Hike: Bonneville Shoreline Trail

Eric had to work on Easter so Emily and I went on a hike. We decided to hike along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. (You can access the Living Room from this trail). The trail follows the shoreline of the ancient, rainwater fed, Lake Bonneville. We started hiking journals and I researched the trail and lake during the drive up. Which turned out to be kind of fun like the start up to those investigative TV shows like Ghost Hunters International where you learn the history of the location before you hit the road. We accessed the trail from Wakara Way near Red Butte Gardens. and hiked to the fence marking the This is the Place property (Hogle Zoo is farther down the hill to the right) which is where the following photo was taken.

We then headed north for a while, passing mountain bikers, other hikers and runners. The scrub oak and butterfly below were by the road where we parked.

The Shoreline trail is pretty flat and was a good start to the hiking season. 

Suz

Tuesday Night Hike: The Living Room

Once upon a time there was a living room in the mountains. It sounds like the start of a children's story. Large flat rocks made up the sofas. Comfy stone reading chairs sat like thrones overlooking a giant lake and sparkling city... there was only one way to get there, by following a winding, rocky path lined with nodding yellow flowers past the shoreline of an ancient lake.

Mule Ears, wildflowers found on the Wasatch mountains

Last night my friend Kristi and I went to the Sierra Club, Tuesday Night Hike. The hike was to the "Living Room" up above the research park, near the University of Utah. There were all sorts of flowers along the way, Mule Ears were all over the mountainsides and we passed some other flowers I didn't recognize. Both low growing, one looked kind of like a pink/purple sweet pea and the other had several large white blossoms and a sweet, almost spicy scent.

The Living Room is perched on a west-facing mountain and the chairs are made from stacked stones. When I got there the sun was low on the horizon and everybody else had already arrived. I think it was the second arrival for one of the group who had come to check on Kristi and I. As the sun crept closer to the land it turned the city below hues of glowing gold. It was good to visit the Living Room.

This is the only photo of the actual Living Room I have to share. My camera batteries died.

Suz