the wash. I climbed up further and it continued to get more treacherous as I went. I finally got to a point where it flattened off and I turned to look down. It was one of those times when I didn't realize what I was going up and then it looked very scary from the top. It was crazy steep. One missed step and I could fall a very long way. I couldn't see Shannon or Amber anymore either. I went up a little further and saw that the trail was taking me away from the waterfall. I searched for a different way back as I felt the wash was too dangerous to climb down. My view of the valley was nice as I was above the treeline now. I found some goatpaths to navigate parallel to the wash, but I eventually ran out of good trail and was back to scaling vertical rock. It was the most scared I have ever been doing anything outdoors. It was really dangerous. Then I saw some graffiti. I figured if somebody got up there to spray paint on that rock and survived the trip down then I could too. It was a few tense minutes, but I made it. I am so glad Shannon didn't follow me as she is scared of heights and getting her down from there would have been really hard.
Climbing up above the waterfall
Above the trees now with a view of Sandy
The next day we were all up early for a day of exploring. We all went to downtown Salt Lake City for most of the day. Shannon, her Mom and Gma all went downtown to tour the city and Temple Square. Gma had not been down there since the Church History Museum opened up so they wanted to see that. It was a good trip for Gma as she saw that she can still go out and do things, and can last a full day without getting too tired to get home.
A prosthetic leg in the museum, worn by an emigrant who helped pull a handcart across the country in the 1800s. And we complain about having to take out the trash...
Salt Lake Temple
Conference Center
While they were touring downtown, I drove over to Rotary Glen Park at the start of Emigration Canyon for a road ride. I got in a good out-and-back ride with several long mountain climbs. My 53-mile day began with a 7.7-mile climb up Emigration Canyon to Little Mountain Summit at an elevation of 6,289 feet. It is a tame climb compared to others in the area. The gradient is much less with no really steep areas the whole way up. It is much more populated though, so more traffic to deal with. In a lot of areas where bikes and skiing are popular you will find stickers of companies within those industries pasted on the road signs. For the first time ever, I saw a First Endurance sticker on a "Share the Road" sign. It was so awesome to see one of my sponsors posted. They are based out of SLC, so I guess if I ever expected to see one posted somewhere it would be here.
First Endurance sticker on the road sign
It was a cool morning, but warmed up nicely as I climbed. By the top, I was ready to pull off some clothes. I stopped to shed clothes and enjoy the view, which was awesome to the southeast. Snow-capped mountains were all around with a blue lake down below. Chevy must have thought the view was great too as they were taking photos of some new vehicles at the top with the mountains in the background. I'm waiting to see one of those pictures in a magazine ad.
Nearing the top of Emigration Canyon
Another location of emigrant travel. The Donner Party crossed Little Mountain and descended Emigration Canyon in 1846, followed by Brigham Young and the Mormons in 1847.
Looking down on Little Dell Reservoir
Chevy showing off some new vehicles at the top of Little Mountain
A short descent followed down to the Little Dell Reservoir where I got a few good pictures of the reservoir, mountains and some wildflowers. It was then a few miles of rolling terrain before the climbing started again. It was 5.2 miles up to the top of Big Mountain with another 1,489 feet elevation gain. The bottom of this climb was steeper and really made me work. Switchbacks at the top made the final section a little easier. There was still some snow on the ground at the top, left over from the snow that fell the night we drove in from Wyoming.
Little Dell Reservoir
Almost to the top of Big Mountain
From the top looking south
East Canyon State Park
East Canyon Reservoir Dam
The climb back up Big Mountain was tough. This side was steeper for longer, but then easier near the top. It is very open at the bottom, then forest at the top. The views behind me were awesome and I stopped a couple of times just to enjoy them. It was six miles to the top with a gain of 1,667 feet. The Big Mountain summit sits at an elevation of 7,420 ft. I then got to descend the south side of Big back to Little Dell for the short climb to the top of Little Mountain. It was then all downhill back to the car. It was an awesome ride and a couple of climbs that I have wanted to ride for a long time now.
Looking back on the lower slopes of Big Mountain
No comments:
Post a Comment