Fall Drive, with an unexpected, wonderful detour into Echo.

 

Over the last few days we have been watching the mountain sides light up in the beautiful display of fall. So we decided to do a nice drive to take it in, and hopefully take a few amazing pictures.

Landis remembers a road from Park City to Ogden as being particularly pretty so we decided that would be nice.

From the drive-by photography album, I am including this one because it shows a huge rock formation I personally have always referred to as the giant sea horse. It is actually best viewed from the west side of i215 towards the E-Center but this caught it alright. Do you see it? I remember as a young kid always imagining it was actually the skeletal remains of a humongous sea horse laying on the side of the mountain. It always makes me smile now when I see it.

After doing some shopping in Park City we continued up towards Coalville. Now that is an interesting little town and I wish I had stopped to take a few pictures, but we kind of blinked and missed it. hehe.

Aside from that, it was about here when something triggered in my memory. That cemetery I have been wanting to visit ever since watching S. Darko is supposed to be around here somewhere. I remember because I was so enamored with this unique cemetery that I spent hours researching and trying to figure out where is was. Most, if not all of that movie was filmed in Utah that is why I devoted so much time to it. So we took a slight detour and explored the outskirts of Coalville hoping to find this cemetery. We pulled over to do some more research.

 
Echo Reservoir. Looking kind of low on water right now.

For some reason the term “The Three Sisters.” also stuck out as a landmark near this cemetery. So we looked that up, and it directed is to southern Utah. Hrm. Maybe I was wrong? We continue skirting Echo Reservoir and are just about to get on the freeway again when I see the sign for the town of Echo. This starts sounding bells off in my head. Come on, slight detour, won’t take much time lets do it.

Echo is even smaller than Coalville. I mean wow. Before we knew it we had passed it. We were just saying well that's Echo, nothing here really when I catch a glimpse of a small cemetery. “THERE IT IS!!!! Turn around! Turn Around!!! I think we found it!” I am seriously bouncing off the walls of the car. So Landis turns the car around and we’re trying to figure out how to get to it, when we see the one street that goes back. Seriously Echo pretty much in entirety sits on a strip that faces the freeway, with from what I could tell, one street going back behind it.

Landis pulls over and I am practically jumping out of the car before he has it stopped. This is it, this is really it, we actually found it! You know, I might be building this up too much, but to me, this is without a doubt the most interestingly beautiful cemetery I have ever seen! It not the grave markers as you might assume, it is the setting, and the backdrop, as you will now get to see.

These were the only recent looking tomb stones, the rest appear to be 1940 or older. But what I like about this shot, is I happen to have that exact cherub sitting, beheaded in my garden. I didn’t behead it, but It is kind of spooky so I keep it that way. LOL.

I am still just enamored with this cemetery. It is so unique and so serene and beautiful. I would have preferred softer lighting, but the time of day we showed up that couldn’t really be helped. (well it could’ve but that filter hasn’t arrived yet)

  

Next to the cemetery sits this old church. Recognized by the Sate Historical Society. yay! And, if my memory serves me right, this is the church they Burned down in S. Darco. (you know now I have to watch it again to confirm a few other sights I discovered.)

 
Random outhouse with a cool backdrop.

I hade a hard time restraining myself here. It is absolutely breathtaking. But I peeled myself away for us to continue our journey.

Pulpit Rock and Witches Cave (I believe Witches Cave is that opening that resembles a skull)
 
Well I’ll be I stumbled upon a Historical Marker for the Pony Express.

We continued back on the freeway. I saw a sign for a rest area and suddenly realized I had to pee.

 
Here is the view from that rest area.

After this we realize we should have hit the interchange by now. A glimpse at the Atlas we discover we appear to have missed it and are now almost in Evanstan, Wyoming ruh roh! Luckily there appears to be a scenic turn out ahead.

 
Some virga if you please.

 
Castle Rock.

 
Random oddly placed junkyard…

 
And the sky’s let loose! I actually kind of like this shot!

 
Devil’s Slide. This is a rather interesting rock formation.

After that we arrived in South Ogden, and headed home from there. Really rather beautiful drive, plenty of wonderful fall colors. The only problem is, every time I saw a really interesting explosion of color there wasn’t really anywhere to pull over. So our original idea of getting some cool fall foliage shots turned into a fun adventure of tracking a very hard to locate cemetery. All in all, it was probably one of the most amazing random adventures I’ve had in a while.

I want to go back to Echo and take pictures during dusk, and nightfall. I think they would be amazing!

So this was not a hike, but can still get some squirrelly ratings. A perfect 10 out of 10. This was an awesome adventure.

Adam’s Canyon

 

We slacked the last few weeks in getting some nature in. Time is running out the weather is rapidly turning cold, as it tends to do in Utah. Our falls tend to be a couple of sporadic days in between Utah flipping drastically from Summer to Winter.

Anyway, I found the little trail and it sounded nice so we went. The trailhead is in Kaysville, an area I am not at all familiar with. Here are the directions to the trailhead:

To find the trail head take hwy 89 north to Layton, turn right on East 1200 North road then immediately turn right on Eastside road. Near the end of eastside road you will see a dirt parking area. This is the trail head parking. (Lat:41.066275 Lon:-111.909903)

Thank goodness they provided GPS coordinates We completely missed the turnout for 1200 north, by a long shot. So we used the GPS on the phone to help guide us. From what I can tell the street is not labeled at all. Pay attention to the addresses up to the area and you will see a tiny like, 10 foot road that leads to a road going parallel to 89. The parking area is not far down this road. Be advised it really is a dirt parking lot, and not a very well maintained one.

From there, we hiked. :) The trail starts up next to some properties. It is a very sandy, beach like trail, unlike any other I have hiked locally before. It starts with a bunch of switchbacks to quickly bring you up to the Bonneville shoreline. From there, you get your view.

 
It had been really windy these past few days So I had just assumed this was dust being kicked up, which it may have been at this point, what I did not know was that we had a huge fire burning all the way at the south end of the next valley over.

 
The falls colors are starting to set in.

 
After the switchbacks, and the kind of strange quick broad flat expanse of the shoreline, the trail starts to turn more woody, the view changing from awesome valley/lake views to pretty forest.

 
Before long you start to hear, and quickly see the creek flowing down the canyon. You know, I am not sure what this creek is called.

 
Ahead of it’s class.

It had definitely been too long since our last hike. We both had to stop and take quite a few breaks. I seemed to need more water than usual. Mental note for future hike, extra water. I made it without being dehydrated, but would have appreciated a little more.

 
Huge Pine tree.

 
This random piece of graffiti actually amused me. (I guess really the difference is 2 things. 1) do not graffiti nature. 2) don’t be gangsta with it.) This is on the replacement bridge, which instead of replacing the original, now useless bridge they placed upstream about 10 feet, which is kind of a harder climb. Thanks for the new bridge, but, wouldn’t it make more sense to have just replaced the now defunct one?

The first small falls. Kind of pretty.

As seen from the boulder to the right.

There will be more photo’s on the way back down, because. as we rested here we heard a group come up behind us. I was really hoping for a least a moment of alone time at the main falls so I pushed up up at a harder pace than normal. It was worth it.

Getting Closer.

The falls. I saw one reference to Adam’s Falls, but I have not been able to find anything definitive on it’s name. Most people seem to refer to it as the “main falls” So in the interest of being the first to offer a name I submit: Double Slash Falls. Or Slash Slash Falls. :)

When we arrived there was a family chillin by the falls, but they quickly took their leave to allow us some alone time, which was very much appreciated.

Our candid shots in front.

From below. Not only is this waterfall absolutely breathtaking, you can, very easily walk right up to it, even without getting your feet wet.

The view down from the falls.

At this point the group behind us had caught up to us. I appreciated the few minutes we had alone with the falls, as from what I read this was a popular trail. The parking lot was full, and we passed a lot of people going down so I honestly did not anticipate getting even a second alone. After resting a few breaths more, we decided to grant them the same courtesy and started back down.

This is a section above the lower falls that almost tricked me into thinking this was the so revered falls at the top of the canyon. Fatigue almost convinced me so, luckily I decided to push on.

It still boggles my mind going from a (estimate) 5 foot wide waterfall that is astounding, to downstream a waterfall that might be 5 inches wide at the top.

Not further downstream offers this cool shot.

More fall colors.

 
With a view

This trail is just beautiful.

Smoke on the water

On the way back down it becomes obvious this is not just dust being picked up by the winds, we have a fire somewhere, of course this is now accompanied by the telltale smell.

Relevant news article on the fire I looked up upon returning home.

I know I tend to say this a lot, largely due to me being experimental with hikes lately, but this is by FAR my newest favorite hike! Absolutely gorgeous trail, offering amazing views until you hit the forest, then you have a beautiful forest trail, a nice stream to listen to and watch, a couple beautiful cascades, culminating to one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen locally.

It was classified as moderate but I would say it is semi/advanced. It is rather steep, starts in the sun, and has some very rough parts. Also, it has a lot of forks, which is at first rather confusing, but they do seem to all go to the same place. Towards the end (after the skeleton bridge) pay attention to your choices. There are a lot of safer choices to take than appear to be obvious.

It is also a rather popular trail, which at first worried me, but this was the almost perfect amount of people. Enough people that you felt safer on the trail, but not enough to feel crowded, or touristy.

Final score: 9 out of 10 squirrels.