Parley's Ridge - May 20, 2023

scatman

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Hard to believe that it has already been three years since I last hiked Parley's Ridge, but it has. The hike has changed a bit since the last time I did it, due to a gated community being built at what used to be the trails end. This slight inconvenience adds roughly 2.5 miles to the total distance, as you have to hoof it on the Shoreline Trail a ways to get back to the new trailhead.

My daughter and I started at the top of Emigration Canyon, about 6:45 am and headed west, first summitting Dale Peak on the eastern side of the ridge. After Dale, we made our way west towards Perkins Peak. Once we reached Perkins, we stopped and ate our lunches before continuing on. After Perkins Peak comes the scramble section of the hike, along with some bushwhacking when it wasn't exactly clear where the trail goes.

All in all, it was a good hike. It took us 8 hours and 57 minutes to complete, which included a break on Dale's Peak, lunch on Perkins Peak, and one more short break before we headed off the ridge and down to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Conditions were smoky, from the fires in Canada so visibility wasn't the best. Wildflowers were in bloom along the entire route, once again with balsamroot down low, and glacier lilies higher up. I thought that we would see more larkspur, but we only saw a few plants near our starting point, and a few more down along the Shoreline Trail.

This was a hike that featured the horny toad, so you'll get to see all the shots I took of them along our way. I think we encountered fourteen of them.

Also, the cameras we took were the Canon EOS 40D, a Canon Powershot SX730 HS, and last but not least, a Canon Powershot SD100. Now speaking of cameras, I had the 40D clipped to my day pack's shoulder strap, and I was foolish enough to not take the camera strap off, which meant that I would take two steps ahead and then one step back as the strap caught on a branch of scrub oak and pulled me back. :mad: I was cussing like a sailor before too long. :D No one ever said that I was the brightest bulb in the package. :) I thought @Rockpskipper was supposed to remind me to take the strap off, but I think she's off buying some camper or something and it probably just slipped her mind. :)

01.jpg
Ready for a fine day on the ridge

02.jpg
About as good a shot as I could get across Parleys Canyon with the smoky conditions, looking towards Mount Aire

03.jpg
Spotted stickseed was common along the route

04.jpg
As was ball-head waterleaf

05.jpg
A few deer early on

06.jpg
Vetch was common too

07.jpg
More vetch

08.jpg
The old Jeep road will lead us to the base of Dale Peak

09.jpg
The road to Grandeur. :)

10.jpg
The knees didn't want to cooperate on the way up to Dale

11.jpg
Dale Peak ahead

12.jpg
A bumble bee enjoying itself

13.jpg
Larkspur - one of only a few plants that we saw

14.jpg
A western tanager, with Grandeur Peak summit as a backdrop, and Mount Olympus even further in the distance

15.jpg
A look back the other way through the smoke, towards Grandview Peak

16.jpg
Glacier Lily

17.jpg
Spring beauties

18.jpg
The first of many horned lizards

19.jpg
Looking back towards Little Dell Reservoir

20.jpg
Another horned lizard

21.jpg
More glacier lilies

22.jpg
And you guessed it, more horny toads

23.jpg
Approaching the summit of Dale Peak

24.jpg
I think i can, I think I can. :)

25.jpg
A little slippery, but no too bad

26.jpg
View to the west from Dale's Peak, and the route we will be taking after a snack break on Dale.

27.jpg
Time for a snack

28.jpg
And a summit picture

29.jpg
Low cryptantha

30.jpg
Another toad

31.jpg
Heading west from Dale's Peak at this point. Can see Perkins Peak towards the upper left of the image

32.jpg
A normal lizard for a change

33.jpg
Perkins just above

34.jpg
Couldn't go long without one of these. :)

35.jpg
Arrowleaf balsamroot

36.jpg
Looks like an opening in the scrub oak where elk had bed down

37.jpg
Perkins Peak - Let the bushwhacking begin

38.jpg
The Beacon on top of Mount Wire, across Parley's Canyon, through the haze

39.jpg
And what do we have here? :scatman:

40.jpg
Bushwhacking to the top. I'm ready for some lunch.

41.jpg
Elk scat, and nasty camera strap. :)

42.jpg
Did I say earlier that I was ready for lunch? Pace has slowed to a crawl.

43.jpg
The actual high point of the ridge, with Grandview beyond

44.jpg
Lunch time! And you know what that means don't you? Hardtack! I had to soak this one for 22 minutes before I could enjoy it! ;)

45.jpg
A visitor for lunch, a spotless lady beetle just might want some hardtack

46.jpg
Perkins Peak summit shot

47.jpg
The rest of the ridge to the west of Perkins, with the scrambling section ahead.

48.jpg
Making our way through the scramble zone

49.jpg
Scatman's pace has slowed to a snails crawl at this point

50.jpg
Heading back to the top of the ridge, I think.

51.jpg
Whew! the end of scrambling.

52.jpg
Looking back on the scramble section

53.jpg
Katie posing with Perkins next to her left arm. We've made some progress since lunch.

54.jpg
A Utah violet

55.jpg
Looking across Parley's Canyon again, with I-80 below and Grandeur and Church Fork
Peaks on the opposite side, and Gobbler's Knob and Mount Raymond in the far distance.

56.jpg
This little guy was doing pushups on the oak branch, regulating his heat. The day was beginning to get pretty hot.

57.jpg
Not out of the bushwhacking business just yet. Our fortunes were about to change for
the better though.

58.jpg
Looking back on where we'd come from, with Perkins Peak in the upper center of the image and Dale Peak below it in the distance

59.jpg
Service berry

60.jpg
Back on trail with a miserable view of the valley below

61.jpg
A view up Parley's with Mount Aire in the distance

62.jpg
I know, you haven't had enough of Grandeur yet. :)

63.jpg
Praying mantis egg sack perhaps?

64.jpg
First paintbrush of the hike

65.jpg
Ah, the Shoreline Trail below. A hot walk back up that to the Jeep for sure.

66.jpg
A hillside full of arrowleaf balsamroot almost made me forget about the smoky air.

67.jpg
Longleaf phlox

68.jpg
Vetch

69.jpg
On the Shoreline Trail with 2.5 miles to the Jeep. It felt like it was 90 degree, and looking up an unnamed draw where we were
earlier.

70.jpg
Fleabane

71.jpg
Pencil Point above

72.jpg
More phlox

73.jpg
Honeysuckle? Near trails end.

75.jpg
Evening primrose

76'.jpg
Back at the Jeep - For @TractorDoc

77.jpg
In celebration of the accomplishment, a combination pizza

78.jpg
And my last Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout

79.jpg
Eat, drink and be merry.


The End.
 

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So smoky/hazy - wow. But your flower and animal close-ups are wonderful!

Great to see you and your daughter still on the trail together. Does she know she's famous? :)
 
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I wish you'd let me remember some of the names of all those flowers instead of hogging them all for yourself. I'm lucky to ID even a few. And it's going to be a good year for rattlers, seeing all those horny toads.

As for camera straps. I hate the darn things and always remove them, and I also grind off the Leica and Hasselblad labels on my cameras so nobody will steal them.
 
Looks like a fantastic trip. I wonder at what point was the morale no longer high?

As for camera straps. I hate the darn things and always remove them, and I also grind off the Leica and Hasselblad labels on my cameras so nobody will steal them.

Straps are the bane of a photographers existence! ;)

Bold move grinding the labels off!
 
So smoky/hazy - wow. But your flower and animal close-ups are wonderful!

Great to see you and your daughter still on the trail together. Does she know she's famous? :)

Thanks. I shared the link to my trip report with her, and she told me that she enjoyed it, and left it at that. :)
 
I wish you'd let me remember some of the names of all those flowers instead of hogging them all for yourself. I'm lucky to ID even a few. And it's going to be a good year for rattlers, seeing all those horny toads.

As for camera straps. I hate the darn things and always remove them, and I also grind off the Leica and Hasselblad labels on my cameras so nobody will steal them.

I still forget some names from time to time, but I usually remember on what hike I saw them before and can quickly look them up when I get home. I think I'm getting better at remembering more, but you know my mind only holds so much information. :)

I was a bit surprised that we didn't run into a rattler. The rocky terrain along the ridge seems like it would be perfect habitat for them. Maybe the pink kilt scared them off.

Are you going to let me borrow the Hasselblad?
 
Looks like a fantastic trip. I wonder at what point was the morale no longer high?



Straps are the bane of a photographers existence! ;)

Bold move grinding the labels off!

Morale was no longer high on the climb up to Dale I'm afraid. :D Once on the the summit it picked up a bit, and I was feeling quite chipper on the way to Perkins, but then the day started to really heat up which sapped any morale I had left in me. :scatman: It became a grinder after that point.
 
Grinding off the labels was written in a fantasy lapse of consciousness where I actually owned such cameras. LOL

I guess that means no Hasselblad to borrow? :( To hell with that camper, you need a medium format camera! And then of course, remember who your friends are. :)
 
I used to have a medium-format Pentax, but my photos got worse, not better, so I sold it. That was a real camera, unlike my Hasselblad and Leica. My best photos were shot on a Kodak Instamatic when I was a kid and didn't knew better.
 
I used to have a medium-format Pentax, but my photos got worse, not better, so I sold it. That was a real camera, unlike my Hasselblad and Leica. My best photos were shot on a Kodak Instamatic when I was a kid and didn't knew better.

I have a Pentax 67 - perhaps the MF Pentax you had? It's a beautiful camera with the 105mm lens. One of my favorite cameras! Heavy as all get out for hiking though. And the shutter slap will scare any wildlife within a 5 mile radius.

You can always go Holga or TLR to dip your feet into medium format without spending a boatload. ;) Film prices, on the other hand...hipsters have driven all those prices up.
 
I still have a Canon film camera - with film in it! I'm afraid to get it developed. It could be incriminating evidence that my past wasn't as interesting as I like to think.
 
I have a Pentax 67 - perhaps the MF Pentax you had? It's a beautiful camera with the 105mm lens. One of my favorite cameras! Heavy as all get out for hiking though. And the shutter slap will scare any wildlife within a 5 mile radius.

You can always go Holga or TLR to dip your feet into medium format without spending a boatload. ;) Film prices, on the other hand...hipsters have driven all those prices up.

I'll expect to see that Pentax 67 at rescue creek. :D
 
I still have a Canon film camera - with film in it! I'm afraid to get it developed. It could be incriminating evidence that my past wasn't as interesting as I like to think.

Time to break down and get it developed Skipper. I've got a roll of Fuji in the fridge that has 24 exposures on it that I never had developed either.
 
No, not the heavy spoon! Anything but the heavy spoon. Are you sure that you have enough horsepower to get a heavy spoon to the trailhead? I'll never make it. :D
 
Hard to believe that it has already been three years since I last hiked Parley's Ridge, but it has. The hike has changed a bit since the last time I did it, due to a gated community being built at what used to be the trails end. This slight inconvenience adds roughly 2.5 miles to the total distance, as you have to hoof it on the Shoreline Trail a ways to get back to the new trailhead.

My daughter and I started at the top of Emigration Canyon, about 6:45 am and headed west, first summitting Dale Peak on the eastern side of the ridge. After Dale, we made our way west towards Perkins Peak. Once we reached Perkins, we stopped and ate our lunches before continuing on. After Perkins Peak comes the scramble section of the hike, along with some bushwhacking when it wasn't exactly clear where the trail goes.

All in all, it was a good hike. It took us 8 hours and 57 minutes to complete, which included a break on Dale's Peak, lunch on Perkins Peak, and one more short break before we headed off the ridge and down to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Conditions were smoky, from the fires in Canada so visibility wasn't the best. Wildflowers were in bloom along the entire route, once again with balsamroot down low, and glacier lilies higher up. I thought that we would see more larkspur, but we only saw a few plants near our starting point, and a few more down along the Shoreline Trail.

This was a hike that featured the horny toad, so you'll get to see all the shots I took of them along our way. I think we encountered fourteen of them.

Also, the cameras we took were the Canon EOS 40D, a Canon Powershot SX730 HS, and last but not least, a Canon Powershot SD100. Now speaking of cameras, I had the 40D clipped to my day pack's shoulder strap, and I was foolish enough to not take the camera strap off, which meant that I would take two steps ahead and then one step back as the strap caught on a branch of scrub oak and pulled me back. :mad: I was cussing like a sailor before too long. :D No one ever said that I was the brightest bulb in the package. :) I thought @Rockpskipper was supposed to remind me to take the strap off, but I think she's off buying some camper or something and it probably just slipped her mind. :)

View attachment 121127
Ready for a fine day on the ridge

View attachment 121128
About as good a shot as I could get across Parleys Canyon with the smoky conditions, looking towards Mount Aire

View attachment 121129
Spotted stickseed was common along the route

View attachment 121130
As was ball-head waterleaf

View attachment 121131
A few deer early on

View attachment 121132
Vetch was common too

View attachment 121133
More vetch

View attachment 121134
The old Jeep road will lead us to the base of Dale Peak

View attachment 121135
The road to Grandeur. :)

View attachment 121136
The knees didn't want to cooperate on the way up to Dale

View attachment 121137
Dale Peak ahead

View attachment 121138
A bumble bee enjoying itself

View attachment 121139
Larkspur - one of only a few plants that we saw

View attachment 121140
A western tanager, with Grandeur Peak summit as a backdrop, and Mount Olympus even further in the distance

View attachment 121141
A look back the other way through the smoke, towards Grandview Peak

View attachment 121142
Glacier Lily

View attachment 121143
Spring beauties

View attachment 121144
The first of many horned lizards

View attachment 121145
Looking back towards Little Dell Reservoir

View attachment 121146
Another horned lizard

View attachment 121147
More glacier lilies

View attachment 121148
And you guessed it, more horny toads

View attachment 121149
Approaching the summit of Dale Peak

View attachment 121150
I think i can, I think I can. :)

View attachment 121151
A little slippery, but no too bad

View attachment 121152
View to the west from Dale's Peak, and the route we will be taking after a snack break on Dale.

View attachment 121153
Time for a snack

View attachment 121154
And a summit picture

View attachment 121155
Low cryptantha

View attachment 121156
Another toad

View attachment 121157
Heading west from Dale's Peak at this point. Can see Perkins Peak towards the upper left of the image

View attachment 121158
A normal lizard for a change

View attachment 121159
Perkins just above

View attachment 121160
Couldn't go long without one of these. :)

View attachment 121161
Arrowleaf balsamroot

View attachment 121162
Looks like an opening in the scrub oak where elk had bed down

View attachment 121163
Perkins Peak - Let the bushwhacking begin

View attachment 121164
The Beacon on top of Mount Wire, across Parley's Canyon, through the haze

View attachment 121165
And what do we have here? :scatman:

View attachment 121166
Bushwhacking to the top. I'm ready for some lunch.

View attachment 121167
Elk scat, and nasty camera strap. :)

View attachment 121168
Did I say earlier that I was ready for lunch? Pace has slowed to a crawl.

View attachment 121169
The actual high point of the ridge, with Grandview beyond

View attachment 121170
Lunch time! And you know what that means don't you? Hardtack! I had to soak this one for 22 minutes before I could enjoy it! ;)

View attachment 121171
A visitor for lunch, a spotless lady beetle just might want some hardtack

View attachment 121172
Perkins Peak summit shot

View attachment 121173
The rest of the ridge to the west of Perkins, with the scrambling section ahead.

View attachment 121174
Making our way through the scramble zone

View attachment 121175
Scatman's pace has slowed to a snails crawl at this point

View attachment 121176
Heading back to the top of the ridge, I think.

View attachment 121177
Whew! the end of scrambling.

View attachment 121178
Looking back on the scramble section

View attachment 121179
Katie posing with Perkins next to her left arm. We've made some progress since lunch.

View attachment 121180
A Utah violet

View attachment 121181
Looking across Parley's Canyon again, with I-80 below and Grandeur and Church Fork
Peaks on the opposite side, and Gobbler's Knob and Mount Raymond in the far distance.

View attachment 121182
This little guy was doing pushups on the oak branch, regulating his heat. The day was beginning to get pretty hot.

View attachment 121183
Not out of the bushwhacking business just yet. Our fortunes were about to change for
the better though.

View attachment 121184
Looking back on where we'd come from, with Perkins Peak in the upper center of the image and Dale Peak below it in the distance

View attachment 121185
Service berry

View attachment 121186
Back on trail with a miserable view of the valley below

View attachment 121187
A view up Parley's with Mount Aire in the distance

View attachment 121188
I know, you haven't had enough of Grandeur yet. :)

View attachment 121189
Praying mantis egg sack perhaps?

View attachment 121190
First paintbrush of the hike

View attachment 121191
Ah, the Shoreline Trail below. A hot walk back up that to the Jeep for sure.

View attachment 121192
A hillside full of arrowleaf balsamroot almost made me forget about the smoky air.

View attachment 121193
Longleaf phlox

View attachment 121194
Vetch

View attachment 121195
On the Shoreline Trail with 2.5 miles to the Jeep. It felt like it was 90 degree, and looking up an unnamed draw where we were
earlier.

View attachment 121197
Fleabane

View attachment 121198
Pencil Point above

View attachment 121199
More phlox

View attachment 121200
Honeysuckle? Near trails end.

View attachment 121201
Evening primrose

View attachment 121202
Back at the Jeep - For @TractorDoc

View attachment 121203
In celebration of the accomplishment, a combination pizza

View attachment 121204
And my last Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout

View attachment 121205
Eat, drink and be merry.


The End.
Gingerbread….yum! Was it good?
 
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