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I had a chance to do another nice hike with  my friend Jim yesterday afternoon.  Squaw Peak is the prominent peak above Provo, and the backdrop to those pictures of the Provo Temple you often see.  (Speaking of pictures, here’s a link to the whole hi-res slideshow on Flickr.)  After the trip up Provo Peak two weeks ago, I was a little gun-shy; that was more than I expected.  My conditioning is still not great, but I think it’s getting better each week as I keep lifting weights and working my heart at the gym.  Jim brought his dogs, who are a bit old and fat, so we were able to take our time.  Still, we made the 7-8 miles in just about 3 hours.

The trail starts at the mouth of Rock Canyon, which was one of my favorite haunts as a kid.  It seems like I was up there all the time once I was able to drive.  My best friend David and I even started to get into rock climbing a little bit, playing in some of the easier routes.  I don’t think I’ve been in Rock Canyon more than once or twice in the last ten years.

I forget what a remarkable place I live in.  Here is a terrifically beautiful place, right in my backyard, and how often do I remember to go and enjoy it?  It’s been great to get back in the mountains a little more.  Click the link below to see all the pictures.

The trail climbs steadily up Rock Canyon.  As you get higher, the trees increase, and you walk closer to the stream.  Soon, there’s a left turn up the First Left Fork of the canyon.  Here the trail becomes more heavily wooded and steepens.  We didn’t see any large fauna, but insects and spiders were abundant.  I saw many species of butterfly, and the same little wolf spiders racing around.  Jim spotted a female with her egg sac, and I snapped a picture.  I really like wolf spiders; an interesting species.  The mothers carry the egg sac with them everywhere, and the spiderlings will hitch a ride with her after they hatch until they’re old enough to go on their own.  Here’s the picture:

There was an abundance of caterpillars as well; they were dangling from the trees all across the trail, and were an amusing annoyance.  I felt covered in their sticky silk by the time we cleared the trees and entered into the beautiful meadow (see below).

We’d worn the dogs out by this time, so I left Jim here and went on alone.  From this meadow, it’s another half mile and 400-500 feet of elevation to the summit.  The day was beautiful and clear, a striking contrast to conditions two weeks ago on Provo Peak.  I could see perhaps 50 miles in all directions.  There were paragliders taking advantage of thermals (you may be able to make one out in the photo below).

At the summit, I took pictures of the nearby mountains.  The visibility was excellent.  Here’s Provo Peak, just to the East:

Looking south, here’s Y Mountain in the foreground and, with Spanish Fork Peak and Mt. Nebo in the distance:

To the North-East, Mt. Cascade looks like a difficult peak to attempt:

And looking North, the Timpanogos massif and Lone Peak further in the distance:

Here I am at the summit (I am pretty sweaty; unusually muggy for Utah yesterday).  You can see Utah Lake in the distance and BYU below me; the Provo Temple is on the right.

Had this view on the hike back down.  All the flowers were blooming, the sun was on the lake, the sky was clear.  It was a stunning scene.

Poor Jim had to carry his fat old dog several times on the way back: