Images (.JPG format):

• SDIM1381 - A view back down the road, from Scott's Pass.
• SDIM1382 - Mike and Ron discussing important issues of the day at Scott's Pass.
• SDIM1383 - From atop Scott's Peak (ak.a. Scott's Hill) a view toward the East.  There's also something else visible in this picture - a result of the sun's low-angle rays, as this contrast-enhanced picture reveals more readily:  Crepuscular Rays.
• SDIM1384 - A view toward the northwest:  George Peak, site of last year's Optical Communications record (see below) about 132 miles distant, is at the center.  For a closer view, look at the annotated picture.
• SDIM1386 - Mike and Ron, taking refuge on the leeward side of Scott's Peak.
• SDIM1388 - Toward the north is the Scott's Hill communications site.
• SDIM1391 - The obligatory group picture.  L->R:  Gordon, Mike, Brett, Bruce, Ron and Clint.
  

• None this time

• None this time

• None this time

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 478k)
  
• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.
  

We live on a swiftly-tilting planet - or so it would seem by the rate at which the days are shortening.

With only a few hikes left in the 2008 season, we picked one that provides a nice view and an easy-to-follow path along the road - something that is particularly helpful if the return trip is in the dark - plus, we hadn't gone there for a while:  Scott's Peak.

A mile or two west-ish along the ridge from Guardsman Pass, the trail - really a service road for the radio site - starts at last switchback in the road (on the Brighton side) below Guardsman.  The path takes one across a fairly large swath of privately-owned mining land (which is, fortunately, open for hiking and biking) to a Scott's Pass, down which one would descend toward Park City.

We didn't go that way, instead taking a sharp left (west) turn at the pass, following the road along the side of the ridge.  Before too long (and after a switchback or two) it travels just below the top of the ridge, passing a pair of cell sites and leading on to the Scott's Hill radio site.

It was not to the radio site that we went, but rather, Scott's Peak - the mass that looms over the two cell sites.  There really isn't a trail that goes up from the road (either that, or we are blissfully unaware of one...) so we struck out up the hill, wandering upwards just before getting to the cell sites.  After a few minutes of climbing and stumbling around the rocky slope, we made it to the peak - a fact verified by a handy marker placed there in 1988 by Salt Lake Country.

While on the peak, we noticed that we could see where we parked our cars.  Ron, looking through a monocular, noticed something else:  Someone lurking about his Jeep.  Of course, if they were intent on the perpetration of some nefarious deed he would have been powerless to do anything but watch in horrified fascination, but it became clear that this person seemed to be on a bicycle, waiting for others to arrive or get ready.

As you might expect, it gets cold at 10k+ at sunset, so the smart people wisely took refuge on the leeward side of the peak, facing Park City.  I was content to stay on top (although I did put on a jacket) and look around, taking pictures.  One thing of interest to me was the fact that I could, very easily, see George Peak, some 132 miles distant:  The reason that this was interesting was that I'd been there only a year or so ago, working to break some "Optical DX" records between it and Swasey Peak which is about 173 miles due south of George.  The interesting thing about being able to see it here (a fact that I'd verified in the past using computer topographical simulations) is that it is quite possible to drive to a spot near Scott's Peak that has line-of-sight to George - which is also "drivable" where some fairly easy testing can be done - if we wanted to do so.

As the sun sunk slowly in the west, the wind began to pick up a bit, and the temperature dropped below 40 degrees F, we decided that we'd better get going, so we took our obligatory group picture before everyone else started stumbling back down the rock-strewn hill in the gloaming.  Just as I was leaving I noticed a familiar object laying on the ground, so I picked it up.  After making it back to the road, managing to get ahead of everyone by following the faint vestiges of a trail along the ridge, I waited for the rest of the group to catch up and asked Gordon the question of the day, presenting him with the found object, his canteen:  He gratefully accepted.

Continuing our downward stumble in the dark (something that we often do even before sunset...) we got back to the car without obvious incident, beating the rear guard (consisting of Bruce, Brett and, possibly Gordon) by a few minutes.  We then wandered down-canyon and parted company until next time.

Scott's Hill gets its name from four members of the Scott family who, in about 1870, filed a claim for the "Scott Lode".  Within a year, the Scott's were gone from the scene, but the name remained.

Some of the above information is from the book "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller.

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