Saturday, October 15, 2011

new trail in Providence Canyon, Providence Utah, Cache County


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This year a new trail was added to Providence Canyon, Providence UT.  We walked it earlier in the week and today I mountain biked it.  The trail is fantastic for hiking or mountain biking.  It has multiple wooden bridges and the first half of the trail follows the stream.  It is very windy and has many scenic views.  There is about 1200 elevation climb and the trail mostly sticks to the north facing (shady) side of the canyon.  My GPS recorded 5.4 miles on the round trip (for the single track part).  For mountain biking it is probably medium to difficult (in a few sections) in terms of technical difficulty.  It is a fun descent with a number of places to duck under a tree or twist around a rock.

I don't know who did the design layout of the trail, but they did a good job in planning the designated pathway.  The Utah CC did a good job in constructing the trail by preserving the vegetation on both the sides of the trail and removing major rocks from the soil.

Up higher you will notice severe erosion which occurred on the Spring Creek drainage spring/summer 2011.  In a number of places the creek jumped the bank or severely cut it.  The erosion was due to extreme snow-pack (almost double normal).

The canyon road can be busy at times with motorcycles, hunters, atvs, and trucks, thus making a separate hiking/biking trail valuable and increasing safety.  The trail will be a great resource to the local community as it matures.





Erosion up higher


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Seattle Chittenden Locks Fish Ladder Plaza

The public artwork at the Chittenden Locks (also called Ballard Locks) at Fish Ladder Plaza is fun and educational.  The waves run kind of like a wave rolling on the ocean.  Educational signs tell about the Pudget Sound and Salmon life cycle.

Directly below the plaza is a room with windows to watch the large salmon swim through the gates and work their way towards the Salmon Bay and Lake Union.  You can also watch boats go through the locks which is interesting.