Red and Orange on the Mountain

Yesterday we rode to the top of Strawberry Ridge, about 9000 feet.  To the east, we looked down on Strawberry Reservoir.

To the west, the view takes in Uinta National Forest and the Wasatch Range. 

We rode down the west side of the ridge through aspen forests. 

One grove was full of baneberries. They are pretty, but poisonous. 

They also come in white. 

The Western mountain ash has bright berries.  This fruit is bitter but edible, according to my plant book.

Mountain maples have turned red and orange. 
Our blaze orange vests seem to blend in a little too well....  I hope the hunters take note!

The horses enjoyed eating yellow salsify forbes, as well as tall grass seedheads.

Boss begged for a granola bar dessert.  Daisy stood by, eager to clean up any crumbs.

Path of the Padres

We've had stormy weather this week, but we didn't want to miss the last of the aspens.  

We drove through raindrops

up to Strawberry Ridge, west of Strawberry Reservoir:

In 1776, the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition traveled through the Strawberry River Valley (the river is now dammed into the reservoir, but the padres called this Valle de la Purisima, valley of the purest), then rode up Strawberry Ridge (from which I took these photos), and hurried helter-skelter down the other side to camp in the valley shown below:

The reason for the rush?  Their Ute guides feared that hostile "Comanches" (according to John D. Barton, Utah State University professor of history, in this article, http://ocw.usu.edu/History/History_of_Utah/Utah_History__ute_lands_and_people.doc , the hostiles were most likely Shoshones) were in the area and might attack.  

The expedition of Spanish padres made the transit without incident, reaching the Wasatch Front near Utah Lake, seen in the distance here: 

We stopped for a short walk to a spring, but another storm cell sent us scurrying back to the truck:

We haven't explored any of the area west of the ridge, so as you can see from the panorama below, we have a lot of work to do:

(Enlarge for a better view.)