A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my trip to Yellowstone National Park.  While I was out there, I decided to tack on a couple of extra weeks to explore new places.  In this post, I’ll tell you what to expect on the blog in the next several months – from Grand Teton, Salt Lake City, Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, central-southern Utah, and Loveland Pass, Colorado!

After our adventures in Yellowstone, we figured it only made sense to stop for a hike in Grand Teton National Park (one of my group members’ favorite parks).  I’d read good things about Hermitage Point, so we trekked out there…

…with a stop at Heron Pond on the way.  I would also have visited Swan Lake, but the trail was closed (trail maintenance, I think).

From there, we drove down to the Salt Lake City area.  Our first hike was up to Donut Falls…

…and then up Kessler Peak (which, despite all the no trespassing signs, is on public land).

The weather wasn’t very good the next day, but it looked better further south, so we hiked up Santaquin Peak.  The fall colors were gorgeous, even if the mist engulfed us shortly before we reached the peak.

On our final day in the area, we took three quick hikes to waterfalls (after all, it had rained most of the day before in Little Cottonwood Canyon).  Our first hike was to Gloria Falls.  We were fairly early, so all the moms and kids hadn’t arrived yet (we saw so many happy groups on the way down!)

Then we walked up the creek (and didn’t get our feet wet) to Hidden Falls.

Lastly, we did the rock scramble up to Mossy Ledge Falls.  There is no trail; it’s just finding your way up or above the streambed!

I’ve heard about the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho for many years.  Even as a child, I read books by Jim Kjelgaard, many of which were set in the Sawtooths.  So I was thrilled to finally have a chance to visit!  We started out up the steep trail to Silver Lake.

The next day, we went into the Sawtooths proper and hiked to Lady Face Falls…

…and Bridal Veil Falls.  Unfortunately, this was not the most scenic trail we did, and I can’t say as I recommend it very highly.

We made up for a lackluster hike by going up to Sawtooth Lake via the Iron Creek Trail the next day.  The views on this trail are spectacular, and they only get better as you walk along the lake.

Since we were in the area, we took the trail up to Goat Lake.  Several people online had said it was their favorite, and they were totally not wrong!  The sheer cliff down into a sapphire-blue lake was the things that are dreamt about but rarely seen in reality.

Hiking the Antz Basin Trail up to Blackmon Peak was my favorite trail in the Sawtooths.  The views stretch down into the lovely basin, across to the wildest of layers and colors on the mountains across the basin, and also across the way to the peaks of the Sawtooths and surrounding mountains.  Wow!

We had one more day in the area, so we decided to try for the highest mountain in the range – Thompson Peak.  The trail and then route were gorgeous, but we didn’t have enough time to make it all of the way to the summit (something tells me it’s a little longer than the supposed 12.something miles I read online).  Another day, perhaps, or maybe we’ll just enjoy the views we did get to see!

From there, we drove back down into Utah.  The weather didn’t look especially promising, but Capitol Reef had the best forecast in terms of when the rain was supposed to fall.  We stopped briefly to pick some truly delicious apples (this coming from an apple snob since I live in apple country) at the orchards in Fruita.  The next day, it did rain, but we also were able to hike up Fern’s Nipple – by far the best view I’ve ever seen in Capitol Reef.  It was truly amazing!

Despite visiting the San Rafael Swell two years in a row (this makes a third year), we’d never been to Goblin Valley State Park (mostly because it’s a state park and therefore not covered by our park pass).  We finally gritted our teeth and paid the $20/2 days entrance fee.  It was totally worth it!  Our first hike was down Carmel Canyon to the Goblins Lair.

Then we set off on a sometimes-marked trail down Red Canyon, stopping at Valley 3 on our way back.

We set off the next morning to spend the day exploring all three valleys full of the “goblin” rocks.  This was possibly my favorite day of the entire trip.  We explored, walked around balancing rocks, discovered arches, scrambled up canyons (and then up to the mesa and back down a different canyon), crawled through caves, and generally had a fantastic time.  There’s just so much to see!

Our two-day pass expired, so it was down to the Waterhole Flat Road (you knew I’d be back toward Canyonlands, right?) for a few miles.  We hiked up an unnamed canyon to the base of the Sewing Machine, right under the Sewing Machine Needle.  The views were great and the walking was not quite as hard as I expected.

We really needed to make tracks toward home, but we also really wanted to do one more thing.  So we stopped in Green River for a watermelon (one of the best I’ve ever eaten – thanks Dunham Farms!) and then drove into Colorado.  Every time we drive I-70, we think, “Someday we’ll go up to Loveland Pass.”  This time, we did it!  And we even hiked up the east ridgeline to fantastic views of Grays and Torreys Peaks and down both valleys from Cupid Peak.  Beautiful!

And that’s a wrap!  I can’t wait to share all of these beautiful trails with you in the (somewhat) near future!

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