- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 4,103
I've been sicker than a dog for 12 days now. I picked up some respiratory infection when I was in the Pacific Northwest for my daughter's graduation ceremony. I've been starting to feel a little better the last four days, with gradual improvement each day, but I thought that I might be able to clear the pipes (lungs and sinuses) out with a good hike.
Upper Millcreek Canyon is closed due to construction. They are widening the road in places and upgrading some trailheads, so I had to park at the Burch Hollow Trailhead and hike up the Pipeline Trail to Elbow Fork to pick up the Mount Aire Trailhead. Total roundtrip distance was just over ten miles.
Geraniums were the wildflower of the day as they were prolific from Elbow Fork to the slopes of Mount Aire, with Dwarf sunflowers and Mule-ears running a close second.

A proud mom and dad as Katie received her master's degree last week from the
University of Washington in Seattle.

Over view map of the day's hike

The Jeep has gotten a lot of action these last few weeks

At the Burch Hollow Trailhead

Reaching the Pipeline Trail

Goldeneye

View up Bowman Fork

The Pipeline Trail

Streambank wild hollyhock

Feverfew

The balsamroot flowers are no more

Looking west towards the mouth of Millcreek Canyon

Reaching the Burch Hollow Trail

Wild rose

Spreading dogbane

Grand collomia

Sulphur buckwheat

A new bridge on the Pipeline Trail at junction with Elbow Fork

Yarrow and geraniums

Richardson's geranium

Large-leafed aven

Sticky geranium and friend

Stay left

They replace the old wooden bridge that had collapsed with this

Paintbrush

Blue elderberry

Cow-parsnip

Hollyhock

Twinberry honeysuckle

Geraniums

Thimbleberry

Stand of aspen

Dwarf sunflower

Bumblebee on some horsemint

Few flowered pea

Rocky Mountain dwarf sunflowers

Ditto

Lewis Flax and a spider

Mule-ears, with Parleys Ridge in the distance. If you have really good eyes you can make out Frary Peak beyond the ridge

Diamond clarkia

A hovering hummingbird. The shot didn't turn out, but I liked it anyway.

Gobblers Knob and Mount Raymond

Lupine

Western wallflower

Summit of Mount Olympus rises above the Millcreek Ridge


Skyrocket

Wildcat Ridge in the distance, from Mount Olympus to the west to Mount Raymond to the east.

Hawksbeard

Buckwheat to the summit

The yurt on Church Fork Peak with Grandeur Peak looming above

Mount Olympus and Grandeur Peak through a dead mountain mahogany

Hooker's onion through the gamble oak

Summit shot

Elk have been up top

Unnamed Peak 8490 and Millvue Peak beyond

Gobblers Knob to Olympus

The summit, with Parleys Canyon below

Sego lily



This horned lizard posed for me as I walked around him taking pictures

Common yarrow and friends

Wildflowers were just gorgeous on this hike

A look down Elbow Fork and upper Millcreek

Common sagebrush lizard

Wood's rose

More skyrocket

Unnamed Peak 8490 located to the east of Mount Aire

Back through the mule-ears and dwarf sunflowers

Looking down Elbow Fork with Gobblers Knob above

Caterpillar on the trail

Yellow salsify

Rocky Mountain ninebark

I stopped for a quick break at the junction of Elbow Fork and the Pipeline Trail and this squirrel got after me

The new bridge from a different angle

The hot Pipeline Trail on my way back to the Jeep

More hooker's onion

Some type of aster

Back at the dirty Jeep
The End.
Upper Millcreek Canyon is closed due to construction. They are widening the road in places and upgrading some trailheads, so I had to park at the Burch Hollow Trailhead and hike up the Pipeline Trail to Elbow Fork to pick up the Mount Aire Trailhead. Total roundtrip distance was just over ten miles.
Geraniums were the wildflower of the day as they were prolific from Elbow Fork to the slopes of Mount Aire, with Dwarf sunflowers and Mule-ears running a close second.

A proud mom and dad as Katie received her master's degree last week from the
University of Washington in Seattle.

Over view map of the day's hike

The Jeep has gotten a lot of action these last few weeks

At the Burch Hollow Trailhead

Reaching the Pipeline Trail

Goldeneye

View up Bowman Fork

The Pipeline Trail

Streambank wild hollyhock

Feverfew

The balsamroot flowers are no more

Looking west towards the mouth of Millcreek Canyon

Reaching the Burch Hollow Trail

Wild rose

Spreading dogbane

Grand collomia

Sulphur buckwheat

A new bridge on the Pipeline Trail at junction with Elbow Fork

Yarrow and geraniums

Richardson's geranium

Large-leafed aven

Sticky geranium and friend

Stay left

They replace the old wooden bridge that had collapsed with this

Paintbrush

Blue elderberry

Cow-parsnip

Hollyhock

Twinberry honeysuckle

Geraniums

Thimbleberry

Stand of aspen

Dwarf sunflower

Bumblebee on some horsemint

Few flowered pea

Rocky Mountain dwarf sunflowers

Ditto

Lewis Flax and a spider

Mule-ears, with Parleys Ridge in the distance. If you have really good eyes you can make out Frary Peak beyond the ridge

Diamond clarkia

A hovering hummingbird. The shot didn't turn out, but I liked it anyway.

Gobblers Knob and Mount Raymond

Lupine

Western wallflower

Summit of Mount Olympus rises above the Millcreek Ridge


Skyrocket

Wildcat Ridge in the distance, from Mount Olympus to the west to Mount Raymond to the east.

Hawksbeard

Buckwheat to the summit

The yurt on Church Fork Peak with Grandeur Peak looming above

Mount Olympus and Grandeur Peak through a dead mountain mahogany

Hooker's onion through the gamble oak

Summit shot

Elk have been up top

Unnamed Peak 8490 and Millvue Peak beyond

Gobblers Knob to Olympus

The summit, with Parleys Canyon below

Sego lily



This horned lizard posed for me as I walked around him taking pictures

Common yarrow and friends

Wildflowers were just gorgeous on this hike

A look down Elbow Fork and upper Millcreek

Common sagebrush lizard

Wood's rose

More skyrocket

Unnamed Peak 8490 located to the east of Mount Aire

Back through the mule-ears and dwarf sunflowers

Looking down Elbow Fork with Gobblers Knob above

Caterpillar on the trail

Yellow salsify

Rocky Mountain ninebark

I stopped for a quick break at the junction of Elbow Fork and the Pipeline Trail and this squirrel got after me

The new bridge from a different angle

The hot Pipeline Trail on my way back to the Jeep

More hooker's onion

Some type of aster

Back at the dirty Jeep
The End.
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