[at-l] Very short hike--Utah

[Bluetrail at aol.com (Bluetrail@aol.com)]

Sometimes even a very short hike can have big thrills.  The weekend of October 22 I was in Salt Lake City for a conference.  Thanks to advice from the list and from help from some other list (thanks, Shane, for passing along my request), I rented a car on my day off and went to Antelope Island State Park, about 30 miles north of SLC.

Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, 15 miles long with mountain peaks, including one at 6600 feet. There are over 30 miles of multi-use trails.  There were very few visitors the Sunday I went. I took a very short and easy hike on a trail situated on a bench (western term for a little plateau on a mountain incline) above the lake.  The whole island was already beige; it's pretty much tree-less except for the edges of its springs and along the spring runs.  Once on the trail though, there were still some low lavender asters and yellow rabbitbrush in bloom.  It was about 50 degrees, cold enough to damp down the smell of the great Salt Lake, so I didn't find the odor that unpleasant.  The really great thing was the wildlife--lots of birds singing in the brush, bison grazing on the slope above me (far enough above for me to feel comfortable), and a 10-minute sighting of a coyote trotting along the beach.  It was a lovely walk.  

After the walk, I capped off the experience by having to stop the car for a herd of meandering antelope crossing the road right in front of me.  Later I stopped at the concessionaire's to try a buffalo burger.  There's no indoor dining, just a deck with wonderful views.  As I waited for my burger, I started talking with a guy I had seen biking around the island's roads.  Turns out he's Tom Amandes, who plays Dr. Harold Abbott on the WB channel's series "Everwood." The show is filmed in Utah.  Seemed like a nice guy.  (I'd never seen the show.)  Must say, now that I tuned in once, he's actually much better looking in person--but it might be those tights he was wearing.  He's also less prissy than the character he portrays.

In the last of the day, I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon south of SLC and was sorry I hadn't started my day earlier.  It's a gorgeous place, a narrow canyon with a trail that crisscrosses a tumbling steam.  There was fall color everywhere at the bottom of the 15-mile drive.  It was misty with scraps of fog; the light made the fall color glow.  By the time I got to the dead-end of the steep road, there was a foot of snow on the ground, spritzes of snow were still falling, all the fir tree branches were banked with snow, and snow was piled on top of the clusters of ski chalets.  It looked like Christmas card--quite a thrill for this gal from Florida.

Joan
bluetrail@aol.com