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- Dec 23, 2013
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On the shortest day of the year, I decided to head up out of the building inversion in the valley and tackle Dale Peak which is located on the east side of Parley's Ridge near the top of Emigration Canyon. The hike is a little over six miles in length roundtrip and the route follows and old Jeep road across the east side of the ridge up to the base of Dale. From there, it is a one track to the summit. No one had been on the trail from the base to the top other than an elk and some deer, so we had to break trail to the top with snow depth anywhere from three inches to the bottom of my knee deep. We ran across something interesting on the way up, or maybe I should say that the ladies did. After making it up the steepest section and reaching the mountain mahogany near the top, I started smelling a fire (wood smoke). It seemed rather intense, but I didn't see anything as I hiked on so I just attributed the smell to someone down in Emigration using there wood burning stove, and the smoke just happened to be drifting up along that portion of the ridge. Well, I made it to the top and noticed that my wife and daughter were not behind me anymore which was strange because I was stopping to take pictures and they were always nearby. When they finally reached the summit, they told me that they had put out some smoldering ground just off the trail with some snow. I told them that I had smelled something burning but hadn't seen the smoke and I just assumed it had drifted up from down in the canyon. I had them show me the spot on our way back down after taking a little time to eat some lunch and take some pictures from the top. The interesting part is that there were no human footprints leading to this spot. It hadn't snowed for eight days and we broke trail up the hill. So how did this fire start? I'm perplexed. Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated. 
Anyway, we had this whole hike to ourselves, only seeing people at the trailhead.
I took a wide angle zoom lens (16-35mm) and I hauled up a Sigma 80-400mm zoom on this hike. All pictures on the way up and down were taken with the wide angle zoom while I used the Sigma to take zoomed in pictures of other peaks to the north and south of Dale.
Wild turkeys in Emigration Canyon on our way to the trailhead
Getting ready at the trailhead
View to the east from the trailhead, looking east towards Little Dell Reservoir and Little Mountain
Sunrise on Lookout Peak to the north
An open gate welcomes us to the ridge walk with Dale Peak off in the distance
First hill ahead
Nice to have our daughter back from Seattle for the holidays and this hike
On the second hill
Looking west across the ridge towards Dale Peak with Grandeur Peak off to the left of Dale
The two track heading towards Grandeur. I'm a sucker for taking pictures of a Jeep road
heading off into the distance.
Hill number three along the ridge
A bit slippery climbing the hill
Making our way up hill three
One more major hill to go before Dale
The climb up Dale ahead
Making our way up Dale
Heading up into the trees
Dale just ahead
Working our way to the top
Reaching the summit
View west along Parley's Ridge
Grandeur Peak across the canyon to the southwest
Summit shot
The next four shots were taken with the Sigma 80-400mm lens
Grandeur Peak - might be able to see a couple of people standing on the summit
Grandview Peak
Mount Wire - can see a hiker heading up the ridge from the south
Perkins Peak, further west along Parley's Ridge
Enjoying the view from the top
This is the spot where the ground was smoldering
Mount Aire across Parleys on our way down
View east along the ridge
Coming down off Dale
Another shot of the Jeep road
Heading back to the trailhead
Looking back at Dale
Jeep track
Love the contrast
Ten4 good buddy!
Arriving back at the trailhead.
The End.
Anyway, we had this whole hike to ourselves, only seeing people at the trailhead.
I took a wide angle zoom lens (16-35mm) and I hauled up a Sigma 80-400mm zoom on this hike. All pictures on the way up and down were taken with the wide angle zoom while I used the Sigma to take zoomed in pictures of other peaks to the north and south of Dale.
Wild turkeys in Emigration Canyon on our way to the trailhead
Getting ready at the trailhead
View to the east from the trailhead, looking east towards Little Dell Reservoir and Little Mountain
Sunrise on Lookout Peak to the north
An open gate welcomes us to the ridge walk with Dale Peak off in the distance
First hill ahead
Nice to have our daughter back from Seattle for the holidays and this hike
On the second hill
Looking west across the ridge towards Dale Peak with Grandeur Peak off to the left of Dale
The two track heading towards Grandeur. I'm a sucker for taking pictures of a Jeep road
heading off into the distance.
Hill number three along the ridge
A bit slippery climbing the hill
Making our way up hill three
One more major hill to go before Dale
The climb up Dale ahead
Making our way up Dale
Heading up into the trees
Dale just ahead
Working our way to the top
Reaching the summit
View west along Parley's Ridge
Grandeur Peak across the canyon to the southwest
Summit shot
The next four shots were taken with the Sigma 80-400mm lens
Grandeur Peak - might be able to see a couple of people standing on the summit
Grandview Peak
Mount Wire - can see a hiker heading up the ridge from the south
Perkins Peak, further west along Parley's Ridge
Enjoying the view from the top
This is the spot where the ground was smoldering
Mount Aire across Parleys on our way down
View east along the ridge
Coming down off Dale
Another shot of the Jeep road
Heading back to the trailhead
Looking back at Dale
Jeep track
Love the contrast
Ten4 good buddy!
Arriving back at the trailhead.
The End.
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