Elaine, at the informational sign at the Willow Heights trailhead.
Click on an image for a full-sized version.

Images:

The images for this hike were provided by a number of the participants.  Since a lot of pictures were provided and because a number of the photographs are of the same thing (such as the moose) not all photographs were included - probably to the great relief of the photographer!

These pictures are (more or less) in chronological order... I think...

W7DBA_01 - Preparations at the trailhead, before the hike.
IMG_0017 - The marker at the start of the Willow Heights trail.
IMG_1354 - Forest Service signage
IMG_0021 - The leaf-littered trail heading upwards, through the aspen grove.
IMG_0022 - Much of the group headed up the trail.
IMG_0024 - Sunlight on some of the turning aspen leaves.
DSCN1879 - Not too far up from the trailhead, much of the group making its way up the trail.
DSCN1881 - Along the trail, the changing aspen leaves.
DSCN1882 - Gordon, stopping to rehydrate.
IMG_1355 - Elaine approaches Bruce, Gary, Brett, and Bryan on the way up.
IMG_1356 - The rear view as the group crosses the meadow.
IMG_1357 - At least one aspen has decided to turn color
IMG_0025 - Brett, seemingly surprised to be having his picture taken.
IMG_0034 - Elaine and Gordon, crossing the sunlit meadow.
DSC02560 - Just past the meadow, before the lake, most of the group.
W7DBA_09 - A view across the meadow, with Elaine and Gordon approaching.
W7DBA_10 - A view across the meadow, just before the beaver pond.
IMG_1358 - The view south toward Solitude.
IMG_0037 - The obligatory group picture.  L->R:  Gary, Bruce, Bryan, Gordon, Elaine, Brett, and Ron
IMG_0038 - From across the pond, a moose, browsing in the wetlands around the water.
W7DBA_13 - A whole gaggle of people, taking a picture of the moose on the other side of the pond.
W7DBA_15 - Gary, doing something hardly ever seen anymore:  Changing the film in his camera.
DSC02561 - Near the beaver dam, a picture of people taking a picture of the moose.
DSC02562 - What it was that people were looking at in #2561, above.
IMG_0040 - Ron, taking a picture of Gary, being pictured by Elaine.
DSCN1886 - Gary and Gordon trying to photograph the moose across the pond.
DSCN1887 - Ron taking a picture of Gary taking a picture of the moose across the pond.  See IMG_0040 above!
IMG_0043 - Gary, preparing to take a picture.
IMG_0048 - A view of the moose, representative of what Gary was seeing through the view of his camera.
IMG_1360 - View across the lake
IMG_1361 - Many of our photos are likely of others taking photos
IMG_1366 - Sunset down canyon from the campsite area
W7DBA_18 - The moon over the Willow Heights pond.
W7DBA_19 - Members of the group, perhaps dangerously close to the moose!
IMG_0061 - The moose - up close!

IMG_00xx - Ron
IMG_13xx - Gordon
DSC025xx - Bruce
DSCN18xx - Elaine
W7DBA_xx - Brett

Note:  I guessed at the descriptions of the pictures - except for Gordon, who supplied his own.

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Notes:


Due to my being unable to participate this week, this hike was chronicled by Gordon.  Any similarities to past events or to persons living or dead is purely conincidental.  Your mileage may vary.  Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball ^TM!

The hike, according to Gordon:

Approximate times:
Started hiking: 1842
Reached the meadow: 1910
Reached the dam: 1917
Back at the cars: Dunno, probably about 2010

Some sort of description:

The assemblage at the parking lot included Bryan, Brett, Bruce, Ron, Elaine, Gary, and me. This was some sort of historic event in that we already knew where we were going. It was only one day past the autumnal equinox, so the destination was the traditional last hike of the season: the beaver dam lake at Willow Heights. Elaine had decided that this was within her capabilities and she would accompany us for the full hike! We divided up into two cars and headed up canyon.

Part way up we heard Dale calling us on the '62 repeater. I was in Elaine's new car with Ron and Gary. Unfortunately, putting a radio in the car had not come to the top of  the Joneses' priority list, so the best we could do was respond with a rubber duck inside the car (and inside the canyon). We tried the '62 input and output trying to tell Dale to just come up the canyon and join us, We weren't able to tell that the message ever got through.

We knew that Clint would be unable to join us on this hike, so everyone was prepared with cameras to record as much as possible for the web site. (Is a concealed camera permit necessary in Utah?) I lost sight of the rest of the party while shooting signs at the start of the trail, but before too long came upon Elaine who was enjoying a rest on one of the steeper parts of the trail. She recalled that the old Willow Heights trail was somewhat less steep, and wondered why the new "improved" trail was necessary. Possibly to appease cabin owners near the old trail?

We heard Ron call Dale several times on '54 but, alas, there was no answer. Before too much longer we came upon Bruce, Gary, Brett, and Bryan just about the time we heard from Ron on the radio saying,

"I just noticed I'm alone. Where is everyone?"

Before long we reached the gentle open area and rejoined Ron. Ron and Elaine remarked at how much color had appeared in the leaves in the two weeks or so since they had been to this same location. We paused to take pictures in various directions.

We reached the beaver dam and looked in vain for the ducks that are usually there looking for a handout. No ducks could be found, but a moose was browsing on the far side of the lake. We paused here for the obligatory group photo figuring that light would be leaving us soon. Ron made a cell phone call to Dale at this point and found that he had given up meeting us, citing low fuel level and not feeling in greatest of health.

As Elaine predicted from her previous trip, the dam itself was so overgrown that the trail along the top was somewhere between faint and non-existent. We took a well-beaten route through the channel below the dam and continued to the north side of the lake. We still saw no ducks, but the moose had moved to this same side of the lake and was now in much better picture-taking range. Unfortunately, moose seem to have no sense of good lighting.

We continued around the lake stopping on the hill with the campsite and dugout that we had discovered on previous trips. Here we had a final view of sunset light down the canyon.

We proceeded back to the cars discussing esoteric things like whether our yardsticks are expanding along with the rest of the universe.

While we were saying our good-byes in the parking lot at the mouth of Big Cottonwood, we got to see a very bright pass of the space shuttle. It made it about three-quarters of the way across the sky before fading out. Bruce, Brett, Gary, and I decided to finish the evening with pizza and bluegrass at Rocky Mountain Pizza, our only visit for the whole season. We had a leisurely meal and talked a bit about our favorite hikes of the season, but still managed to escape before we could be cornered to hear a monologue about Tesla. It was a fine end to the evening and the season.



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This page maintained by Clint Turner, KA7OEI and was last updated on 20091106  (Copyright 2009 by Clint Turner and those credited above.  All rights on images and text are reserved.)