Adams Canyon Falls, Kaysville, Utah

Adam's Canyon is about half an hour north of Salt Lake City, it is an out-and-back hike to a waterfall.  The trail is steep the whole way, the first part is up a sandy hill with switchbacks and no shade.  There are also some places near the beginning where the trail splits and it is hard to tell which way goes to the falls.  When in doubt take the trail to the right that is going up the hill.

 

As you start up the hill you can look over the valley at the suburbs and trees, with the salt falt and edge of the Great Salt Lake in the distance.

The area transitions to light scrub, giving occasionall shade, then later, a bit larger trees, but it never gets to what I would call a forest.  At the end of the trail is a 40 foot high waterfall.

Since the trail is so steep, it takes longer than you would expect given that it is less than 2 miles to the falls.  I started thinking I was almost there when there was still about a quarter of the hike left.

I went in late July, and the falls is pretty far up the canyon, so I wasn't expecting much water in the stream.  This year, Utah had a dry winter, but a wet spring, so my experience may not be typical.  However,  I was surprised by the amount of water flowing over the falls.

The hike was popular and I saw a lot of people on the way up.  At the falls people took a break and played in teh water.

After the long, hot hike up (it was 103 degrees the day I went) the falling water created a welcome cooling breeze.

The start of the trail is at a gravel parking lot off in the corner.

Blanche Lake, Utah

Sometimes I go places.  This was one of those times.  I was in Salt Lake City last week and on Sunday I went on a hike to Blanche Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The trail 3 miles each way, up hill on the way to the lake and downhill all the way back, This isn't an up-and-down trail, or one that is so steep it is nothing but switchbacks, it just steadily grinds upward, gaining almost 2,600 feet of elevation.

The lake itself isn't very large.  At one time there was a stone dam at the end, but it is no longer operational.  After I got up there it started raining, the rain and the sun battled it out, it would rain for a few minutes, then the sun would come out and dry things off, then the rain would push forward once again.  Since it was warm out, the rain was not much of an annoyance.

If you look the opposite direction, you can see the canyon you just hiked up.  There is glacier-scoured rocks, low bushes, and a variety of trees.