June 16 - Red Pine Lake Trail (Little Cottonwood Canyon)

I've been wanting to do the Red Pine Lake trail for a while now - but its ends at almost 10K in elevation and I'm worried about the snow at the upper parts. But today's the day!

I get to the trailhead (7658ft) at 9:30 and all the spots are already filled, so I'm the first car to park on the road.

Red Pine Trail is approximately 3miles long and 1900ft in elevation.

The trail starts from the parking lot thru a pine/aspen forest along an old road. It quickly crosses the Little Cottonwood Creek (bridge). And then oh my are there tons of plants and flowering bushes. I'm just creeping along because there is so much to see (and most isn't even in bloom yet). But the white geraniums, virgin bowers (purple vine), baneberry, what I think is elderberry are in full bloom. (Many of these I see on most of the trail.) There are lots of mint plants (perhaps bergamot not yet with buds on them) which is going to look great when they start to bloom; and many countless other plants in this area.

At about .8 miles, I come to a small footbridge that crosses the White Pine Fork (creek); its moving pretty good - rocks interrupting the water flow cause eddies and rapids. After crossing the bridge I enter a small wet woodland; the shadows are great!

And there are ferns coming up and other familiar plants like Jacob's Ladder and others I know but can't pull the names from my brain (I really need to sit down and ID the flower pictures that I've taken.)

I see my 1st UT chipmunk! I think I see more squirrels on this trail than every trail before -- perhaps because it is so lush.

There are purple/blue larkspur, meadow-rue, some kind of pea plant in bloom; tiny hidden waterfalls. This is fun!

I see a fritillary (orange w/ black stripes) on the ground. And I'm happy I recognize this one as a Mormon Frit as there are so many different types of Frits in the West and just subtle differences between them. Its my 1st Mormon Frit of the year -- and the 1st bfly of the trail.

The trail continues upwards and for a small section is exposed to the downside of the canyon. And with that, a wonderful view of Little Cottonwood Canyon (all beautifully green) and the city in the background.

I continue and spot a beautiful white columbine in full bloom -- I've never seen a white one before.

A little further down the trail, I see one (w/ tails) and just about ready to bloom; it looked like a white comet. These were the only columbine I see.

The uphill gets a little steeper and the trail smaller, rockier and there's water running down the center of it. In most spots just a trickle. The mountains in front of me still have snow on them.

I see my one and only paintbrush of the day -- actually 2 nice red ones (kinda dullish red) in the same spot.

I can hear a creek again and there's snow!

There is a small footbridge that goes right and over the creek -- this is the trail to Maybird Gulch. I'll tackle that another day. The trail getting tricky here as its a little flooded. There are some wooden "steps" to hop across to try and stay dry (but my shoes are already wet).

Then its time to rock hop over the creek. On the other side, a pile of snow covers the trail. Two guys "ski" down in their hikers.

I start crossing the snow; its slippery! I fall forward after only a couple steps :( (This is when I wish I brought my hiking poles.) But continue to a clear spot only to find more snow. I let another couple (w/ poles) lead the way back into the snow. I get a little further and fall again. I can't tell how much further the snow continues so I decide to head back (made it 2.2 mile and to 8900ft) -- almost there.

I turned around and head back thru the snow (and downhill); manage to fall 3 times on butt! :) My hands are freezing (being elbow deep in snow doesn't help). And a brilliant person that I am, I decide to try walking on the snow that has no footprints (probably just as hard as the slippery stuff everyone is walking over - right?). I take one step and end up almost to my hip in snow -- all I could do is laugh! So I, as gracefully as I can, slide down the rest of the snow. (well, not so much graceful).

A guy who slid down after me (and hopefully he didn't see my little adventure), said that this was the only part of the trail with snow; the lake was clear. Oh well, for another day. (And I'm coming back with poles!!)

So its downhill, through the muddy, wet, rocky part -- I see a Northern Cloudywing in this section.

Its sunnier now and there's more bflys around. Swallowtails, WTB, Azures, Orangetips, Milberts and a Mourning Cloaks.

Also a lot more people heading up.

I'll be back!