We seem to be stuck in a rut, repeating
ourselves...
Meeting in the parking lot at the usual time, we knew that our choices
were somewhat limited: We could pick a nice, cool high-altitude
hike such as Clayton or Sunset peak and risk being rained on and
possibly struck by lightning, or we could pick a lower-altitude
canyon-level hike and just risk being rained on.
We chose the latter - Silver Fork, specifically. (As it
turns out, we didn't go to Silver Fork in 2009.)
Actually, that's close, but not quite right - we picked Honeycomb Fork
- a side-canyon of Silver Fork.
When I arrived at the parking lot, I saw Tim's vehicle already there -
but no Tim. Figuring that he was elsewhere - perhaps talking to
one of the Wasatch Mountain Club members - I wandered around the
parking lot - but no Tim. Upon my return, I finally noticed that
the driver's seat was reclined and a recumbent Tim was occupying
it: As it turned out his work schedule had just changed from an
overnight to an all-day shift and he was attempting to
re-synchronize his circadian rhythms - especially today, since he'd had
to get up before 5 AM to get to work.
Before too long others arrived and we began to start to commence to
decide about making a
decision. As you probably figured, the weather looked to be a bit
threatening, so we considered another safe (or "ridge-free") hike and
the two obvious choices were Cardiff Fork and Honeycomb Fork.
As you already know, we chose Honeycomb Fork - but it was a difficult
decision: When we asked ourselves which one we wanted to do, the
consensus was a decisive "Awww, I 'dunno..." until we heard
"Honeycomb Fork!" from Tim's vehicle.
Well, we couldn't argue with that!
Just as we were about to leave, Gary showed up with his son Kevin in
the back seat. With Josh occupying the passenger seat in Gary's
car and everyone
else piling into my Jeep we started up-canyon, dodging the usual herds
of cyclists, finally arriving at a place recently familiar to us - the
entrance of the Solitude parking lot - but this time, all of our
vehicles arrived under their own power.
In yet another repeat of last week, it started to sprinkle on us as we
crossed the expansive parking lot under the (presumably) watchful gaze
of a Sheriff who'd just parked in the same lot and we soon found
ourselves turning left-ish instead of going straight, this time
following the service road toward the mouth of Honeycomb Fork.
Along the way, our eyes caught some of the wildflowers on display -
notably ones that looked very much like Sticky Geraniums in color and
petal shape, but whose flowers were, by comparison, somewhat closed and
cup-shaped as if they were sticky geraniums that had not yet
fully-opened. In looking around, we saw other flowers that looked
quite similar, so we concluded that this one plant was unlikely to be
an anomaly, so I photographed it and moved on.
Along this road, Kevin intermittently walked and was carried by Gary -
but Gordon observed that even when carrying Kevin, Gary seemed to have
no trouble out-pacing him. Before too long we came to the ski
lift that marked the mouth of Honeycomb Fork, a point at which the road
turned left and rapidly turned into a faint two-track trail, soon
crossing over to the west-ish side and entering a meadow. At this
crossover there is another trail that disappears to the right:
Following this path several year ago Gordon determined that this
descended into Silver Fork as he'd guessed, but had noticed something
rather peculiar about it: Initially, it was just a trail or old
road, but it soon developed into a nicely-graded road - only to
turn once again into a rather poor trail/road again. Hmmm...
Also at this junction - just as we exited the trees and entered the
"lower meadow" - we saw what we knew were Sticky Geraniums: I
also photographed these so that we could later compare them to the
previously spotted "geranium-like" flowers. While going through
the meadow we also noticed clear evidence of a 4-wheeled ATV's recent
passing as obviated by the pair of tracks of smashed plants straddling
the trail. We guessed as to whether this recent vehicular
activity in an area that was ostensibly closed to motorized vehicles
was related to someone legitimately maintaining a mining claim, or just
some interloper on a joyride through the canyon.
Before too long the old mining road entered the trees at which point it
became much steeper and very rocky. While this portion of the
trail isn't particularly difficult to navigate, it does border on the
arduous. Based on the present condition of the road it takes some
imagination to visualize how wagons or even vehicles might have managed
this road so many years ago - even when it would have been maintained.
Eventually, the old road breaks through the trees and enters another
meadow at which point one starts to see other evidence of past human
activity. The first thing that catches ones eye is the fact that
all around is stacked cordwood, all cut with chainsaw and in what
would originally have been neatly-stacked piles. As one continues
up the
road the past mining activity in this fork becomes evident, most
obviously in
the form of large mine dumps that mark the now-closed portals of
previous workings. Finally, if one continues farther up the trail
there are the remains of several buildings, now flattened to their
foundations and requiring the would-be investigator to be wary of the
many rusty wire nails sticking up and reflect on whether or not their
tetanus shots are up to date!
Soon after we crossed to the far side of this meadow Gary appeared
on the radio with the estimate that they were about halfway through the
steep portion of the old road and that he was considering calling it
good, needing to get back in a reasonable time for Kevin's
bedtime, but we suggested that he might as well go to
the meadow where we could take the obligatory group picture.
While they were on their way up, I decided to go a bit farther along
the old road and came to a rocky clearing that was festooned with all
sorts of wildflowers. While taking pictures of them, Gary
announced that he had just entered the meadow, so I wandered back down
in time to see Gordon approaching in the distance - followed shortly by
Gary and Kevin.
Reunited, we sat down and rested, drank our water and ate our snacks
with Tim having an apple and Bruce eating a banana while Kevin was
given some juice while Gary munched on some potato chips. Upon
seeing this, Tim asked Gary for the bag of chips - once it was emptied
of its contents - while holding up the now bare core of the
apple. This spawned a discussion of whether or not it would be OK
to simply throw away the apple core or even the banana peel that Bruce
now had in hand: Certainly, we didn't want to be responsible for
an invasive species of rocky-mountain apple or alpine banana to wreak
havoc on the Big
Cottonwood Canyon ecosystem. In general, the consensus was that
neither the banana or apple posed much of a threat, either in terms of
their wild progenitors taking over the canyon or long-persisting
carcasses - although we did agree that the same might not be said of
orange peels.
Having sated ourselves, we took the obligatory group picture, after
which Gary and Kevin started down with Josh in tow who had decided to
avail himself of the same transport back down - plus the likelihood
that he'd get back home sooner with Gary than he might with the rest of
us. Packing up, Bruce asked "Where did my banana [peel] go?" to
which everyone either played dumb or hadn't noticed that Tim had
slipped
it into the potato chip back along with his apple core, leaving Bruce
in his state of puzzlement.
Gradually, we started on our way further up the canyon to revisit the
portal of the Woodlawn Mine and the remains of the cabins nearby.
Bruce, who had started out ahead of us, announced that he'd found the
rusty bedsprings that had been noticed on a previous trip and was
continuing to
look around the remains while the rest of us approached.
Re-acquainting ourselves with the area around the portal we concluded
that it looked much like it had the last time we'd visited - but
flatter... Finally, we took a side-trip up the hill a short
distance to see the remains of the one cabin that was even remotely
intact with three of its four walls (more or less) still standing,
noting
that its potential energy had decreased along with a corresponding
increase in entropy.
Now that it was getting darker we headed down, soon catching up with
Gordon who'd started back down just a few minutes ahead of us, and
together we navigated the rocky portion of the mining road in the
gloaming. At about this time Gary appeared on the radio again
with a question: He'd suddenly found himself in unfamiliar
territory and was wondering if he'd missed a turn somewhere. Upon
querying what he'd done, we soon figured that he'd gone straight in
taking a sharp right turn at the junction of the Honeycomb Fork trail
and that trail that dropped into Silver Fork. Backtracking,
he soon returned to familiar surroundings and rejoined the correct
trail.
Continuing down, we again heard from Gary who occasionally kept us
apprised of his location while asking how we were doing. Soon, he
reported that he was nearing the car and wondered if there was any need
for him to wait and take on additional passengers - to which we replied
in the negative. In the gathering darkness we continued down the
road and soon came to the trail that connected to the Solitude parking
lot. Crossing that lot in the dark, we soon arrived at the
still-open gate and noticed an SUV parked behind my Jeep:
Interestingly, that other vehicle - which we'd seen from a distance -
took off shortly after we arrived - only to be seen again farther down,
parked very near the water treatment plant at which point I noticed a
large LCD display in the back seat... Hmmm...
Returning to the parking lot, we parted company, going our separate
ways.
