Painted Landscape

Last weekend, the aspens were in their peak autumn finery. Most turn gold, but some sport a fashionable auburn color.

As we climbed the hills north of Strawberry Reservoir, we looked down upon meadows bordered by aspen and spruce.  (You can see the reservoir at the top of the photo.)

Aspen gold is particularly beautiful when backlit by the sun.

Medallion leaves cover this aspen lined trail.

The forest dwarfs a horse and rider, making us realize how small we are compared to nature's vast beauty.

Strawberry Narrows

We started out on the southern shore of Strawberry Reservoir.

The Strawberry narrows trail is designated as hiking/biking/horsebackriding.  The views of the lake are pretty. 

As we rode about 6 miles down the narrow, winding trail, we worried a little about running into a biker, perhaps literally. 

So, on our way back, we followed a ravine up a few hundred feet and found a great little 2 track through the aspen.  That made a safer horse trail. 

As we reached the gravel road leading to the marina, we saw this sign.  Anybody have a few million dollars to spare?   You could build your dream summer home up there.

Gateway to the Sky

On a clear day, riding the high country surrounding Currant Creek Peak is like following a path to the sky. 

Boss has a fine view of Mount Timpanogas. 

The cows of ranchers who hold the grazing allottment also enjoy great scenery.  Cows dot the range from late June to early September. 

The meadows are simply vast.  Note that the aspens have not yet changed to gold, but that will happen in the next few weeks. 

A hawk hangs on to the top of a tree even as a brisk wind sways his perch.

Along the little west fork of the Duchesne, we saw this critter.  We can't tell for sure if it's a fox or a coyote because of the distance and blurry photo.  Sheep graze on that side of the range.   A Great Pyrenees guard dog, as big and white as the sheep, chased away the predator as we watched. 

The V at the top of the graffiti chain (rocking V bar?) is the ranch brand seen on the cattle.

French Hollow

We began at the French Hollow trailhead (8400 ft) south of Strawberry Reservoir.  The path travels through budding aspen, past an old trough,

and ends up at Willow Creek.  Instead of following the creek, as we have before, we found a new trail that heads up to Willow Creek Ridge (about 10,000 ft) 
We saw some interesting insects:

western swallowtails

Western tailed Blue

Is it a fly or a bee?

Primrose, wild strawberry, violets, and larkspur were blooming along the way.

evening primrose

wild strawberry

Daisy liked taking a dip below a series of cascades. 

A few hundred feet higher, she found patches of snow to cool her belly.

Someone has done a lot of clearing on the forest path, which made the route easy.  When we reached open terrain near the ridge, we spotted a coyote scampering away.
Up top, the views were magnificent in every direction.  

View toward the Wasatch Range, 40 miles away

View of Strawberry Reservoir and the snow-covered Uintas, 60 miles away

A lot of trails connect to this one, so we will certainly return to explore other possibilities.

Padre Pass

After some study on where the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition crossed Strawberry Ridge in 1776, Steve thinks he's found the spot.  Although the pass is unnamed, he has dubbed it Padre Pass, labeled in green in the photo above. Padres Dominguez and Escalante were making their way from the valley that is now covered by Strawberry Reservoir (they called it Valle de Purisima) through the Wasatch Mountains to Utah Lake.  They were the first non-native Americans known to venture through the area. 

We were drenched in orange, since it was the last day of elk season. 

These hunters watching from a ridge weren't likely to find any game, since any intelligent elk was surely in hiding, and any not-so-intelligent elk were probably goners already.

We found bright yellow Scouler's Willow growing on a ridge:

Boss found some grass.

Our trail wound through aspen groves:

past this Douglas fir twisted by the west wind:

To enjoy an expanse of fall color spread out below:

All of this goes to show that following in the footsteps of history can be fun. 

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.)

A Sheepish Boss

At the beginning of our ride, we have distant views of the Wasatch Range.  Notice how fresh and alert Daisy looks.  She knows big excitement is coming.

We start riding down into Buffalo Canyon: 

At the lower reaches, we travel along a trail with bike tracks.  We don't see any bikers, but we do see a bow hunter, which makes me glad I am wearing orange. 

I am riding Boss, giving Mischief a rest. 
We encounter a herd of sheep:

Notice how Daisy is crouched down, trying to sneak up on them.  You may be able to see a mounted sheepherder on the left side of the photo.  Steve talks to two of the herders, communicating through his limited Spanish and their limited English.  The herders are from Peru. 

Boss, unfortunately, is terrified of sheep.  Yes, I know this makes no sense.  He's a big strong horse, but the baaa-ing turns him into a nervous wreck.  Or maybe it's the sheep scent that drives him nutty.  Whatever the reason, it is a challenge to ride him through the sheep and on down the trail to Willow Creek: 

This beaver dam appears to be active.  We ride down the creek until we came to some nice pools.

There, Steve wants to fish.  We get off and tie the horses for safekeeping, but about that time a dozen or so sheep appear on the mountainside and begin their baaa-ing routine. 
Boss is not a happy camper.  He pulls hard on his rope and dances around the trees.  When he can't escape, he hides in the brush as well as he can.  The sheep don't attack him.  I don't think they even notice him. 

Steve, undeterred, catches a few cutthroat trout.  This trout and the others in the stream are paler than most cutthroats we see.  Maybe they've evolved that way because the stream bottom is very light-colored in Willow Creek.

The aspens are golden in some places, and green in others:

We will have to wait another week or so for the maximum gold in the mountains.