Chris, at the lakes Dog and Mary junction.
Click on an image for a full-sized version.

Images:

• SDIM2708 - The bog that is Lake Dog.
  
• SDIM2709 - The structure that is in some way used by snowboarders - during the winter, of course.
  
• SDIM2710 - A view across the way, including Sunset Peak, last week's destination.  This view is taken from a point during the ascent of the summit cone.
  
• SDIM2711 - Dale and Shauna on the peak, with Chris just arriving.
  
• SDIM2713 - Bruce, having just arrived on the peak, leaning against a familiar rock - see #3653 from the July 12, 2006 hike.  Sorry about the really-intense lens flare, but there this really bright thing in the background...
  
• SDIM2723 - An attempt to see if there was going to be a "Green Flash" from the sun at the instant that it set.
  
• SDIM2726 - The obligatory group picture.  L->R:  Chris, Dale, Shauna, Gordon, Clint, Bruce.
  

Notes:

More good weather.

Not too hot in the valley, but little impetus was required to choose a high-altitude hike, again.  Because the sunset is still fairly late (but getting earlier!) we chose one of the longer-duration treks in our Wednesday Night Hike repertoire - Clayton Peak.

Piling into vehicles - Bruce and I were with Chris, and Dale and Shauna were together - we started up the canyon.  We'd gotten as far as the exit of the parking lot when we noticed that Dale was already there waiting, having left unnoticed by us.  This immediately brought to mind the question:  "Where's Gordon?"  Dale had assumed that he was with us, and we had thought that Dale was still in the parking area, waiting for Gordon:  Dale turned back at about the time that Gordon appeared on the radio, clearly puzzled as to what had happened to everyone.

Finally, with everyone accounted for, we buzzed up the canyon with Chris making it to the Brighton parking lot several minutes before Dale.  Starting up the trail, Bruce muttered something about having forgotten his walking sticks, but decided that he could survive without them.  Before too long, we separated into our usual groups:  The "Fast" group (a relative term, I suppose) and the "half-slow" group, with Bruce and Gordon being the constituents of the latter.

The well-worn trail up the Brighton ski run was well-populated with others on their way up, and even more people on their way down:  Those returning from destinations above often made comments about the mosquitoes - a not-too-surprising observation considering the relative lateness of "spring" up there.  Passing Lake Dog, I noticed that it was its usual, boggy self - probably one of the many sources of mosquitoes in the area.  As we continued along the trail, entering the stands of trees, we noticed a few newly-felled trees - likely victims of the past winter - that had not been cleared from the trail necessitating, in some cases, that we walk around them.  Also in the north-ish facing slopes within the trees were the occasional snowbanks, but these posed little difficulty as they too were easy to walk through or around.

Crossing one of the higher ski runs, I noticed what looked from the back like a simple stage (#2709):  Knowing that that wasn't likely its purpose, Chris pointed out the numerous hillocks that had been built along the run, explaining that this was primarily a snowboard area and that the large, wooden stage-like construction was some part of the snowboarding scene:  Although I am not too familiar with the sport, I could still visualize its use - perhaps somewhat akin to the rails used by skateboarders.

Continuing past the run the trail re-entered the trees and switched back, soon reaching Snake Creek pass.  We were surprised that Dale and Shauna, who had been behind us some distance, where already there, having followed the trail that had begun just past the ski lift.  Together, we went up the road and arrived at the base of the summit cone.  From there, Dale and Shauna continued along the road while Chris and I started up the traditional trail along the south-ish edge of the mountain.  It wasn't too long before we paused, amidst clouds of mosquitoes, to apply some DEET repellent, as we were being voraciously fed upon by the bloodthirsty bugs.  Having made ourselves even more-repulsive, we wandered back-and-forth along the steeply-climbing trail.  Just below the top, the summit itself came into view and Dale and Shauna were already there as they'd followed another trail up the mountain that had started just past the lift. I noted that Shauna was offering the "Australian salute" repeatedly:  As soon as I arrived she said "I hear that you have mosquito repellent!"  As soon as I could doff my pack, I offered her some and she gladly applied it.

At about this time Bruce and Gordon had made it to the pass and weren't too far from starting up the summit cone.  Some time later, Bruce appeared, staggering onto the summit just a few minutes before sunset.  It wasn't for another several minutes that Gordon arrived - just in time for the obligatory group picture.  A short time later - and several degrees colder in the gathering breeze - we started down while there was still enough light to pick our way down the steep trail.  While the majority of us descended down the steep trail on the south side of the block, Chris went down west-ish side and was planning to follow the ski run to the bottom.

Unlike last year, where Gordon managed a painful mis-step, the descent back to Brighton was uneventful - except for Bruce, who noticed a pair of eyes staring back at him in the dark when he was near the bottom of the ski run:  A large bull moose was determined to be the source of the ocular apparition.  As usual, Chris got back to his vehicle first and had reportedly been waiting for about 40 minutes before Bruce arrived - and reminded him not to forget his walking sticks, which had been in the back seat the entire time.  Gordon and I arrived last and we made sure that he was in a vehicle before taking off!

Riding with Chris, we made a fairly fast descent of the canyon, arriving at the parking lot several minutes before Dale.  From there, we went our separate ways.

• None this time

• None this time

None this time

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks)

• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.

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.


Some of the above information was 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.  (Usually, an SD-14.)
  
• 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.  Additional suffixes of the image file name may include "sh" to indicate that some "de-blurring" was done, "mb" for correction of motion blur, and "crop" denoting that the image was cropped.
  
• 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.
• Audio clips, if any, were recorded using a Zoom H-2 audio recorder.
  

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