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| Crows Nest - Wasatch Mountain State Park, UT | | -
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| | Crows Nest - Wasatch Mountain State Park, UT | | | |
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Crows Nest - Wasatch Mountain State Park, UT
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| Hiking | 5.60 Miles |
1,225 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.60 Miles | 3 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.71 mph |
| 1,225 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | 18 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Due to my still-ailing hamstring, instead of heading back up into the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest at ~10K elevations, today we stuck with a shorter and closer hike... the big plus being less than half the drive time to the hike. Again it only took a quick scan through the local options before choosing this one in the Wasatch Mountain State Park, in Midway, just North of Heber City.
Only $5 for the permit at the visitor center, with the trailhead on the opposite side of Snake Creek Road.
At first a bit disconcerting as the trail is within 20 feet of Snake Creek Road on one side and practically in the front yard of a new house, and a hundred feet later right at the edge of a new home under construction. But it's the trail so we kept going. Eventually it started up and away from the road, where we missed the first turn onto Huber Grove Trail. Missed it due to two returning hikers who had stopped next to a gate marked Private Property, yet at the same time, blocking our view of the start of the Huber Grove Trail. And since the trail we had come up on went straight, we kept going.
A quarter-mile later we passed a side trail I had not expected, but kept going for a few minutes before I checked to see what trail it was and realized we had missed the earlier turn. So backtracked on the Huber Grove Trail, then a sharp 180° onto the Epperson Trail, following it to the Spring Pond Trail. There we take a left for just a short distance until another left onto the "Out & Back" Trail, which will provide the greatest amount of ascent (grade and AEG) of the hike, ascending up the ridge until reaching a saddle.
While on the Out & Back Trail we encountered something that blew our minds... a maintenance trail-pod. It was an idea that made a lot of sense, something that trail systems all over the country could benefit from.
See the photoset for photos of the trail-pod but this outlines the program:
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Volunteers for Better Trails - Give Us 60 Paces
1. Follow the directional arrow and use these tools to lop off branches crossing the trail.
2. Rake, dig, and smooth out the path.
3. Move this Trail-pod to the end of your 60 paces for the next person.
4. Earn a collectable pin! Sign the log sheet in the black box or scan the QR code below to record your volunteer time. Volunteer time supports matching trail grant programs and funds $$.
Please share before and after photos!
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From the saddle the trail drops down to the junction with the upper part of Middle Mountain Trail and shortly after the junction with lower Middle Mountain and both upper & lower Crows Nest Trails. From there we took the upper Crows Nest Trail all the way up to the Crows Nest. With no sign, what or where is Crows Nest? We kept going, and just as the trail began to descend here was a small open area off to the side which overlooked Snake Creek Canyon, so I took it as the Crows Nest.
We continued down the Crows Nest Trail, turning onto the Wild Turkey Trail for the descent. However... if we continued, we figured the hike would be a bit too short, so we backtracked a quarter-mile to the lower Crows Nest and took it back to Middle Mountain Trail, closing our Crows Nest loop. From there we returned along lower Middle Mountain to Spring Pond Trail, ultimately returning on Epperson Trail.
Overall, with a wide variety of terrain and plenty of Fall colors the hike was quite pleasant, with temps ranging from a cool 48° to 70°. With only a few instances of pain from the hamstring, I'm ready to take on a more strenuous hike in the National Forest tomorrow. |
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