Uinta-Wasatch-Cache II

canyon road

This is my last post about our Uinta-Wasatch-Cache trip.

Some of Aspen, Gambel Oak and Maple trees started turning red and yellow early in September. Scenic canyon roads that run through Wasatch and Uinta mountains repeat the U-shape of the glacial-carved canyons characteristic for Wasatch range. There are seven such canyons. Little Cottonwood Canyon takes you to the Snowbird and Alta ski resorts, and Big Cottonwood Canyon – to Solitude Mountain resort and Brighton ski resort. If you want to visit famous Park City, home for the very successful 2002 Winter Olympic games, take the equally famous historical Lincoln Highway from Salt Lake City, and turn right at Kimball Junction. If you drive from the airport, it will take you about 40 minutes.

All the ‘bald’ spots on the mountain slopes in the picture below are the future skiing tracks, when they will be covered with the best snow in the world. The Park City Base Area was opened on November 18 ( some other areas on November 23), and it will be close for the summer  season on April 16 2017.

wasatch mountain state park

On our way to Uinta Forest we took the Mirror Lake scenic drive that parallels Provo River. If you don’t know it yet, Steven Shaw resides in the cabin high in the mountains. He is hunting and gathering wild berries, but he loves to have a sandwich now and again, and kind little children always bring with them a sandwich for Steven, and leave it on a rock.

provo river

Steven Shaw is very shy. He won’t show himself and you won’t notice him come and take your offering. We admired Provo river deep beneath our feet, and when we turned around, the sandwich was already gone. True story 😉

Provo River

After driving another few miles, we stopped at the Upper Provo River Falls. With seven rainless weeks, there was very little water flowing, but we could imagine how impressive  this three-cascade waterfall might look.

Upper Provo Falls

We drove to the campgrounds. I have no idea what is this mountain. All of a sudden the sky darkened and the colors became unusually saturated in the low sun. I rushed to take a picture.

uintas

The storm was short living, and after a couple of minutes it was warm and sunny again.

The wildlife in Uinta is abundant with species like Moose, Mountain Lion, Bear, Lynx and even Wolverine, but we didn’t see any of it. In my previous blog I posted two pictures of Mule Deer, and here is another wild beast – a Chipmunk.

chipmunk

I won’t tell you how many pictures of this Chipmunk I brought home. For many of you it is a waste of time and disc space, but it was a stellar day for me. We don’t have chipmunks in Ireland.

Look what he was doing! I didn’t know they eat flower seeds.

chipmunk

chipmunk

chipmunk

chipmunk

chipmunk

We had a great time and answered many questions like Who has cut the rock??

uinta

On they way back, most of us were sound asleep 🙂

2016-08-28-228

And here is my last picture. After taking off, our airplane made a turn, and we flew over Antelope Island  I wrote about last year. How cool is that 🙂

antelope island

Thank you for traveling Northern Utah with me. I am linking this post to the blogs that feature wildlife photography: NATURE IN THE FOREST OF DEAN AND BEYOND, Travel and Wildlife Adventures and Victor Rakmil Photography. Please visit and follow these blogs!

inesemjphotography Have a wonderful weekend!

128 comments

  2. Haha! Beware of the chipmunk! They’re so sweet you could melt away from all that sugary syrup 😉 And I would never think it a waste of time or disc space! Soooo cute!!! 😄 Would probably have tried to trick it home with me if I didn’t knew it was much happier there 😉

    1. Thank you so much, Sarah! I always enjoy the moments when wildlife ( even tiny) is aware of my presence, but keep going around their business.

      1. Happy New Year, Inese!!! 😄 Wish you a wonderful year full of love, happiness and great adventures (from the latter I totally expect to see photographs from you 😉)!
        Yes, I know exactly what moments you’re talking of- they’re so wonderful and special! 😄 Hope you’ll have many more of them this year! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

        1. Thank you so much Sarah! This is going to be a year of good changes, because I think there is nowhere to go unless we turn back – the world has hit the bottom. xxxxxxx

  4. I’ve lived in chipmunk territory my entire life and i have photos of those little rascals too.
    🙂
    They will eat flowers in a garden though, not so popular with them.

  5. Steve is so lucky to have a sweet, precious one to visit from a distance and leave a sandwich for him, too.
    I enjoyed seeing the wide variety of natural gifts with my favorite the cascading waterfall.
    The chipmunks were cute! xo

  6. I enjoy the virtual trip to Utah with you. These are fantastic views and pictures you have. I have not seen any real chipmunks yet but your chipmunk pictures are cute. I would surely take a bunch of pictures of them too (for some reason I can also do the same with cat 🙂 ). Thank you for taking us along.

    1. Thank you so much for your visit! I am glad you love my chipmunk 🙂 It is a very small animal, and it moves very fast. Taking pictures of a chipmunk is a challenge, it is why I was so happy that this one was brave and didn’t run away from me. Animals are so cute, and I agree with you that it is difficult to stop taking pictures and walk away 🙂

  7. The chipmunk and granddaughters are lovely. Thank you for the trip.
    (And since I am going on another trip on Monday and will likely be out of the Blogosphere for a while…) Merry Christmas and a very happy New year 2017, full of Health, Love and Happiness. Brian

Comments are closed.