Today we drove up Kolob Terrace Road, where we intended to hike the
relatively short (2.2 mile) Northgate Peaks overlook trail. We took a bit
of a wrong turn, however, and ended up going down the Subway trail.
However, before we got to the bottom of the valley, thinking "this
is definitely *not* an overlook", we turned around, found the error,
and then went to the overlook. Total mileage -- about 6. Both
trails were really cool, though, and I was really happy to discover
that I can actually hike 6 miles! On our way back we stopped at the
Bumbleberry in and had bumbleberry pie and lemonade as a reward.
Multi-yummy!
The Lava Point overlook is at about 7500' (we guess), and the trailhead
was just under 7000'. The top part of the plateau was a meadow, the
path a very soft sand. As we descended towards Russel Gulch on our
inadvertant detour onto the Left Fork trail, we passed over a couple
slickrock fields separated by dirt (not sand) trails surrounded by
manzanita and trees (we hadn't learned how to tell the types of trees
apart yet, so I'm not sure if they were fir or pine. I don't think they
were cedar or spruce).
