This is the nondescript gate at the bottom of the old road that leads into Beartrap Fork.
Click on an image for a full-sized version.

Images (.JPG format):

• SDIM1065 - Looking down onto Desolation Lake, just a few minutes before sunset.
• SDIM1066 - Looking to the north and east, toward Park City from above Desolation Lake.
• SDIM1068 - To the south, across Big and Little Cottonwood canyons.
• SDIM1070 - Alpenglow lighting on the trail that traverses above Desolation Lake, looking toward the south.
• SDIM1078 - A columbine - one of the many types of wildflower in bloom.
• SDIM1082 - The group gathered near the pass at the top of Beartrap Fork.
• SDIM1086 - The obligatory group picture, taken near the pass above Desolation Lake.  L->R:  Mike C., Bryan, Gordon, Chris and Clint
• SDIM1096 - The sunset, at the last instant of the sun's disk disappearing.
  

• None this time
  

• An attempt to start a coyote chorus - At the end of the traverse above Desolation Lake, Chris heard what sounded like a chorus of coyotes.  I decided to reposition myself to a location better-suited to hear this and set up a recorder:  We then tried to start a chorus with our own noises, but this was the result...  (mp3 file, 1.3 Meg)
  

• None this time

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 1.4MB)
  
• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.

Our hiking choices are slowly becoming less-limited:  With the recent higher temperatures, the higher-elevation destinations are starting to open up.  Nevertheless, we are still limited to wide-open trails on south-facing slopes.

This week, the suggestion was Beartrap fork.  Because this is one of the longer, steeper hikes, it is best to do this when the sunset is still fairly late - which is about now, but as it turns out, early-mid July is more-or-less typical of the time-of-year that we have recently done Beartrap Fork.  With a relatively small group this time, we piled into Chris's truck (and Bryan on his motorcycle) and headed up the canyon.  Mike, who was driving in from Park City, was slightly behind, but having notified him of our destination he was tailing us by only a few minutes.

The traditional Wednesday Night Hike trailhead for Beartrap Fork is a rather inconspicuous gate along the road - just a few hundred feet above the entrance for the Spruces Campground:  It is normal for us to drive up-canyon, overshoot it slightly after spotting it, and then park just above or below the gate after having made a U-turn.  After arriving at the trailhead, we called Mike on the radio to ask him where he was:  We got a rather weak, garbled reply, but could make out of the transmission that he was already up the canyon a bit.  As it turned out, Mike's mobile radio was having some problems and as he got closer, he had much better luck using his handie-talkie in the car.

Starting up the trail, Chris and I maintained a fairly steady pace, pulling ahead of the rest of the group, and we did this because we wanted to give time for the dust to settle behind us...  As we headed up the canyon, Chris had mentioned that he'd not hiked this trail before, but knew that it intercepted the Desolation Lake trail - one on which he'd ridden his bike several times - but couldn't quite work out how everything was connected up top.  After only a few minutes on the trail, we heard Mike announce on the radio (using his handie-talkie, still) that he'd arrived at the trailhead (having spotted Chris's truck with the callsign plate and Bryan's motorcycle) and was heading up.

The Beartrap Fork trail is one of those that brings to mind the oft-heard saying:  "It may be steep, but it's long..."  In addition to that, this trail also reminds you exactly what stinging nettle looks like - particularly if you are hiking in shorts:  With this trail being quite verdant, one gets the opportunity to see such things up-close.  The occasional stinging was somewhat offset by the fact that there was quite a nice show of wildflowers along the trail.

Another aspect of the Beartrap Fork trail is that it offers frequent stream crossings - at least a half-dozen.  Not too far above the trailhead, there's a small basin through which the stream runs, and for whatever reason, the stream and the trail become quite confused in that area requiring one to pay close attention to where the trail is supposed to go - but often, the stream has opportunistically chosen to follow this same course, requiring the hiker to make frequent course changes to avoid getting wet.

Above the meadow, the trail becomes steeper, crossing to and staying on the east-ish side of the stream.  As one continues upwards, it suddenly becomes apparent that the previously-noisy stream has suddenly fallen silent:  If you are observant, you'll see a point where it gushes suddenly out of the streambead, emerging from some unseen, underground watercourse.  We aren't quite sure of the source of the water, but suspect that there is some underground connection to Desolation Lake itself which is some distance away but about 200 feet higher in elevation.

Eventually, the clearly-defined trail peters out on a steep, rocky slope.  Earlier, Chris had wondered if it would be fun to ride a bike down this trail:  I suggested that once he saw the top part of this trail that he might reconsider such a suggestion - and after having seen it, he concurred, although he quickly added that he might be crazy enough to try it, anyway...

Topping out at the pass and on the trail, Chris now recognized where we were, finally able to piece the geography together in his mind.  We continued along the trail - occasionally having to quickly step off the narrow, deeply-rutted trail to try to avoid the bikers moving along at high speed.  In one instance, I didn't get quite far enough off the trail fast enough and the tube from my water bag got snagged on a biker's handlebar causing her to stop very quickly:  We both excused ourselves and she proceeded to walk her bike along the trail ahead of us - only to have to drag it off the trail when another biker came zooming along, expecting to pass her without slowing down.

Chris and I parked ourselves briefly at the end of the traverse above Desolation Lake, at the top of a rocky ridge apparently called "Red Lover's Leap."  This bit of the bike trail is apparently quite memorable, as it has some steep downhill sections and is very rocky - a combination that frequently results in damage to both the bike and its rider:  More than once I have been sitting near this spot, only to hear an expletive as someone going down that short segment of trail loses control!

Chris began to explore the ridge above the end of the trail, looking down into the ski area above Park City.  After a few minutes, he called me on the radio asking if I'd heard the coyotes howling and yipping:  I had not, but I grabbed some gear and headed over toward him, hoping to be able to record a canine chorus.  Starting the recorder, we tried to stimulate another round from the coyotes by our own howling and yipping, but heard nothing from them.  Oh well...

After having parked for a while, we called the rest of the group on the radio, but heard nothing but the occasional weak carrier, hence the question of the day.  As the shadows were quickly lengthening, we decided to start back toward the trailhead.  As Chris reached the pass, he spotted the rest of the group.  After reuniting, we enjoyed the warm colors of the sunset and posed for our obligatory group picture before starting down the long, steep trail.

Chris, leading the way, soon disappeared into the darkening forest while Bryan and I continued a fairly steady (and also fairly rapid) pace:  Mike and Gordon did their part in bringing down the rear - a very important task, lest we leave it behind somewhere!  Chris arrived at the trailhead 5-10 minutes ahead of Bryan and I and was wondering if it would be okay if he left earlier:  After a brief conversation on the radio with Mike (who was with Gordon) we concurred and he headed down.  Bryan and I stayed, waiting for Gordon and Mike to appear out of the darkness - which they did


After reuniting, we made our way uneventfully down the canyon.  At the bottom, Bryan continued home while Mike, Gordon and I wandered over the the Belgian Waffle place and enjoyed a dime lime.  On the way over, Mike's mobile radio quit entirely, forcing him to resort to an HT in the car.  After dinner, we had a chance to investigate and found two possble problems:  A loose mini-UHF antenna connector on the radio, and a flaky crimp and/or corroded connection at the battery that fed power to the radio.  After tightening both of these, his radio seemed to work again as it should.

According to Keller, Richard F. Burton - one of the principles of the Big Cottonwood Lumber Company - had been gone up Mill-E and wrote that, at that time, there was a small hut with one or two doors that fell when a bear tugged on the bait.  While it isn't known if this trap was set by the same person, someone named Mag Littleford had a cabin near Beartrap Fork and was known in later years to trap bears there.

Above the top of Beartrap Fork (and "sort of" in Mill D North Fork)  is Desolation Lake:  The origin of the name of this lake is unknown.

This information is from the book "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller.

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Comments about pictures taken by Clint:

• All images taken using a Sigma Digital SLR camera and were taken using the lens noted in the EXIF data.
• Because all of the images were originally taken stored in raw binary format, they have been down-processed to .JPG for web posting:  If requested, different color/contrast/brightness may be applied and/or higher-quality uncompressed versions may be available for most of these images.
• If you want one (or more) of these images and wish some sort of adjustment (color, brightness, exposure, etc.) please let me know:  All of these image have been processed in some way.
• These images are numbered in chronological order.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them may have definite focus/exposure "issues."
• EXIF data is present for most of the images, showing time, date, and precise exposure conditions.  Recent versions of Irfanview will show this in the "View->Image Information->EXIF" tab.
  
• Note that cropping/noise reduction required the use of another program which may have removed some/most of this EXIF data.
• Images suffixed with "h" (if any) are half-size.  This was done for images that were somewhat out of focus (due to misfocus or camera/subject movement associated with long shutter times) or those that required some extra noise reduction and had lost some detail anyway.
• If you took some pictures of the hike and send them to me, I'll post them - and give you the blame!
• The video clips, if any, were shot using a Panasonic DMC FZ-8 digital camera, have been re-compressed, and are of lower quality than the originals.
  

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