Gravel Bike Up Skyline Drive to Snow - May 5, 2021
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| Not many wildflowers seen during this ride, primarily because I was staring at the rough road, picking the smoothest line. The Buckland Flats gate was locked so upper two miles of the road were all mine. No dust, no noise, no gunners. Although, the road was fully blocked by snow about a 3/4-mile from the Morgan Valley overlook at the top of Skyline Drive. At the last switchback shown here, I pushed the bike through snow for another eighth mile of pedaling until fully blocked (see photos below). The mountain snow melted earlier this year than any year that I can remember. |
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| The Bountiful Peak road etched across the mountain. It starts at the Morgan overlook, just out of the photo on the right, goes over Bountiful Peak and descends into Farmington Canyon. |
Dude Peak - May 10, 2021
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| Arrowleaf Balsamroot and the central Wasatch Mountains, view south from about mile 2 of the Dude Peak trail. |
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| Indian Paintbrush just below the Dude Peak summit block. |
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| Utah Milkvetch, also known as Loco Weed because its toxins make livestock go loco. |
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| Interesting conglomerate rock all along the Dud Peak trail. |
Henry Mountains - May 13, 2021
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No, not the Wasatch, but the lack of snow is alarming. Mount Ellen (11,522 feet) the highpoint in these photos, is also the highpoint of the Henry’s. We went to Capital Reef for the weekend for a bit of hiking and cycling, but came home after one night, the motel was nasty and we had too much going on at home. Camping would have been a much better option but this was a spontaneous trip and we followed the advice of a freind who suggested the motel, saying it was affordable and top quality, but you get what you pay for. The greasy sheets, the stained bed-spread, and the sticky carpet made it easy to abort the the weekend. I’m not naming names, just know the motel in Bicknel with the indoor pool SUCKS!
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City Creek Overlook - May 16, 2021
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| Evening Primrose |
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| City Creek Canyon, briefly green in the spring. |
My favorite thing to see along the Dude Peak trail are the little fat toad lizards. They're easy to catch, and they like to sit in your hand and let you get a good look at them.
ReplyDeleteThe new BST is almost to the Dude Peak trail near Hidden Lake Circle. I jog it almost every day as far as they've boll-dozed it.