General information about hiking.
This summer my kids and I have a goal to go on a hike every week. Our kids are quite small (2, 4 and 6) so I have chosen hikes that will help them work up their stamina without me having to hear too many “are we there yet?” complaints. My goal with the children is to get them to be comfortable with a few miles in the mountains and perhaps go on a mini backpacking trip with dad. On each hike the children have to carry a small pack with their water and a snack.
The trail I picked next is the Willow Heights Trail. This is about a two mile round trip hike that leads to a mountain lake. This is probably the hardest of the easy hikes I am going to write about. It could be border line moderate. I have lived here in Utah for a long time and have hiked most of the trails up Big Cottonwood canyon but this is one hike I hadn’t done. After reading a couple of descriptions of this hike, I thought it would be a great one to try. My wife picked me up from work one evening and we headed up the canyon to give it a try.
Whether going out for a day hike or going for a multi-day excursion in the backcountry, there are a few items that should always be packed. These items have been summarized into what is known as the ten essentials. The ten essentials date back to the 1930’s and were created by The Mountaineers, a Seattle-based outdoor organization.
The “Ten Essentials’—the ten items that every hiker should carry—is a good basic emergency kit that has stood the test of time. But that doesn’t mean it has to weigh you down on the trail. Karen Berger, author of Hiking Light Handbook, provides the following tips to minimize the load you carry.
Ellen Morris Bishop knows how to keep a dog happy, healthy, and safe on the trail. After all, she and her own dogs, Meesha and Dundee, hiked more than 750 miles in their research for Best Hikes with Dogs: Oregon. Here are the Ten Canine Essentials she suggests you pack when you take your pooch into the wilderness.
· Obedience training. Before you set foot on a trail, make sure your dog will obey your commands when faced with other hikers, other dogs, wildlife, and an assortment of strange scents and sights in the backcountry. A dog that can’t behave should be left at home.
Ferguson canyon is small canyon between Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. This canyon has gained popularity over the last few year and is a popular destination for rock climbers. This is one hike that the canyon itself is the destination. The hike can be whatever you want to be. You can follow the trail to the end and get to a summit or just make it to the shaded canyon wall and stream.
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