hike to ibantik lake

 Our wedding anniversary was Wednesday and to celebrate, H and I took the day off of work so the three of us could go for a hike.  (I had also planned that the three of us would go out to dinner at a new-to-us place in SLC that has a dog-friendly patio, but the blown-in wildfire smoke and 90 F heat made such a prospect less than appetizing.  We'll save that for later.)

Wall Lake

It had been over a year since we'd gone out to the Uintas.  Even though it's a fairly long drive from SLC, I like hiking there because it's cooler, there's lots of water and dogs can go.  After some research, I found an out-and-back to a lake that sounded good: Ibantik Lake, from the Crystal Lake trailhead.  We'd been in this general area on our very first Uintas hike, back in 2009 with Captain Mike.

Hope Lake (?) - so many little lakes

We got up at 6, were out the door by 6:45 and on the trail at 8:30 a.m. under sunny skies and 40 F temperatures (that felt warmer). Crystal Lake is an extremely popular trail head as the locus for numerous trails; even early on a Wednesday, there were about ten other cars in the lot.  (It's so busy on the weekends that we've had to park in the overflow/horse-trailer lot before and, as we drove in, they're putting another parking lot in to accommodate hikers.)

Down on the boardwalk

We started out on the Wall Lake trail #229 towards Notch Mountain and Clyde Lake.  This is one of the trails that is graded for horses so (1) it wasn't quite as rocky as some of the other Uintas trails and (2) it never got super-steep.  We walked between two small ponds, then started gently climbing towards Wall Lake.  At Wall Lake, we crossed over the footbridge and continued on the Notch Mountain trail (no sign), past several small ponds and over a boardwalk that Milton enjoyed racing across.

Ibantik Lake

As the trail went up, we started to come out of the trees and, at a signed trail junction, headed towards the Notch pass.  The trail got rockier and a little steeper - but still with switchbacks - as we went up and over the Notch.  It was quite windy here and even though the sun was shining and the sky was blue, it felt a little ominous with the wind and the looming cliffs and audible rockfall.  

One more year in the books

We descended on the other side of the pass, pausing at little Lovenia Lake.  As we got closer to Ibantik, the trail became a small stream - there's so much water in the Uintas, compared to the rest of Utah - which eventually turned aside to join a larger creek that poured into the lake.  A carved wooden sign let us know when we had reached Ibantik and we walked across the rocks, past a backpacker's tent tucked into the trees, and down onto the lake's shore.

Looming cliffs

Ibantic isn't a big lake, although it is larger than most of the others we'd hiked past.  With trees on the far shore and cliffs and scree fields dominating the landscape, it's fairly dramatic.  When the wind would pause, it was very quiet and the whole scene made me want to do a weekend backpacking trip.  It has been literal decades since I've backpacked - wonder if I remember how?

Since we were doing an out-and-back (there is a loop option but you would need a shuttle car because it comes out at the Bald Mountain trail head), we simply retraced our route to go back.  H and Milton pulled ahead of me - H is faster than I am on gradual slopes; and M is just fast - but I caught up to them back at Wall Lake, where they had just finished up a swimming lesson for Milt.  He was pretty tired by the time we got back to the car: while we had a beer and talked to a flyfisherman, M actually climbed into the car to nap on the back seat.

Both H and I really liked this hike: easier on the feet than many Uintas trails; plenty of water for the dog; and done midweek, very few people so it really felt like we were able to get away for a bit.  Cheers to Ibantik!

Hike stats:  8.64 miles; moving 3:05 hours / 2.8 m.p.h.; overall 3:46 /2.2; 1,610' of elevation

 

another lost weekend (slightly less so)

All this blown-in wildfire smoke is a huge bummer.  I mean, not so much a bummer as for the poor people in California and Oregon where the smoke is coming from, of course.  But for once Utah has done really well at not having so many of its own wildfires (@#$%^&* human-caused Pack Creek one notwithstanding) and yet it is by far the most smoke-filled summer since we've been here - and it isn't even Utah smoke!  

Still sunflower season in Dimple Dell

(you can see how grey the sky is from the smoke)

It's just a bummer because the reason we moved here is because of the outdoors opportunities and all this smoke is forcing us to curtail outdoors activities.  Case in point: last weekend, when Milton and I did our Dimple Dell walk (around 4ish miles) and H rode his road bike for about an hour early in the morning before the skies got completely choked.

No snow left in the Apron

Sunday I drove up to Alta and did my go-to exercise loop: park above Albion; walk up the Summer Road a bit; cut over to the Albion meadows trail; connect to the Catherine's Pass trail; climb up to the Sunset Peak junction and then across the top of Supreme Bowl; descend via the Supreme access road through the campground; and then back through lower Sunnyside.  The last time I'd done this loop was July, when the wildflowers - and the hoi polloi - were out in force.  This time, the flowers were definitely past peak and I saw way, way fewer people (yay!)

once more into the creek

As in weekends past, Milton and I returned to Millcreek for our Sunday morning, pre-drive north hike.  H dropped us off at the mostly empty trailhead and we didn't see anyone on the outbound trip.  We went all the way out to the hitching post, ate some dog biscuits (those of us who refused to eat our kibble before heading out on the hike, that is) and then retraced our steps.

Happy, happy boy

There was quite a bit of splashing and wading and jumping and biting at the water in the creek - there was even some inadvertent swimming.  When we were almost back to where the forks of the canyon join, we ran into our neighbor Amelia and her puppy Moscow.  Moscow got Milt to play a little bit of chase but Milton had done enough running earlier that he wasn't down for a serious game of tag.

Almost swimming

When we got to the dam, I texted H; when we got back to the parking lot he was just rolling in.  We had enough time to crack a couple of beers and talk with some tourists in the parking lot before we had to pack it in for the weekend.  I do love Millcreek (and the Moab Brand trails) but I am looking forward to some cooler temperatures that will entice us to some different terrain.

smoke 'em if you got 'em

 Northern Utah had been super-smoky with the blown-in smoke from the California and Oregon wildfires but southern Utah had kept fairly clear skies.  Until about Thursday, when the winds changed.  With our typical good timing, we headed down Thursday night and as we drove into town, we couldn't even see the LaSal mountains for all the haze.  In addition, temperatures were going to ratchet up several notches for the weekend and with the smoke-choked skies, wouldn't cool off very much overnight.

Friday morning was still wicked smoky

(there are mountains there somewhere)

Because we knew it was going to get hot, we planned to get up and out early so as to get our MTBing done before the heat kicked into high gear.  We also didn't want to drive very far so we could get back in time to give the dog a short walk before the pavement heated up too much.  That meant MOAB Brand Trails for both our Friday and Saturday rides and each time we were on the trail well before 8 a.m.  (So, only sort of early, I guess.)

Friday we did some of our old school route: out through the cow pasture to Rusty Spur, to Bar M around to the parking lot cut-off, out across Copper Ridge Road - which was in pretty rough shape after all the monsoonal rain Moab has been getting - to the upper portion of Lazy-EZ.  In addition to the washouts on Copper Ridge Road, we noticed that because of the recent downpours there was a lot of sand in places that don't usually have sand - disconcerting at best and alarming in a couple of spots.  No crashes though and we were safely back home well before it hit 104 F for the day's high.

Finishing the slickrock ramp

Some of the haze dissipated overnight bringing clearer skies Saturday morning (before the smoke blew back in that afternoon), which was nice.  We were back at the trailhead by 7:30 a.m. along with at least five different tour groups: in Park City, the MTB tour time magic hour is 10:30 a.m. but that's way too late in the day in Moab this time of year.  We saw one huge school group of preteen boys from Idaho several times along our ride but largely had the trails to ourselves.

This time we did the front half of Lazy-EZ to Rusty Spur to Bar M, then continued out along Bar B to the Arches National Park boundary.  Nobody goes up there and the final approach is up a long, level slickrock slab - my favorite kind of climbing.  After going back the way we came on Bar B, we finished out Bar M, with H going the long way around and with me taking the shorter but much sandier double-track below North 40.  It took me a fair bit longer than usual because I had to deal with some small washouts and a lot of sand.  Again, we wrapped things up and were home to hang out in the A/C with Milton before the day's high of 103 F.  That's just hot.

askjldfalsd

clementine ranch

We recently had the opportunity to join our friends E and K at their weekly volunteer session at the Clementine Ranch in Herriman, Utah.  The ranch is a sanctuary for rescued farm animals; an organic greenhouse and recording studio are in the works.  It is a tiny operation, located on five acres and surrounded by looming housing developments, but it cares for over two hundred animals.  

"You gonna give me those apples or what, human?"

E and K go there one night a week to feed all the animals: emus, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, Mr. Beautiful the peacock, pigs, goats, sheep, alpacas, horses (mini, regular and draft size), a donkey and a small herd of cattle, including three Highland cattle.  And Lacey, the Akbash livestock guard dog who has a ferocious bark to all those on the outside of her fence but who begs for belly rubs once you've been introduced.

Enjoying an apple

Some of the animals are a little belligerent (Eddie, the fiesty rooster, for example) but most of them are very friendly: sheep who lean in for butt scritches, pigs who roll over for belly rubs, Suzette the turkey who follows E around like a puppy, Sven the huge steer who took a liking to H.  When we were burying a turkey who had died - age 18! - a number of curious cattle and goats came over to see what we were doing. 

Spencer checking out H's work

The ranch is doing good work on a shoestring budget, relying on its volunteer caregivers.  We met a number of them that evening and it was evident that everyone involved has huge hearts when it comes to giving these animals a safe place to live out their lives.  Even mean ol' Eddie. 

Sven and Lacey looooove H

lost weekend

 With California and Oregon ablaze, Utah has recently been inundated with blown-in wildfire smoke, obscuring the Salt Lake Valley as badly as any inversion smog we've seen.  It was throat-burningly, eye-itchingly bad on Friday, with unhealthy air warnings for everyone, not just vulnerable people.  We could not see the mountains on either side of the valley and it sure wasn't a good idea to go outside for recreating.  Saturday was cooler and a little bit clearer; Sunday was fairly clear in the morning, although slightly warmer, but by 11 a.m., the winds had changed and we got socked in again.

Yum!

Saturday: Milton and I did our 3.25 mile walk, then I weeded the east side of the house, and then we stayed inside all the rest of the day, uninspired to do much more than put away clean laundry, read and watch videos.

Art/mailbox

Sunday: Milton and I did our 3.25 mile walk while H mowed the lawn for the first time since June (we've barely been running the sprinklers - because drought - and anything green is a weed, so the edging took a long time), then I weeded the north side of the house, and then we decided we should go to lunch at Grid City to celebrate all the yard work.  We both had pale ales; H had seitan wings with the house hot sauce; and I had a "Bangkok bowl" with roasted cauliflower, broccolini, edamame, creamy corn and pickled jalapenos.  Delicious!  and nice to get out of the house for a minute.

But seriously, without any hiking, cycling or MTBing, it really feels like a waste of a weekend.

catch me if you can

 We had to drive back to SLC on Sunday and wanted to both stop at Ray's Tavern for burgers and not get caught up in any awful Sunday evening traffic.  This left just enough time for Milton and me to do our Millcreek hike.  There were a coupld of other vehicles in the parking lot when we got there but once we started walking, we had the place to ourselves.  For a while anyway: we did the right fork and just as we'd gotten to the last place you have to cross the creek, this young brown dog came barreling up to us.  He and Milton looked at each other and then the brown dog raced away, with Milton in hot pursuit.  I said, I know that dog and sure enough, just across the creek was our neighbor Amelia, out giving Moscow his daily exercise.

I wish this showed how fast they were

I walked with her up to the first cowboy jacuzzis, which was as far as she had planned to go, as the two dogs chased and chased each other up and down the trail.  Milton is fast but Moscow, a couple years younger, is faster.  They're both rez dogs, though, so there was no barking, just joy and lots of energy being expended.  When Amelia turned back, Milt and I continued up the trail.  At the second pools, I heard the jingling of a collar as Moscow raced up to us again.  So we walked him halfway back until he took off.  He found us one more time - more racing, more chasing - until he disappeared back down the canyon for good.  At this point, Milt was pretty tired and there wasn't any need to go all the way up to the hitching post to try to wear him out for the drive north.  Clearly, chasing puppies is the cure for dogs with slight car anxiety.

jeepish

 It's always a challenge finding a dog-friendly summer hike in Moab: it's just so darn hot and, being the desert, so little shade.  We've stayed away from the LaSal mountains ever since the Pack Creek fire so that has taken away our usual go-to desert heat escape (we'll have to go check it out at some point to see how the trails fared).  With the recent deluge, we thought Jeep Arch might be a decent option, hoping to find some water in the wash for the way out.

Views for days

Since it's summer, most of the tourists in town are from away (i.e., not Utahns or Coloradans), so they tend to stick to the parks.  Good!  We were the first ones to pull into the parking area; we were still the only ones there when we came back out.  It was slightly warmer than it had been for the Amasa Back hike but not nearly as humid, and we were early enough that the summer sun felt good on our skin.

Water break at Jeep Arch

People keep building cairns where they shouldn't so we missed the veer-left to do the loop portion clockwise.  We realized our mistake before too long and managed to make our way back up to the correct trail by sticking to the slickrock.  (On the way back, we kicked over a bunch of those cairns so as to help keep people on the right track.  Folks: don't build cairns on established trails.)

The boys

On the return leg, we found more water in the wash than we've ever seen.  Milton splashed right into every decent pool he could find, cooling his belly and paws and drinking his fill.  We even heard frogs in one of the larger pools.  In a couple of spots we had to choose our footing carefully because the mud was really slick.

Taking a break

Another sign that the summer slow season is still in effect is that only one of the group campsites at Goldbar campground was occupied.  We poached the shaded picnic tables at another one for post-hike rehydration.  The Colorado River is so low right now that they've closed the boat ramp at this location - there's just no water to back your trailer into.  I suspect you can still use it for kayaks or SUPs but you'll have to walk your watercraft out to the main channel.

Rooted

Hike stats: 4.14 miles (which seems shorter than before?); moving 1:44 hours / 2.4 m.p.h.; overall 2:08 / 2.0; 970' elevation

floodlands

A series of monsoonal storms nailed Utah starting about a week ago, including flash floods that inundated Moab's Main Street Wednesday, leaving some intersections awash in +/- two feet of muddy water.  We were twitchy enough about the flooding that we took an impromptu long weekend to go check things out, leaving Thursday after work and taking Friday off.  As it turned out, our place is just a little bit higher than the low parts of town and we were fine.  The waters had receded by then, leaving Main Street covered with a skimcoat of dry red dirt.

Kane Creek Road washout

On Friday, we went to check out Kane Creek which had been impacted by the flash floods, along with Pack Creek and Hunter Canyon.  The water was only running about ankle-deep but the damage was readily apparent, starting with a newly-repaired washout just after the Amasa Back hiker/biker parking lot.  

 

Sign says: Trail closed due to flood damage, 

debris dams and bridge washout

The connector trail between that lot and the Amasa Back trailhead was closed.  That trail runs along Kane Creek which had completely flooded the whole drainage, pulling the bridge off its footings and stranding debris well over ten feet above the creek bottom.  A tree had come down at the main creek crossing as well, blocking the Amasa Back trails to any motorized traffic.  That was fine with us: we only saw one MTBer out there with us.

Usually there's a 4x4 road here

It was really humid - like, East Coast-style, 83% humidity - when we started but it did dry out a bit after we got away from the creek and up on the mesa.  There were lots of puddles for Milton to drink out of, although he did end up wearing his white t-shirt as the sun got higher in the sky.  We went up Hymasa to the Jackson's Hole overlook, and then down the 4x4 road.

Still damp and lots of puddles up here

It was a pretty chill hike, with no one else around; it's a real gift anytime we get these trails to ourselves.  Milt overdid it, per usual, and crashed for a cat-nap in the parking lot while H and I had a beer, and then he didn't even lift his head later in the day when we walked over to Woody's.

It's possible he overdid it

Hike stats: 6.35 miles; 2:11 / 2.9 m.p.h. moving; 2:27 / 2.6 m.p.h. overall; 990' elevation

it never rains but it pours

 We have not, in fact, gotten swept away (yet) with all the Utah flash flooding - seriously, it's crazy out there, with flooding in Moab, Cedar City, Enoch (wherever that it), both Cottonwood Canyons, the Avenues - but we are behind in posting.  Here's a photo from a portion of the Hymasa MTB trail, as yet untouched after the latest round of rain:

More soon ...