This weekend Jason's family is getting together to hang out before Shantel and Greg move clear across the country. One of the things suggested as an activity for all of us was to go on a hike. There is still quite a bit of snow in the upper areas of the mountains, as well as on the north-facing side. Because Jason is a gimp and can't walk well, let alone hike, the task was assigned to me to find a good hike. This is probably because I've spent the most time hiking the SLC mountains out of the crew. Anyway, I decided that I would try the Mill B North Fork Overlook trail because it is on a south-facing mountain and isn't all the way up the canyon. I usually don't hike alone, but I didn't have anyone that could come with me on this trail so I decided to just go anyway.
As I started the hike, it was a beautiful sunny day in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The blue sky looked awesome against the green and reddish brown mountains. The sun was shining so bright I couldn't get a good picture.
The hike starts out steep with a flight of stairs and then several switchbacks. It definitely gets your heart rate up.
After climbing up several hundred feet, the trail gets kind of mean and descends almost to the level you started out at (mean trail! all that climbing for nothing!). At the base of this descent, the trail starts to follow the river. Normally the trail is right next to the stream, but because of all the spring run-off and how hot it has been the last few days, the trail was pretty much the river bed. Good thing I had my hiking shoes on!
Can you see where the trail is (upper right hand corner)? Yeah...definitely a stream in the way! Anyway, it was like that in a few areas so I had to just get my feet wet and keep going. It was a great temperature in the shade--perfect for hiking. The water level was so high! It was crazy to see the stream going places where it doesn't go normally.
After making it through the stream, the trail just follows the cliff edge for a while. The scenery is beautiful!
I'm almost to the top of the overlook at this point and really enjoying the hike. However, I go to take a picture of the valley below and notice a problem:
Ummm...where'd my sunshine go? The sun wasn't set yet (not for another hour), but I notice that it is definitely raining hard in the valley. Time to pick up the pace! I hiked as fast as I could to the overlook so that I could snag some pictures and then try to beat the storm. I was huffing and puffing! I made it to the overlook right as the sun broke through the mountain to my left:
That's a very bright sun. So I'm hoping that I'm going to be lucky and not have any issues with the rain (or flash flooding). I finally get to the overlook and start to take some pictures.
It has a very pretty view of almost all of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's super pretty, especially on a sunny day. I thought I had a sunny day....but then I looked across the canyon. Why is the top of the mountain so hazy? Please tell me that's not rain...
Oh yeah...it was rain. And plenty of it!
So I realize I need to book it down the trail. I'm not one to mess with Mother Nature, especially when the runoff is already dangerously high. I'm not going to risk getting tangled in a flash flood. So I quickly leave the overlook and start running down the trail. I ran the whole way (except through the parts where you actually walk through the stream...that's just dangerous!). Anyway, I was very nervous I would be one of those stupid hikers that ends up in the paper because they didn't play it smart while hiking. I didn't stop running until I reached the last set of switchbacks. And guess what I saw when I got there?
That's right...blue sky and sunshine!!!
I think that Mother Nature was feeling slightly bi-polar yesterday. The total length of the hike was 1 hour, and I went through very sunny skies, to very rainy skies (i was soaked!), back to a beautiful blue sky with a rainbow! What the heck?
I would rather have the sunshine than flash floods though, so I was very excited to see it shining! Overall, the hike is a good one that definitely gets your lungs and legs working. It's 2.6 miles with an elevation climb around 1000 ft I think. It took me an hour, but I was running on the way back (and kind of meandering on the way up...). If you decide to go on this hike, wait a few weeks for the runoff to die down (and check the weather!) and bring good shoes and plenty of water. The overlook is definitely worth it!
Oh how I love Big Cottonwood Canyon...
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