Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Living Room

 

After the long winter, feeling cooped up within the house, we finally got a weekend with good enough weather to venture into the mountains. Landis’s mom was feeling cooped up too so she asked to join us today. That said, I decided to research some easier trails. I stumbled upon a trail called The Living Room Trail. Apparently, someone, at some point, took rocks above Red Butte Gardens and built living room furniture out of them. Sounds interesting! Plus its not somewhere we have been yet so, here we go.

Directions: From the intersection with Foothill Drive, head east on Sunnyside Avenue. Go left onto Arapeen Drive to Chipeta Way. Go right on Chipeta Way, turn right onto Colorow Drive. Follow Colorow Drive around to the trailhead by the side of the road.

We got a little lost with the drive in, but eventually found the trail head and started our hike.

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Everything is still dead from winter, but it is still rather pretty. I imagine it is quite a bit better in the spring.

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You cross a really small stream.

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There’s still snow up on them thar hills!

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This is a different view of downtown.

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Sage and Craggle

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Well, this doesn’t look so bad!

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Now i’m a little concerned. The trail becomes littered with loose rocks.

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Interesting coloring.

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Interesting lines.

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Old wood

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This shot shows where we ended our hike. Middle left.

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More loose rocks

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Texture

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I started being captivated by this unique view of the valley and mountains.

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Sunlight

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Rock slide

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We made it! (or so we thought)

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There appears to be some lovely decor.

Aside from some rock formations, and some whimsical decor there wasn’t really much to this and I didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. Upon returning home and looking it up again, I have come to the conclusion that we did not in fact find the living room. Oh well, it was still a lovely hike and I am happy we got out.

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More texture

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Another shot of the mountains.

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With a stack of rocks

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Discarded flask

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Landis likes to climb.

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I like the twigs on the ridge, backlit by the sun.

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Pioneer Park below.

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Rocks and Brush

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The SL Valley below. We still have our typical winter haze.

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This rock formation reminded me of Alien.

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What I incorrectly dubbed as The Upper Living Room

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Found this little guy enjoying the view.

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On the way back down, this small portion of the trail still had ice.

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Downtown again.

So, I thought we had made it to the Living Room, Instead, we found some other section copy cats tried to make. I am so dubbing The Parlor. So, a return visit is in order eventually. I would like to actually find this interesting work of art.

Final rating: Well, due to not reaching the proper goal, I cannot give it a final rating. I will say, I would NOT have marked this as an easy trail. It is pretty tame, but definitely has some sections that are tough, and has sections of scrambling over loose rocks. I also would not recommend doing this on a hot day, as there was not much shelter from the sunlight.