a little leg stretching

We had been visiting family last week, flying back to Salt Lake City with a 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning arrival (which felt like 2:30 a.m. to us since we'd been back east).  We slept in a little and then puttered around the house until about noon, making half-hearted stabs at the giant pile of laundry.  It was on the hot side down in the valley, however, so when we decided we needed to get out and get some exercise, we headed up to the cooler heights of Alta.

Fields of lupine

It was the last day of the Wasatch Wildflower Festival and although the festival's main focus on Sunday would be at Snowbird, I expected a lot of people milling around Albion Basin even so.  It actually wasn't as crowded as I expected; H commented that with the long weekend (July 24th is a state holiday, Pioneer Day), folks may have gone out of town.

Paintbrush and asters

We parked in the upper lot at Albion Base and worked our way up through Sunnyside to the summer road, and then getting on the trail that would take us up to Catherine's Pass.  No one passed us going up and, per usual, the crowds thinned the higher we got.  Once we kept going above the pass, we didn't see anyone until we had descended through Alta's ski trails to the campground.

Not a cloud in the sky

We both noticed that we were sucking wind after spending nearly a week at sea level in Maine, so the frequent stops to admire the just-past-peak wildflowers served two purposes: beauty and rest.  When we completed our loop and returned to the truck, the parking lots were slowly emptying.  The afternoon light was beautiful, as it usually is up there, and the temperatures pleasant - a good way to get our legs back under us again after a little time away.

View towards Brighton from Catherine's Pass