Adams Canyon

Lesa and I decided to go out to dinner and go on a hike.  I have been wanting to try out Adams Canyon.  We decided to go for it and it was a lot of fun.  It took us an hour to get to the waterfall.  The trail was pretty steep at times.  We gained about 1,200 feet on the way up it was a pretty popular trail and we passed a lot of people.

This picture was also taken at the waterfall but looking back down the trial.

Here we are back on our way down the trail.

Here is a map of the trail:

To get to the trail head you have to get on the frontage road that runs parallel and just east of Hwy 89 in Layton, Utah.  You park on the frontage road just East of the Layton Surf and Swim water tower.  We got on the frontage road from Hwy 89 just North of the water tower. 

We noticed two different possible campsites.  Both where right next to the trial which isn't really ideal but they were the only two options we saw.  Both sites are quite small but could fit about 3 small tents.  I show both sites on a map below.  I will also post a couple of pictures of each site.  The first I will show is at about 700 feet up from the trail head and the next is just after the bridge that you cross over the water at about 800 feet up.

Lower Site was the bigger of the two:

The Higher Site is just after you cross this bridge:

Cecret Lake

Monday night for Family Home Evening we decided to head up Cottonwood Canyon to do the Cecret Lake hike.  I had heard from some guys who work at the Alta Ski Resort that the wild flowers are everywhere.  We left home and drove about an hour and a half to get there.  We started the hike around 8:00 PM.
You can see the flowers all around us, it was very pretty.  

The trail is very easy.  You start buy walking through a campground area and most of the trail is a road.  There are signs around keeping you on the right path.  You have to cross a few streams on the way up.

We saw a couple of moose.  You can barely see one in this picture.  I will upload another picture next that you can see them better in.

The trail is slightly up hill the whole way and there are three steeper switch backs right at the top but it was really an easy hike.  The elevation gain was just under 500 feet and about 3/4ths of a mile one way.

Here is Bradley trying to go off on his own hike.

 We stopped on the way up to get a family picture.  You can see it is starting to get dark now.

Yeah we made it!  We could only stay a few minutes because before we knew it the sun was completely gone.  We had to use flash lights to get back.

 What a fun and easy hike.  The wild flowers were very beautiful and I would recommend this hike to anyone.  It is family friendly and well worth the drive.

Basic Directions

From Downtown Salt Lake City, head south on I-15 about 8 miles to the I-215 Belt Route. Take I-215 East about 5 miles to 6200 South (Exit 6). Bear to the right off the exit ramp onto 6200 South and head east. (It'll turn south after a bit and merge with Wasatch Boulevard, but just stay on the main road.) After about 2 miles is a light at Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. (On the southwest corner of the intersection is a 7-Eleven gas station and mini-mart.) Continue straight through this intersection heading south for another 2-3 miles. The road will bear to the left and take you up into Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trail head is 11 miles past the canyon entrance on the left side of the road. (Note: Along the trip from downtown you'll see large signs to the Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. These resorts are at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, so if you follow those signs, you'll get to Little Cottonwood Canyon just fine.)  Once you are passing Alta Ski you will go past a small information shack.  Keep driving, you eventually get to a parking lot for the Catherine's Pass trail head.  Keep going a little further to the next parking lot by the campground.  This is where you will want to park.  There are signs from here.

Past Adventures Summary

Below is a few pictures of fun places we have visited in the past.  This summary post is just a way of showing you a few glimpses of where we have been.  I thought it would be fun to post some of our pictures.  I was organizing my picture files and had fun reminiscing in the past.  I thought it would be fun to share them.

Chilly Peak

I have been wanting to get up to Ben Lomond Peak but never have made it.  To the right is a picture of it last year with a little snow on top.

I decided that it would be nice to give it a try on Saturday evening.  My plan was to leave home at 5:30 PM and arrive at the North Ogden Divide trail head around 6:00 PM.  I didn't want to hike too much in the dark so rather than going for Ben Lomond Peak I set a smaller goal of Chilly Peak.  This would leave me about 2 1/2 miles short of Ben Lomond Peak but seemed like a better first step.  It would still be a hike of over 10 miles with an altitude gain of about 2,800 feet and my goal was to be up and back to the car in four hours.

Here is a picture I didn't take but it shows where I went back at a distance.   It was pulled from the website www.utahhikes.net.  I really like this website as it has given me a lot of ideas as to were I should go exploring:

One of the interesting facts about this particular trail is it is part of the Great Western Trail.  This is a trail that goes from Canada to Mexico.  It isn't at National trail like the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, or Continental Divide Trail but it may be some day.

The trail head is located at the top of the North Ogden Divide.  This road connects North Ogden, Utah with Liberty, Utah.  there is a parking lot and various trails branch out from here.  The parking lot is located at (Coordinates: 41°19'12"N   111°53'56"W).  You can see the trail heading off in the top of the picture by crossing the road from the entrance and heading North.

Weather wasn't looking very good Saturday but I was hopeful it might all pass by before I would start my hike.  I headed out from the house at 5:45 PM and made it to the trail head at 6:10 PM.  After hiking for about 20 minutes the last of the clouds passed by and it was nice and sunny.  I passed three hikers coming down within the first 30 minutes and two motorcycle riders a few minutes later.  The elevation gain is steady but not too steep. 

When I first entered the trees on the trail it was quite dense with a fern type plant growing all around the trees.  The trail is wide sweeping switch backs for the first hour of travel.

This is another picture taken from www.utahhikes.net.  It shows the beginning of the trail very well.

Some times you are in the shade of trees but mostly exposed on the side of the mountain.  This provided spectacular views but also opened you up to the heat of the sun.  Luckily it wasn't too hot and travel was pretty easy.

The first pictures I took were at what looked like a good camping spot.  It is the first green camping tent symbol I placed on the map.  It was only about an hour hiking time so it should be an easy one to get to.

Here are a few pictures I took at this spot.

This picture is looking West towards North Ogden.

This one I am looking towards Pine View Dam in Huntsville near Liberty.

I kept heading upwards and the trail left the switch backs of the first section and I headed along the East side of the mountain.  It was covered in pine trees and was nice and cool in the shade of the trees.  The trees came out of the mountain side at an angle an then curved up towards the sky.  I really should have stopped and taken some pictures but I had just re-packed my camera and didn't want to get behind schedule.  I'll get a picture next time. 

After another hour of hiking I made it to Chilly Peak.  I went about 100 yards farther on the trail to get the sun behind Ben Lomond Peak to aid in my picture taking and found another campsite.  This time I saw a fire ring and took the majority of my pictures.  Here are a few for you to enjoy.

This is looking West toward Ben Lomond Peak:

This is looking North:

Looking back down the trail (South).  The trees up on this ridge must have a rough life.  They were completely mangled.

Looking South - The farthest peak you can see in the distance is Mount Ogden Peak.  I live below it in Ogden.  The one that is a little closer is Lewis Peak.

Looking West again at Ben Lomond Peak.

Looking East you can see the fire ring and camping spot I mentioned.  Just be sure your shelter can take a lot of wind!  You could always retreat down into the tree line if you had to but would find it harder to get a flat spot.

After spending about 30 minutes taking pictures I decided I better get going.  This is a picture looking North from Chilly Peak.

Old tree at Chilly Peak.

On my way back home about to pass by the right side of Chilly Peak!

Just below Chilly Peak.

Passed Chilly Peak and on my way home and I decided that since I carried up a small tripod I had better use it at least once.  Here I am getting wind blown as the sun is about to set.

A few more pictures looking South towards the distant Mount Ogden and Lewis Peaks.

The rest of the hike wasn't very eventful.  I tried to jog a little to make up for my extended time taking pictures but my calf muscles kept cramping up on me when I tried to run. So I had to keep it slow and steady.  I ran out of daylight while passing through the thick trees on the East side of the mountain. I had to break out my light and use it for the last hour of hiking.


I made it back to the car at 10:20 PM.  I was a little sore but very happy that I took the time to make this hike.  One of the main reasons I have been hiking so much is in an effort to lose weight.  I weighed 220 lbs about 7 months ago and am now at 190 lbs.  Mostly I can attribute this to just making a consistent effort to eat less, eat healthier foods, and be more physically active.  Well it is working and hiking is my exercise of choice so I thought I would create this blog to share some of my experiences.  If you live around Ogden Utah hopefully this will inspire you to head out on the trail.