Summer is far less exceptional without its mountain journeys. Now that spring finally feels attainable and the anticipation of summer has reemerged, I’m going to revisit a few of the treks that amplified last summer’s exceptional status. Spoiler alert: This post will eventually conclude, after a barrage of details, that one shouldn’t depend too much on technology while hiking and should never venture out sans flashlight because junk is distracting and so are ponds, views, peaks, signs, flowers, trees, holes, photos, animals, rocks… basically, everything is fighting against you finishing in the light.
Trail: Great Western and Old Red Pine Road Loop
Distance: 4.8 Miles
Month: July
My ankle was giving me grief during the summer. Months later, after x-rays and an MRI, I would discover a talus fracture was the source of those grumbles. Huh. Before that was common knowledge, my doctor didn’t want me hiking anything too steep as he thought I had a bad case of capsulitis. His counsel put my family’s usual peak-top extravaganza on the no-no list. As an alternative, we completed a mild loop up Millcreek Canyon that incorporates sections of the Great Western Trail and Old Red Pine Road. Parking at the trailhead was a mess, which apparently is the norm. However, the path itself wasn’t crowded and passed through some agreeable countryside.
Trail: Honeycomb Canyon and Solitude Loop
Distance: 6.6 Miles
Month: September
Jason and I are quite accustomed to Solitude Resort in the winter, so we thought we might as well peek at some of its familiar peaks while they were donned in summer’s stubble. We downloaded a trail map from AllTrails for a loop through the resort. The map was wrong. It directed us to descend from the top of Honeycomb Canyon on a slim line that led to nothing. Luckily, I spied a path high above us on another canyon wall, and we were able to scramble through bushes and over boulders to it. Despite our route insufficiencies, passing through naked, green terrain instead of smooth snow-covered slopes proved entertaining. We learned there is an assortment of ponds underneath some of our favorite runs. However, our learning did not extend to timing. As usual, but still not planned, we ended up returning in the dark.
Trail: Prince of Wales Mine
Distance: 5.1 Miles
Month: September
We’ve been interested in hiking to the Prince of Wales Mine up Little Cottonwood Canyon for years. Last summer, we finally fulfilled this climbing scheme. While this trek is not terribly long, it passes too much of interest to not take until well after dark… no matter how early your departure time. The Michigan-Utah and Michigan City Mines are among the engrossing sites on route. There are also random shaft openings here and there that beg you for a look.
At the end of the trail and 9,875 feet of elevation, is the Prince of Wales Mine. The Prince of Wales Mine opened in 1872 and closed sometime before 1976. Silver, copper, lead, gold, and zinc were its metals of consequence. While no structures remain at the site, plenty else does including a double-drum hoist, spoked pulley, compressor with curved spoke flywheels, broiler with fluted stack, steam fittings, and odd metal pieces. The mine had a subsurface length of 5,486 meters, which is almost 18,000 feet. We threw a rock down the Prince’s slanted shaft, and it took about 1.5 seconds to hit the bottom or a side, a free fall of 36 feet.
We thought we had given ourselves plenty of time to complete this trek before night, but we got too sidetracked by the omnipresent mining junk and ended up having to return through blackness. All our hikes seem to have a reoccurring theme.
While that is not a complete list of our 2022 summer treks, it is the most complete list that exists as it covers whatever ones I found interesting enough to write a few notes on afterward. My closing wisdom? Online tools for route finding are handy but not infallible. Also, dark comes swiftly, and stuff distracts. Therefore, one should always be prepared to hike sans sun as it happens more often than not, especially if that one is Jason and me. Bring on the exceptional (and dim) summer hikes of 2023!