Explore SLC - 2/16

OK, it's not the grand outdoor adventure but the best I could do today.

Started the day and the Museum of Natural History. Felt odd because there were lots of families with kids....and me (OK, there were a few adult couples).

Fanastic dinosaur display (UT had plenty of dinosaurs)!! Didn't know there were that many!




















Nice display of human evolution. And then all the cultural stuff. But finally the plants, animals and ecosystems (my favorite).

Perhaps the best part was walking on the upper deck to get a good look at the SLC inversion (and red-alert smog). :)

Then over to 9th and 9th - supposed to be a hot shopping. Looped around 3 times to get parking, stayed 5 minutes (not my thing).

Then over to Liberty Park (city park). I've driven around it before and now's my time to walk it. Lots of folks, ducks on pond, .... very neat.

Went to the Tracy Aviary (at Liberty Park). Even more ducks!! Golden and Bald eagles, Great Horned, Saw-whet, Screech, Barn, Burrowing Owls, tropical birds, etc Not too bad.

Finished the day at one of many of the SLC chocolate placing.

First Snowshoe Trip - Feb 3, 2013

Well I was ready on Saturday for snowshoeing at the Solitude Nordic Center up Big Cottonwood Canyon (near Brighton skiing). But forgot my map, first parking area was filled. I went up the road to the Solitude village but couldn't find anything so I gave up and came home. (Always remember the map.)

Drove back up on Sunday -- oh, the road up Big Cottonwood Canyon is a big curvy and narrow in spots. No looking out over cliffs -- just a few "Do Not Stop - Avanche Area"s. Saw plenty of snowshoeing and Xcountry skiiers pulled off the road (someday....)

There was a creek that the road paralleled in spots --- wanted so bad to stop and investigate but kept going. Well the next stop after the Solitude Village was the Center (and iconically, its basically the end of the road as it loops back at Brighton which is right there. :)

Got my pass ($5 for all day). [Oh by the ways, there are 10K of trails (well-marked).] Went back to my car to put on warm socks, hikers and grab my shoes. Had a bit of trouble putting the shoes on -- I think I had them on backwards...oh well. And off I went out the backdoor to a sea of white and then mountains to the left and in front (I know that means nothing but I haven't gotten oriented in the N-S direction yet.)

Started with the Silver Lake Trail (1K). The lake was frozen and snow covered. There were scattered trees (not in the lake of course) and in those areas, the snow was windswept (with little grooves).

The trail, well it was "broken" - I could've put my YakTrak on and did the same thing-- but it was cool - I was snowshoeing :).











I could see skiing on the mountains which is the direction I was heading. Then I hit the end of the lake and starting looping back. ALSO, little avalanches were present.




















This is where it started to get interesting because of the shadows of the trees, the little bumps in the snow, etc.

 Hooked up with the Cabin Loop Trail (1.5K) which goes past partially buried summer cabins. A little hilly here and I did, in spots, go off trail - I felt the need to "break snow" :). Body was nice and toasty but toes were frozen (and getting a blister on my right heel). So I finished the Cabin Loop and hooked back to the Silver Lake to finish it off.










Again the views and shadows were just wonderful.

That was my day. Since need to do the Creek Bottom Trail (which follows a creek), And the Solitude Trail -- first item is to buy snow boots.....

Antelope Island Feb 01, 2013

Well this is my 1st day off (yea!) and I'm off to Antelope Island (which the largest of the Great Salt Lake islands at 42 sq miles). To get there you have to drive across causeway (6-7 miles); there is a tollgate to start the journey.

Its very foggy, probably due to the large amount of recent snow -- but it looks arctic and eery. Some of the water is not frozen (mostly due to its salt content) and other parts are. My goal was snowshoeing so I stopped at the visitors center to ask the best place -- an answer of "I'm not sure" was not what I was expecting. So off I went in my car to explore.

 Saw some Chukar Partridge crossing the road - a pretty but non-native gamebird.

Finally ended up at the Buffalo Point parking lot. There is supposed to be a trail that takes you up to the top for a great view but it was buried in 2-3 ft of snow. Nonetheless the view though was pretty spectular. But I just had to follow some other folks footprints and try to get to the top. I was up past my knees in snow so when the footprints stopped so did I. Well worth the effort and I got a wonderful shot (with the Chukar prints) of the view!!!

Down and over to the East side of the island to the Garr Field Ranch. On way saw 3 bison -- all in different spots (one convienently right next to the road). Would have to assume these were males -- poor solitary males. :)

The drive (still wonderful) was along Farmington Bay (fresh water and frozen). To the west were the Antelope Island peaks which I hope to climb this spring/summer (tallest is about 6500 ft). Just enjoying the spotting trees, wetland grasses when something dark on the ice caught my eye. Grabbed my camera and zoomed in on a single coyote - standing and looking like he was eating snow. Then the male was behind her (nicely posed).

 I thought - maybe there's a female nearby and sure enough, about 30-40yrds away resting on the ice was a female. I watched for awhile - the female yawn, lay her head down.... Then the male started trotting towards the female. She became more alert and as he got near, her tail went up --- some kind of male/female greeting I guess.

The female got up and they both trotted off - the female a little faster than the male.

Off I went down to the ranch.

Great day!!