mt. wire

 After eleven years, H and I have learned a lot about the hiking trails along the Wasatch Front.  We haven't nearly done all of them, however, and when our friend Ted suggested Mt. Wire for last Saturday - because it isn't ten miles and is off-leash dog-friendly - we readily agreed.  Mt. Wire is basically downtown, behind the University and Red Butte Garden.  Ted has discovered one of my favorite hiking blogs, Girl on a Hike, and he thought the south ridge sounded good.  (Apparently you can also ascend Mt. Wire from a trail above the Living Room.)

You can't tell but this is so steep

We met at the Rotary Park lot, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, and were amazed at how many road cyclists were out and about - way more than we ever see on the roads down where we live.  Between the trail guide I printed out and the map on Ted's phone, we made our way through the myriad of trails crisscrossing the foothills until we reached the ridgeline trail.

Downtown SLC with Stansbury Island in the distance

Let me be clear here: this trail goes up over 2,000 feet in 2.5 miles.  That is a LOT of up.  This trail is mostly very steep, with no shade whatsoever and loose gravel often under foot.  I would certainly not take a dog on it in the summer time but in the middle of October, with a cool wind blowing, Milton had no problem.  He even stuck to the trail most of the time instead of running further afield; I think the scrub oaks hemmed him in.

Happy tails/trails

Mt. Wire is topped with an old tower, which will add even more elevation if you climb it.  Neither Ted nor I was tempted; H went about two-thirds of the way up.  The wind was stronger here and we all quickly put layers on so we wouldn't get chilled.  There are 360-degree views, all across the Salt Lake valley, to Antelope and Stansbury Islands and up Emigration Canyon.

Summit

When we headed back down on the same trail, I was glad I had brought my hiking poles.  It was, for the most part, less slippery than we had expected but it was (as previously mentioned) very, very steep.  We got down quickly, however, and when our feet hit the mostly-flat Bonneville Shoreline Trail, it felt great.  We said good-bye to Ted, vowing that the next hike would be not-too-long but also not-too-steep.

Up, up and away

I knew my quads were going to be sore and sure enough, when we got up Sunday, I knew that MTBing wasn't in the cards for me: I would be even slower than I normally am.  So while H had a great ride at Round Valley, not stopping and doing a lot of climbing with Rusty Shovel, Happy Gilmor/Tin Man, Rambler and PorcUClimb, Milton and I walked, meeting lots of very friendly dogs along the way.