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.

Toll brothers talks about their plans for the WMAL field

Last night, representatives from Toll Brothers meet with the West Fernwood Citizen's Association to talk about their plans for the WMAL transmitter site. It is nice to see homebuilders engaging nearby residents early in the process and I hope this continues.

A representative from Toll Brothers (far right blue shirt) answers residents questions about the WMAL tower site.

Plans are still being developed, so nothing they said was final, but there were a few useful bits of information that they did have.

Currently the site is zoned R-90, which is single-family, 9,000 square foot lots.  The site is 75 acres, so that works out to about 330 units. They are required to have 12.5% of the units be moderately priced dwelling units (MPDU).  They will most likely take advantage of an MPDU option that allows up to half of the units to be townhouses, but the exact mix of houses to townhouses hasn't been decided.  Adding townhouses doesn't allow for more units on the site, it would come with more open space. Everything they see so far suggests that R-90 is good zoning from a marketing and investment perspective, they don't have plans to request re-zoning (but of course, that could change).

Currently the site is under contract and they expect it to close within 90 days. They have done one of several required traffic studies, some survey work and some environmental evaluation.  They are planning to do a 24 hour noise study today that will assess the noise levels coming from 495.

Cunningham Falls State Park

 Cunningham Falls state park is about an hour north of here.  The main draw is a day-use lake area on Hunting Creek Lake.  There are two beaches, a roped off swimming area in the lake with lifeguards, lots of picnic areas, paddle boat and canoe rentals, fishing, hiking, and a snack bar.

The park is very popular, and on holiday weekends fills to capacity.  The snackbar has typical fast food like hamburger, hotdogs, soft pretzels and ice cream.  There is a bathouse with showers so you don't have to go home with a wet or sandy bathing suit on.

Also in the park is a large campground that you can reserve a site at.  Each site has a gravel dust base (smooth, but not the most comfortable surface), a picnic table, a fire ring, and space for a couple of cars and tents. Some of the sites have electrical hookups, and, if you aren't into tent camping, there are several one-room cabins you can rent.  The cabins have beds (bring your own sheets or sleeping bags) and electricity as well as the outdoor picnic table and fire ring.

Cunningham falls, Maryland's tallest waterfall, is less than a mile from the lake and there are several trails you can take to get there.  I made a separate post on the falls.

Related posts:

• Hiking to Cunningham Falls
• Cunningham Falls
• Plants and animals

Plants and animals around Cunningham Falls

The area around Cunningham falls is loaded with plants and animals. When I was there I saw dozens of small toads, deer, and lots of interesting and colorful fungus and flowers.

This deer was hanging out along the cliff trail.

Indian pipes. These low-growing small flowers usually come out of the ground in small clumps.

Orange and Yellow mushroom.  It was growing right in one of the campground areas.

Odd-shaped fungus growing from the side of a tree stump.

Related posts:

• Cunningham Falls State Park
• Hiking to Cunningham Falls
• Cunningham Falls

Hiking to Cunningham Falls

There are three trails that go to the falls, one from the campground and two from the day-use area.

There is a parking lot at the start of the trails, or, you can walk up from the main parking area.


Falls Lower Trail

The Falls Lower Trail is a half mile, crushed gravel trail which, although it has ups and downs, is a fairly easy walk through the woods.

Cliff Trail

 

The other trail that starts in at the same spot is the Cliff Trail.  This is a more traditional dirt trail with lots of exposed rocks.  There is a significant slope up at the beginning of the trail, then a downslope at the end.  It is also a bit longer, three-quarters of a mile instead of half a mile.

Campground Trail

The last trail starts from the campground and connects to the Cliff Trail.  It is predictably called the Campground trail.  It starts at the base of the Bear Branch Loop near the dumpsters.  From there it goes through wooded hills until it gets to the top of the Cliff trail.  It is about three-quarters of a mile from the start to the falls.

Related posts:

• Cunningham Falls State Park
• Cunningham Falls
• Plants and animals

Cunningham Falls

 At 78 feet, Cunningham Falls is the highest waterfall in Maryland.  It is a cascading type of falls.

 The falls is located in Cunningham Falls state park.  In addition to the falls, there is camping and a day-use area with a lake, beach, swimming and boating.

During the summer, lots of people hike up from the lake to the falls.  There are two trails that go there, both starting from the same parking lot.  There is also a trail from the camp grounds to the falls.

Related posts:

• Cunningham Falls State Park
• Hiking to Cunningham Falls
• Plants and animals

It's Bethesda Big Train baseball season

Did you know that Bethesda, MD has its own local baseball team?  Bethesda Big Train part of the summer collegiate baseball program.  The season is on now and runs through the end of July.  They play at the Shirley Povich field right next to Cabin John Ice Rink.

I went to see them play the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts tonight and it was a fun, casual affair with the fans full of families.  you can look at the schedule and see if you can go to any of the games.

The trolley bridge at Glen Echo Park

 

If you have ever gone to Glen Echo park you have probably noticed the old trolley bridge over Minnehaha creek.  It is the big metal bridge you see on your left as you cross the foot bridge.  This bridge has been abandoned for decades.  The bridge has been rehabilitated and a short section MacArthur Avenue Trail has now been re-routed over it

 The new trail over the bridge doesn't cover the full width of the bridge so you can see the original steel beams.

 Here is a look at the bridge from the Glen Echo Park side.

 This is the same bridge, from the same spot in early May, 2014.

 Here is how it looks below the bridge.  You can see the concrete and steel have gotten a fresh coat of paint.

 This is how the underside of the bridge looked in May of 2013.

Looking up at the bridge from Minnehaha Creek.

Last year at this time the bridge was totally overgrown.  It looks like construction started last July.

Update 2015-04-05:  In the comments, Brett Young pointed out that he has a set of pictures taken throughout the construction process.

Go visit the Cherry Blossoms at night

 

The Cherry Blossoms are in peak bloom around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC this weekend.  They are beautiful and it is well worth going to see them.  However,  when you have peak bloom on a weekend, it gets incredibly crowded. 

  

You can avoid the crowds by going at night.  You won't get the overwhelming majesty of the pink-white blossoms everywhere, but you will get to see the blossoms in a way that most people don't, and they are still quite beautiful.

 

 The light cherry blossoms really stand out against the dark sky, and they seem to fade away in the distance.

Although it is less crowded, that doesn't mean no one is there.  A reasonable stream of people are walking aroun.

The old Hamburger Hamlet at Georgetown Square

  

The Hamburger Hamlet restaurant at Georgetown Square on the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Democracy Boulevard in Bethesda has been vacant for a while.  Recently there has been a flurry of activity there, preparing for the new tenant, Not Your Average Joe's, which will be opening this summer.  The atrium area in the front, which was the bar is totally gone, so clearly, the new restaurant will look a a lot different.

This will be the second Maryland location for the restaurant chain.