Unnamed Peak 8194 - June 25, 2022

[scatman]

Headed out this morning to stash a one gallon jug of water, and a 32 oz. bottle of Gatorade along the Millcreek Ridge for my hike next weekend.

The route to 8194 is the same as Mount Aire, except when you reach the saddle, you take a left instead of a right.

We began our walk up the Millcreek Canyon road around 6:45-ish, with a nice 50 degree temperature at the parking lot. Once we arrived at the saddle, we headed up the ridge to the southwest. The trail along this section of the ridge can be hard to follow and we ended up having to bushwhack for a bit in order to reach the top of the ridge and unnamed peak 8194.


Gate still closed to upper Millcreek Canyon


Opening soon though.


Mountain ninebark


Ready for action.


Leopard slug on the road heading towards Elbow Fork


Cascading Millcreek


Hound's tongue


Red osier dogwood


Strawberries are still numerous along the trail


White geranium


Starwort


Violet


Solomon's seal


Pink geranium


Sticky cinquefoil


A leopard slug eating a mulch maid


Choke cherry


Vetch


Mule's ear


Woodland star


Approaching the saddle with an opening full of mule's ear


Wasatch Beardtongue


A grasshopper had his eye on the Scatman


Beginning our climb up to the top of the ridge. Can you see the trail?


It starts off kind of steep once you leave the saddle


Katie, pausing for a moment with Mount Aire above, and the saddle down below


Aspen on our way up the ridge


The placing of the jug. What precision! It's a good thing I took @Rockskipper's "how to hide a jug 101 class" back in the 80's at
Utah State University. Thanks skipper.


Most excellent.


A spikey caterpillar


Into some serious bushwhacking now. Straight ahead is my motto.


Columbine on the bushwhack section


Once we broke out on the top of the ridge, the views to the south were spectacular


And a nice view of upper Millcreek Canyon from our vantage point


Lewis flax in the meadow where we stopped for a snack


It exists!


Narrow-leaf mountain trumpet


Looking west down the Millcreek Ridge from 8194, with the summit of Grandeur Peak barely visible in the distance


Some kind of beetle on a mule's ear


Mount Olympus


Summit shot


Mountain Ash


The high point of Parley's Ridge, with Antelope Island's Frary Peak beyond


Mount Aire


Stink bug?


Skyrocket


Robber fly with its prey


Yellow salsify


Back at the road.


All that is left to do is walk back down the road to the gate and our vehicle.


The End.

 

[Rockskipper]

The placing of the jug. What precision! It's a good thing I took @Rockskipper's "how to hide a jug 101 class" back in the 80's at Utah State University. Thanks skipper.

The Park Service and FS and BLM all made me quit teaching that course. Glad someone's carrying on the knowledge.

 

[TractorDoc]

I mentioned it in a PM to @scatman, but I felt it necessary to post publicly as well.

Hugh's slug photography is unmatched here on BCP as far as I'm concerned. I could almost envision the slime trails and the sounds of a gastropod mollusk eating a mushroom were all I could think about as I drove to Home Depot.

Someday I hope to experience such an encounter even though I know I could never come close to replicating the experience via photograph the way @scatman has done.

The Sasquatch was a nice touch as well. It is probably too late to suggest it, but I would have considered leaving your furry friend with the hydration stash to deter any curious forest critters from getting too close. There is always next time.

Looking forward to next week's adventure!

 

[Rockskipper]

Your suggestion (leaving a Bigfoot to guard your stash) was one of the questions on the final for the course that the Scatster missed, IIRC.

 

[scatman]

The placing of the jug. What precision! It's a good thing I took @Rockskipper's "how to hide a jug 101 class" back in the 80's at Utah State University. Thanks skipper.

The Park Service and FS and BLM all made me quit teaching that course. Glad someone's carrying on the knowledge.

That is a crying shame! They can't just cancel Aggie classes all willy-nilly like that.

Don't get carried away on my knowledge just yet; I still have to find the stash next weekend. You know how my memory works: Give me a week and I will forget everything.

 

[scatman]

I mentioned it in a PM to @scatman, but I felt it necessary to post publicly as well.

Hugh's slug photography is unmatched here on BCP as far as I'm concerned. I could almost envision the slime trails and the sounds of a gastropod mollusk eating a mushroom were all I could think about as I drove to Home Depot.

Someday I hope to experience such an encounter even though I know I could never come close to replicating the experience via photograph the way @scatman has done.

The Sasquatch was a nice touch as well. It is probably too late to suggest it, but I would have considered leaving your furry friend with the hydration stash to deter any curious forest critters from getting too close. There is always next time.

Looking forward to next week's adventure!

Thanks for the kind words, but the mushroom is too bright for my liking. If it was toned down just a smidge (like my technical terms? ) it would make for a better picture.

As for ole Sasquatch guarding the stash, I once had a wily fox chew the arm off a Barbie Doll in the Teton Wilderness (true story). Now there might not be any wily foxes on the Millcreek Ridge, but there are wily moose to contend with. I just wouldn't feel right about leaving Satch to fend for himself. Should I take him on the ridge hike next Saturday? He makes for a good conversation piece, which helps to cancel out the affects of my kilt.

 

[scatman]

Your suggestion (leaving a Bigfoot to guard your stash) was one of the questions on the final for the course that the Scatster missed, IIRC.

I call trick question! While I did answer it incorrectly, if I recall correctly you said "Yeti "in the question instead of "Bigfoot" which threw me off.

 

[Rockskipper]

I call trick question! While I did answer it incorrectly, if I recall correctly you said "Yeti "in the question instead of "Bigfoot" which threw me off.

No, you wrote a long essay about how one should leave a Barbie Doll. I remember it well for some strange reason. You did manage to pass the course in spite of it, though, but only because I graded on the curve.

 

[kwc]

@scatman …. Since this was an unnamed peak why didn’t you name it? Scatman’s Peak or something like that. Inquiring minds need to know!

 

[Rockskipper]

That is a crying shame! They can't just cancel Aggie classes all willy-nilly like that.

Don't get carried away on my knowledge just yet; I still have to find the stash next weekend. You know how my memory works: Give me a week and I will forget everything.

You'd make the perfect partner in crime if you forget everything. Gold? I don't remember us stealing any gold...

 

[scatman]

No, you wrote a long essay about how one should leave a Barbie Doll. I remember it well for some strange reason. You did manage to pass the course in spite of it, though, but only because I graded on the curve.

Thank God for grading on a curve then.

 

[scatman]

@scatman …. Since this was an unnamed peak why didn’t you name it? Scatman’s Peak or something like that. Inquiring minds need to know!

I'm not quite that vain.

 

[Rockskipper]

Yeah, that would be vain. We should name it Hugh's Peak.

 

[kwc]

Water Cache Peak?

 

[scatman]

Yeah, that would be vain. We should name it Hugh's Peak.

Didn't Carly Simon come out with a song in the 70's titled Hugh's so Vain?

 

[scatman]

Water Cache Peak?

I like it. I think someone will have to contact USGS with a reason to name it now.

 

[Ugly]

The flowers are really opening up! and that Robber fly and the others of slugs and grasshoppers as mentioned are all excellent shots!
I had heard there were two unnerving sightings this weekend, one of a kilt stooping over flowers on an unnamed ridge and another... well, interesting.

 

[scatman]

The flowers are really opening up! and that Robber fly and the others of slugs and grasshoppers as mentioned are all excellent shots!
I had heard there were two unnerving sightings this weekend, one of a kilt stooping over flowers on an unnamed ridge and another... well, interesting.

Unnerving just about sums it up.