{"id":505,"date":"2012-03-05T06:23:34","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T12:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/?page_id=505"},"modified":"2015-02-06T10:13:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T15:13:42","slug":"yellow-fork-canyon-utah","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/travel-log\/natural-areas\/yellow-fork-canyon-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow Fork Canyon, Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image this, living in a place where you walk out your front door and have a billion dollar view of an awesome valley with the backdrop of the Wasatch Range, and a mountain in your backyard\u00a0with access to miles of trails mere moments away.\u00a0 Such is the dilemma my friends, the Campbell\u2019s had.<\/p>\n

For many years they had lived in the Sugar House area of Salt Lake City but finally broke out and bought a home in the rural community of Herriman.\u00a0 Their house sat on the north slope of Step Mountain and from their deck you have an incredible view of the lights of the city after dark.\u00a0 One added benefit was that you could see storm fronts rolling in with a view that\u00a0couldn’t be beat.\u00a0 I’m sad to report that their home was lost to a wildfire in 2013, forcing their relocation to Oregon, which is another story in and of itself.<\/p>\n

As a rule I try to take some \u201cwarm up\u201d hikes when first arriving in Utah.\u00a0 There are two reasons for this; first to help acclimate to the higher altitude and secondly for conditioning.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it; hiking in central Kentucky is not the same as hiking on steep mountain slopes.\u00a0 On a recent trip my first hike of the vacation found us (Me, Jeff, Rachelle & baby Aleutia along with their black Lab, Jesse) on a trail winding up the Yellow Fork Trail in Rose Canyon in the Oquirrh Range.<\/p>\n

As is often the case in the autumn of the year, the weather was perfect.\u00a0 Our adventure began with a short drive up to the trailhead, just a few miles away.\u00a0 Our hike actually began on a road bed, which was fine with me.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

The trail, in its entirety is about 9 miles long and a favorite among horseback riders.\u00a0 We were fortunate to see only a single rider the morning we went in for our hike.\u00a0 This primarily single-track trail (with some fire road) winds in and out of an oak\u00a0\u00a0forest, with very nice views of the Wasatch Front and Kennecott Copper Mine.\u00a0 Much of this trail lies on the North Slope which means you\u2019ll need to hike either in the summer or autumn due to seasonly wet trail conditions.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

This trail is a naturalists dream; on the wildlife side you may see wild turkeys, squirrels, rabbits and deer.\u00a0 The canopy primarily consists of oaks and maples with various conifers thrown in for good measure.\u00a0 At ground level you\u2019ll enjoy Dwarf waterleaf, various grasses, rabbit brush\u00a0and water fawn lily.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

The hike itself was a mix & match of trail conditions and flora, making for a fun and relaxing experience.\u00a0 Some of the scenery was gnarly and primitive while other sections were very scenic.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

Though this is by no means a major trail, it\u2019s well worth taking.\u00a0 If you\u2019re looking for a fairly easy, non-technical trek, Yellow Fork fits the bill.<\/p>\n

The hike back to the truck brought us back into brilliant fall colors, a wonderful way to finish out our hike.\u00a0 The warm autumn air, the breeze and the company I was keeping made for a perfect Utah morning excursion.\u00a0 Even though my friends now live in the Pacific Northwest, I’m very happy to have this memory to\u00a0enjoy and relive in my mind.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image this, living in a place where you walk out your front door and have a billion dollar view of an awesome valley with the backdrop of the Wasatch Range, and a mountain in your backyard\u00a0with access to miles of trails mere moments away.\u00a0 Such is the dilemma my friends, the Campbell\u2019s had. For many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":42,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-505","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3CUQl-89","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2447,"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505\/revisions\/2447"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/western-traveler.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}