The Blanch Herd: May 2020 Hikes

May is a marvelous time of year for a hike - the trails are greening up and the wildflowers are even starting to bloom! It's glorious!

May, it seems, is also a great time to start a hiking newsletter. I did it! I don't know if or when our Tyke Hike group will be able to get together to enjoy the trails, but I still wanted to share the local hike love with the families in the valley and beyond. So I joined substack and started a publication and shared it with friends and family on facebook and via text. And people signed up! As of today I have 81 subscribers! It's so exciting! Each week I'll send out a newsletter about a trail, with all the details you need to hike and enjoy it with your kids. I'm so excited!

5 May 2020: Pineview Trail from North Arm Trailhead

For my first hike to share on the newsletter, I decided to go with the classic, my favorite, the first trail I ever hiked after moving here in 2015, the "North Arm Trail". I'm so glad I decided to hike it again with Cal and Sam before writing up the details because they reminded me of so many little things that kids love about this trail: the snail shell section and the tunnel tree section and the stick hut section and bridges and rock splashing. It was a delightful day for a hike and we saw and heard so many fun creatures: cranes, red wing blackbirds, great blue herons, geese, ducks, frogs, butterflies, and a snake!

My favorite section of trail!

I spy a tiny blue butterfly in the grass!

6 May 2020: North Fork Environmental Center Disc Golf Course

Yep, another visit here. It's so nice to play in the spring when the weeds are still short! We've gotta take advantage while we can! It was a gorgeous evening for a post-dinner hike and round of disc golf. Have I ever mentioned that I love being in the mountains with my family?

Aspen leaves! They were so fluorescent green!

Waiting on a log for Gregg to do one more quick solo round
of golf.

These are the tepee poles - hopefully they'll get
it set up soon! It's such a fun destination (and
I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it in my newsletter
if you sign up. hint, hint!)

Gregg and the kids ran down the road back
to the car and I didn't see them for most of my
walk back, they were so speedy.

9 May 2020: Ogden Canyon Waterfall Overlook (via Bonneville Shoreline Trail at Rainbow Gardens

Trailhead)

A new-to-us trail!! Always an exciting event, and getting rarer, though there are plenty still for us to explore. I had heard that this was doable, but I didn't have any details about how long or how to get there, so we just decided to go for it. After seeing the number of cars parked at the trailhead, I was worried we'd run into tons of bikers, but while there were lots of people using the trail, they were mostly families hiking!! We did have a few bikes pass us, but luckily they were going up while we were coming down, so it wasn't a big deal. We had an amazing morning on the trail!

We started off at the same spot for Birdsong Trail, but forked to the left following signs for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail instead. We climbed through the maples and scrub oaks and wildflowers and got to a fork where a family was just coming back from seeing the old rusted out cars parked in the trees. Cool! (And yes, I was taking notes like a crazy person about distances and fun finds like this - I really think this will be my next tyke hike post!) Then we got to the sagebrush section where we spotted the season's first Indian Paintbrush flowers! YAY! Day made right there. It wasn't much further to the overlook where we could see down into the canyon where the waterfall is and where the pipe stretches across the road. Pretty cool view! And the view of Ogden looking out the other way was pretty nice, too. We didn't even wait or rest very long at the top before heading back down the trail. It was about 2.5 miles round trip, but the kids completely rocked it! We were moving at a great pace and they didn't even get tired. It was awesome! Such a fun hike with the fam!

Arrowleaf Balsamroot is blooming!!

The first old car in the woods.

Getting higher and I spy our destination!

We made it!

I spy our car and the Birdsong Trail and Ogden
and the Great Salt Lake yonder.

Group shot!

Rock climbers.

More flowers - still waiting for an ID from my
sister. ;)

Paintbrush!!

Cuties.

Where we've been. I like the layers of trails you can see here.

That's where we've been.

16 May 2020: Old Snowbasin Road Hike/Bike

We drove up to Snowbasin but instead of parking at the resort, we parked at the top of Old Snowbasin Road, near the gate that closes it off. The kids brought their bikes and Gregg and I took it on foot. It's a downhill glide for them, so they had an awesome time. We pulled off the road a few times to explore down some trails to the side, trying to find an old campground that used to be in the area. We found a fire ring (not from an old campground, just from some recent campers) and sat around it to eat our cold pizza lunch. Then the kids hopped back on their bikes and continued the glide down the hill while I walked behind them. Gregg hoofed it back up to the car and drove around to the bottom of the closed section of Old Snowbasin Road at the Art Nord Trailhead to meet us there. The timing could not have been better because he pulled up right as the kids glided to the gate! (I was a bit behind because I can't walk as fast as they can ride.) It was a beautiful day and a fun way to explore a section of road that I haven't ever seen before!

Bikin'!

Off road explorations.

Marshy swamp area, but good thing there were
logs!

Let's lunch!

Exploring the meadow.

Baby waterfall off the road.

More off road views.

17 May 2020: Quail Trail Loop
Callie had been begging to hike the Quail Trail Loop again and we thought it would be a fun meet-up with the grandparents on a Sunday afternoon, so we invited them to meet us there. Grandma Blanchard wasn't feeling too well, so she opted for a nap, but Grandpa met us and we had a lovely (hot!) walk on the loop.

Rock posers.

Potato bug spotters.

An interesting tree.

More rock posing.

18 May 2020: Middlefork Valley View Trail

I thought I might do a write-up of this little trail for my newsletter this week, but I wanted to hike it again for "research". The kids and I ventured up for a mid-morning jaunt and happened to see/hear a few snakes, one of which was a whopper of a Gopher Snake (we didn't know that's what it was until we got home and asked my snake expert friend from the lab days for an ID). While Gopher Snakes are not venomous, it gave us enough of a startle that I decided that I didn't want to send unknowing tykes and parents on such an excursion. I mean, snakes are possible on any of the trails I go on, but I rarely see them, and I didn't want to write it up with a snake warning and then not have anyone try it. I opted for a different trail. But maybe I'll be brave enough to share this one another time.

A bit of an overcast day, but still lovely views!

Some blooming Salsify!

And these chokecherry (I think?)
trees were sure fragrant.

Lupine starting to bloom!

And plenty of supa weird sagebrush galls.

They were squishy and big and everywhere!

Rock lichens.

Cactus.

Mules ears!

SNAKE!

Here's a better view, but you still might need
to zoom in. It was so bright and patterned and
my friend Benson said "that's a good looking
snake!"

Brave little hikers.

19 May 2020: "Machinery" Trail

I needed a new trail to write about and share with my readers, so I decided to do one that I had done plenty of times and could write up from my head: the "Machinery" Trail (aka Wolf Creek Canyon Trail to Conveyor Belt). I thought I could do it without a research hike, but I wanted a refresher in the spring to note any interesting plants I could mention in my newsletter. So Cal and Sam and I headed out on a hot, sunny morning for a quick look-see. We only hiked halfway, but it gave us a good idea of the flora and it was fun to be out and stretching our legs anyway.

Wild Geraniums!

Dyer's Woad puller.

Chokecherries about to bloom.

Very aromatic!

Mules ears here, too!

And arrowleaf balsamroot.

And we learned a new flower - Mountain Dandelion!
Sam noticed that the stem wasn't the same as
a normal dandelion and I noticed the leaves
were different, so we asked Heather and she
confirmed that we were right that it wasn't a
normal dandelion!

Lots of burrs.

Dirt hill slider. We made up a joke to go along with this
experience. What do you get when you slide down a dirt hill?
A dust bummy!

They make me happy.

FYI

21 May 2020: North Fork Environmental Center Waterfall
After dinner on a random Thursday evening I said I wanted to get out on a hike. I suggested disc golfing at the Environmental Center, but Cal was not in a mood for that. We decided to check out North Fork Park to see if it was open and maybe hike on the trail to the pond that we haven't been on for a couple years. When we drove past the parking area, it was full of trucks and bikers and we kept driving, not wanting to be in the midst of so many bikes on a trail. It is a popular bike area, so we knew this was a possibility. We drove through the gate and ended up at the corrals trailhead instead. We started up the trail with no real plan for a destination or length of hike - just wandering and enjoying the quiet and greenery. It was lovely. We ended up going on a fork that I had heard from my friend Mary would eventually take us to the Environmental Center Waterfall, which we have seen signs for but didn't know much about. Soon we could actually hear the waterfall, so we kept walking and through a clearing could glimpse it in the distance. We really have seen this waterfall before (again from a distance) when we hiked here on the upper fork a couple of years ago. That was the only time we've even been in the vicinity.

We kept going down the trail and crossed a couple streams till we saw a sign pointing toward the waterfall. It was getting on towards bedtime, and we had no idea how much further it really was, but we decided to be spontaneous and went for it. The kids were champs! They just kept hiking and crossing streams and climbing rocks and eventually we popped out on top of some big rocks right next to the waterfall. It was awesome! And such a fun evening! And the kids were in such good moods. Gregg turned on some tracking to see how far it was on the way back, and according to Strava we walked about 2.5 miles that evening! We got back to the car around 7:45, but it was worth the late bedtime for such a fun adventure!

This part of the trail totally reminds
me of hiking in Colorado.

Love those aspens.

I think these are mules ears, but the leaves are
super weird.

The hills are alive!

Woad warriors.

The waterfall is visible just right of center in this pic. (The white
speck in the trees that is about the same level as the bottom of the
snow in the left of the pic.)

Seriously - it was a gorgeous evening!

Stream crossing - we had logs and rocks
and by the time we were heading back down
the trail we had figured out piggy backing the
kids across was the best method for quick and
dry traversing.

Before we figured out the piggy back method.

Gaining elevation now as we pass the sign
pointing the way to the waterfall.

First glimpse!

Rock scrambling.

Mountain goats.

Water falling!

Made it!!

I love this pic of us at the top. It was a thrill!

Valley views from where we came.

Gregg went further to scope out a possible
return route from the upper trail. It was a no-go
for this trip.

Looking back at where we came.

He was getting tired by this point.

But still had a happy smile!

Bluebells and greenery.

26 May 2020: Middle Fork Puddle Loop Trail

It was time for another "research" hike and I gave the kids a list of potentials that I had thought about writing up and they got to pick one to hike on this morning so I could write up my newsletter about it. It's a simple, short little loop, but it's still one of our favorites. Especially when I let them wear their galoshes (hiking in galoshes?!) and slosh around in the puddle at the end.

Right off the bat we saw another gopher snake! What the?!

Evening primrose.

Asters?

The red grass blossoms were what caught my eye. Heather
says it's probably sheep sorrel.

No idea what this is, but those fluffy flowers are something else!

"Some sort of vetch" according to Heatha.

Hard to see, but this hill had lots of paintbrush!

Puddle splashers! It's bigger than last time we were here.

Yeah, I got carried away with the photos - I was trying to get
the perfect one for my post and this was it!

Views for days.

Close up of the sheep sorrel.

28 May 2020: North Arm Trailhead Nature Trail and Straight to Lake Trail
This was a lovely and delicious solo walk/hike around the North Arm Trailhead area one evening while Gregg was talking SendView with Patrick and the kids were in bed. It was cool and beautiful in the golden hour light and I even saw two big Great Blue Herons fly toward the lake!

Not at the trailhead, but just had to document the plethora of
dandelions across the street from our house.

29 May 2020: Environmental Center Disc Golf Course
Again. But probably the last time for actual disc golfing this season since it was getting quite overgrown. But the tepee is up! That was a fun surprise!

Yeah, yeah, lots of tepee shots (for the newsletter!).

31 May 2020: Sundown at Powder Mountain
We went for a Sunday afternoon drive and ended up at Powder Mountain. We got out of the car to wander around and sit in the shade and somehow ended up at the top of the hill on the ski lift! It was a fun little spontaneous adventure and our mountain goats rocked it, as usual. What a beautiful day to be in the mountains! The smells in the fir stands were absolutely epic - my favorite scent in the whole wide world. It filled my soul (and my nostrils)!