Birdsong Trail

 

We got a same day invitation to a family event in Ogden. I have been wanting to go back to Waterfall Canyon, particularly earlier in the year so we can see it going more strongly. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to do that today, so we looked for a shorter easier hike that maybe Ma could join us on, and we found Birdsong.

The trailhead is at Rainbow Gardens on 20th street. Apparently the trail crosses 6 springs and a pond in a nice forest. Sounds awesome.

Although, I learned that if you park at the back of the parking lot you cut out a good 1/10 of a mile.

Getting nice and green!

The first little spring.

Really pretty little trail.

The 2nd spring looks a little gross.

Pretty.

Fantastic views of the mountains above Ogden. I think these are the best shots I have ever gotten of them.

And then the trail starts going UP. It becomes steep, and is on an open steep hillside. Luckily though the trail remains fairly wide so it’s not as bad as some.

View of the valley below, and you can see where we were when we started.

More pretty mountains.

Some pretty wildflowers.

After you complete the rough uphill section you come out above onto a flat, wide open area. The trail follows the edge of a pretty steep cliff. I had to check.

Cacti and Sage.

Great shot of the flat area and the mountains behind.

Ogden Canyon.

Back to the uphill climb.

Bee!!!

The 3rd spring is fairly impressive. We read somewhere that the bench in the first picture is about halfway confirmed by the pedometer app. Ma was pretty tired so we turned around here.

I love Indian Paintbrush. It just seems to really pop!

Butterfly.

Pretty clouds above Ogden Canyon.

Tree tunnel.

Steep slope!

Random old fence.

View down.

Pretty mountains and clouds.

Back to the pretty forested part.

More mountains and clouds.

This butterfly taunted me. I have learned that MOST of the time if you startle a butterfly off, just stay still and wait a moment and they usually flutter right back. This one played with me fluttering back several times and never letting me get in close enough to get a really good shot, but I do like the 2 that I got.

And ending with a final shot of the clouds coming in.

So yea, 4/10’s of a mile down, if the trail is really a mile, the bench is less than halfway.

We didn’t complete the trail, so I can’t really give it a fair rating, but I really did enjoy it so for the first half we’ll give it an 8.

This trail is another example of why I hate the simple easy, moderate, hard system most trail guides use. It was marked easy. With my new ranking system, I would probably rank it the same as the last trail we did, however it did have more difficult parts. So, for now the same ranking, DR3. But I think I might need to revisit my ranking system.