Lambert Park Poppy Field

 The Poppy Field in Lambert Park is a short, easy trail is located in Alpine. It features well, a neat poppy field, some scrub oaks, other wildflowers, and even some old ruins. I thought it might be neat, but I did not expect it to be as neat as it was! It was something magical and I am glad we decided to toss this in as a bonus adventure today.

The cat is out of the bag on this one as I swear at least half the population of Utah County was out here today! wow, it was busy.

Quick Details:

Length: It is about a half mile from the South Trailhead, so about a mile out and back, plus however much exploring you do at the field. We ended up doing 1.3 miles. It looks like it might be even shorter from the west trailhead, but that parking lot is a lot smaller.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop options.
Difficulty: Super easy peasy, mild climb. DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 170 feet.
Restroom: Yes.
Dogs? Yes, leashed. Also ensure you can keep them from trampling the poppies.
Other Info: General reminder to not pick any flowers or trample them. Also, keep an eye out for rattlesnakes.

To Get Here:

From i15 take exit 284 for Timpanogos Highway and head east for 5.3 mi and turn left onto 5300 W. Go 1.2 mi At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit and stay on S Main St  Go 0.3 mi and turn right onto E 100 S go about 0.7 mi Turn left onto S Alpine Blvd.  Go about 1.0 mi turn right onto 910 N. After the church turn left on County Manor Ln. Follow that as it curves to the right to the trailhead parking. The first lot is kind of small, but there is a bigger lot if you keep going.

American Fork Canyon (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Trail:

Area map.

Trailhead signs. I was not expecting there would be a guided path to the poppy field and was planning to follow the pin on google maps. But this is much better! Particularly considering that there is a huge web of trails here.

Right off the bat we found a snake. Looks like a gopher snake and not a rattler, but they are here and have been recently spotted so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

Cute little fella.

Lone Peak and a few other peaks to the north.

As the sign stated, follow the red flags. A lot of which have cute images of poppies on them.

The trail starts on an old dirt road which is nice and wide, and fairly flat. Also note the evenly spaced  red flags.

Then we turn to the right on a thinner trail, still following the flags.

Passing by a dry ditch.

Following the flags. They did pretty good ensuring there was a flag after most trail splits so you know you are on the right path.

I guess we are on Judy’s Walking Trail which is Hoof & Boot (no bikes).

Another sign advising to follow the red flags. I really did not expect this to be so easy.

Thistle.

There are quite a few sego lilies along the way. I will come back to those.

Quick patch of trees.

A nice view into Dry Canyon.

More forest.

The first poppy we saw. I had no idea they get this big! Also, it is quite a bit a ways from the main field. These guys can spread apparently.

I think these are forget me nots.

Mountains to the east.

More forest.

I think this is not quite mature milkweed.

More forest.

Some yellow flowers.

Another stray poppy.

Before long, we have arrived. And wow, is it busy up here!

Whoa!!!! I am not sure what I was expecting but it sure wasn’t this. Its neat!

Just loads and loads of poppies.

They seem so out of place amongst the desert sagebrush, but they seem to be very happy here.

Reminder of the rules.

Just, wow! Even with the crowd, this really is something special.

Super pretty.

Reminder to stay on the path.

I just love this!

Closer look.

More.

Closer.

Again.

The mountains to the north again.

It was crowded enough I gave up on trying to get shots without people in them. I just tried to ensure I didn’t get too close so there isn’t any identifying features.

More poppies.

Some ruins. Wow, I was not at all expecting that!

Some pretty yellow roses.

Roses and poppies.

The ruins again.

Information plaque.

This was the Lambert Homestead, for which the park is named after.

“History of George Cannon Lambert and the Lambert Homestead

George Cannon Lambert was born April 11th, 1848 at Winter Quarters, Nebraska. to Mary Alan Cannon and Charles Lambert. During his life, George Cannon Lambert wrote 17 books called The Faith Promoting Series. At the request of President Woodruff he hid the records of the LDS Church pertaining to marriages and property, in the cellar of his house on the corner of west and south temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. professionally he was the manager and editor of The Juvenile Instructor, then of The Deseret News, and President/Owner of Lambert Paper and Lambert Roofing Companies.

In 1929 Lambert purchased 129 acres of ground in the northwest corner of Alpine and built a summer home on this land in 1910. Most of the ground was covered with rocks and ledge outcroppings. Therefore, he planted a large orchard and raised some cattle on the land.

This original house was 17 feet wide and 31 feet long, with a full basement. Chimneys were built on the walls for for wood-burning stoves, each room had 2 windows. The front door was on the south, and opened onto a large summer porch, which was all screened. On the west wall of the house, you can see etched in the stone, “R.H. Sep 20. [9010[SIC]” (1910). This gives the initials of the rock mason Robert Hunter, and the date the rockwork was finished. Lambert also built a red barn, which contained a small bell tower on top.

Lambert died, two months past his 69th birthday, at his house in Salt Lake City on Sunday, June 12th, 1917 after suffering from a second stroke. The Lambert property was later purchased by the city of Alpine from Zion’s Securities Corporation for $9,000.00 in 1957 adjoining the Bateman Property to the North. The created the largest city owned park in the state of Utah.

From the book Lambert’s by Rulon C. McDaniel

Erected Nov 2006.”

Well, that was all fairly interesting, but doesn’t really explain the poppy field. However, with this information, my guess is that he had poppies in his garden and well, they just thrived after his death and have spread out into this area.

The roses again.

Back to the poppies.

Like I said, pretty busy area today.

But I am really enjoying the poppies.

Closeup.

More.

Dry Canyon and some peaks.

Some poppies outside of the main area.

Panoramic of the peaks to the north.

More poppies that have spread outside of the main area.

Utah Lake off in the distance, and more crowds.

Back to the Lambert Homestead. We decided to walk around it.

Close to some poppies.

Super pretty.

The ruins again.

Again. It is kind of amazing that even this much of it still stands.

The northwest corner.

More poppies.

Lone Peak to the north.

Utah Lake to the south.

The west side of the homestead through the trees.

More poppies.

The south side of the homestead.

Poppies and roses.

Roses.

The ruins again. Some poppies are growing inside of them.

Again.

Poppies.

I guess I didn’t take a picture of it but there was a rattlesnake warning with the last sighting being just a few days ago. Eep.

More poppies.

Well, we looped the area a good two times, and it was amazing! But we decided to head on back. I considered making a loop of some kind, but we decided to make it easy on ourselves for our first time here and just return the way we came.

Utah Lake again.

Mountains to the east.

I think this is Box Elder Canyon. I might have to see if that is worth checking out sometime.

A small patch of errant poppies.

Again.

More yellow flowers.

Continuing down.

Sego lilies.

Mullein.

Forest.

Mountains to the southeast. I believe that is American Fork Canyon.

More forest.

Forget me nots.

Another wayward poppy.

Another sego lily.

Peaks to the east again.

To the southeast.

To the northeast.

Different poppy flowers on the flags.

Dry Canyon and Box Elder Canyon.

Lone Peak and other peaks to the north.

Alpine trails map.

Lone Peak again as we head back home (PSP).

Fun clouds (PSP).

Wow! That ended up being a lot more exciting than I thought it would. Like I said I don’t know what I was expecting when we decided to come here today, but this certainly exceeded that! For such a short trail it was really neat. For the most part, the crowd wasn’t too bad. A couple unaware idiots, and a few main character people, but otherwise most people were being respectful and not being a nuisance. However, I am going to remove 1 squirrel due to the crowd, since I would have enjoyed it more without it. 9 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it was really super, super easy with a mild climb up to the meadows. DR3.

Dogs are allowed, leashed, and they ask that you ensure they are not trampling the flowers, even if that means carrying them through the field.