Images (.JPG format):

• SDIM1237 - The bog that is Lake Dog, along the trail to Clayton Peak.
• SDIM1238 - Our destination:  Clayton Peak (a.k.a. Mount Majestic.)
  
• SDIM1239 - Where the hiking trail intersects the service road at Snake Creek Pass.  (That's Dale in the picture.)
  
• SDIM1241 - Chris, looking across the landscape with Timpanogos in the background.
• SDIM1242 - A zoomed-in view of Timp (that black dot is one of our friendly mosquitoes...)
• SDIM1243 - On a point about 2/3 of the way up the summit cone, Dale standing on the south ridge, waiting for Shauna.  Similar is #1244, with Dale remarking about the nearly-full moon.
• SDIM1246 - Mike, standing on one of the peaks to the north of Clayton.  You'll just have to take our word for it...)
• SDIM1250 - Ron, having a quick snack on Clayton.
• SDIM1252 - Dale and Shauna relaxing with the setting sun in the background.
  
• SDIM1254 - The obligatory group photo atop Clayton Peak:  Missing were Mike and Gordon. L->R:  Shauna, Dale, Bryan, Ron, Clint, and Chris.  Here is an unconvincing example what the group photo might have looked like had everyone made it to the summit...
• SDIM1257 - A view, after sunset toward the west.
  

• Clayton Peak Panorama - This is a composite of two pictures, taken from the peak just after sunset.
  

• None this time

• None this time

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 904k)
  
• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.  Only the "downhill" portion has been included, due to dropouts of GPS data on the "uphill" side.
  

This week, we went to Clayton Peak, one of the highest-elevation destinations in our Wednesday Night Hike repertoir.

Arriving at Brighton, we were pleased to note, upon starting up the trail, that we weren't being completely devoured by mosquitoes - quite a contrast from our Catherine Pass hike just two weeks ago:  This difference was probably due to the aging of the brood that had infested the area earlier as well as a slight breeze that probably reduce their ability to seek prey:  The hike wasn't entirely mosquito-free, but at least it was possible to keep moving and swat them away and most of the party didn't bother to apply DEET.

Mike C., who'd met us briefly at the bottom of the canyon, realized that he urgently needed to get home before hiking, so he quickly headed off - promising to come up from the Guardsman Pass side and attempt some sort of rendezvous - even if only by radio.

Starting out, Gordon decided that he'd best play it safe and take it easy, not expecting to make it to Clayton Peak, but rather just to Snake Creek Pass.  Leaving him in the dust (but still in contact via radio) we continued up, passing Lake Dog and crossing the ski runs - noting the occasional presence of a bank of snow in the shaded, north-facing areas.

Making it up to Snake Creek Pass we enjoyed the view to the south and east, seeing the majestic Timpanogos lit by the soon-to-be-setting sun.  Continuing up the road, we started our assault on the Clayton Peak summit block, zig-zagging back-and-forth on the western face, following the occasionally-indistinct trail.  As it seems to do to someone on every trip, Dale and Shauna, in the lead, followed a false trail and found themselves bushwacking.  Bryan, Ron and I managed to follow the "real" trail, leaving Dale and Shauna to work their way upwards, having seen where we'd gone.

At about the time that we started up the summit block, Mike appeared on the radio, on his way to one of the minor peaks to the north of Clayton.  While he had no expectation of possibly getting to Clayton, he was, nevertheless, planning to top out, having gotten some hiking in despite his foiled plans.  Several minutes before sunset, on the final approach to Clayton, we heard from Mike again:  He'd topped out and was looking at Clayton.  Shortly, he reported seeing someone atop Clayton (Chris) and I asked him to hang around for the extra couple of minutes that it would take for me to get to the top so that I could get his picture:  Braving mosquitoes, he politely obliged, retreating back to the car shortly afterwards.

Gordon soon arrived at Snake Creek pass and decided to stay there and enjoy the sunset while the rest of us did the same on the peak, taking time to pose for the obligatory group picture - sans Mike and Gordon.  After watching the sun set and enjoying the view of the underlit clouds, we started heading back down the steep trail while there was still enough light to do so without needing flashlights.

Reuniting with Gordon at Snake Creek Pass, we continued down, Chris being far ahead of the pack.  Gordon, still taking it easy - not wanting to stress his mostly-recovered knee - suddenly found himself on his back, having mis-stepped in the dark.  After taking a few minutes to recover his breath, we helped him up and soon found him a walking stick (or two) to aid his descent on his now-painful knee.  Chris, who was most of the way back to the car, was informed via radio that there would be a delay in our return and that we were hopeful that it wouldn't be necessary to call in a helicopter.

Taking it easy - and particularly with the help of Bryan - Gordon made it down safely, carefully squeezing himself into Bryan's Jeep, and we made the rest of the trip down the canyon (and to our respective homes) without further incident.

According to Keller, Clayton Peak is named after Professor J.E. Clayton, a mining engineer who lived in the Salt Lake area during the 1870's and 1880 and it was the Emma Mine (near Alta) for which he did much engineering work - both for its one-time British owners as well as for the later congressional investigation concerning the scandal involving that mine.

Clayton Peak acquired that name while Prof. Clayton was still in the area, but many locals referred to this same mountain (and still do) as Mount Majestic.

BTW, the lake just "below" Clayton Peak (to the East-Northeast) is Lake Lackawaxen.

Dog Lake is the body of water found at the top of Mill-D North Fork.  It is not to be confused with the "Dog Lake" found in the Brighton Bowl but referred to on these pages as "Lake Dog."  Both lakes are so-named because they once harbored "Dogfish" - the 19th-century common name for Salamanders.

Much of the above 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.
  

Go to the 2008 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike page or the Wednesday Night Hike Cross-Index page