Today we decided to take advantage of the nice spring weather and head out for a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We drove up to Silver Lake (between Brighton and Solitude resorts) to do our hike, but were confronted with 4 feet of snow still on the ground and the trail completely covered! Guess we haven't had enough "spring weather" yet at 8,700ft. So we headed a little ways back down the canyon (to 7,300ft) where the snow had mostly melted and headed up the Mill D North Fork trail which follows one of the off-shoots of Mill Creek.
The trail is lined with pine, spruce and higher up with aspen, and although it is too early yet for wildflowers the views as you climb the trail are very nice. This shot is looking south towards Mill D South Fork and Kessler Peak (10,402ft). After about 30 minutes of climbing we ran into complete snow cover again and decided it was a good place to turn around. (Yes, you can "hike" on top of the snow, but it's hard to discern the trail when it looks the same as the surrounding ground).
The white bark of the aspen trees unfortunately seems to tempt many people to carve their initials on trees along the trail. We found this rather more creative petroglyph-looking piece of graffiti on one of the said aspen trees. I wonder if the Ute indians ever carved pictures on aspen trunks?
After our southwest road trip, Mike & Lindsey spent a couple of days with us in Salt Lake City before returning to Houston. For a change of scenery from the heat and red rock we took them for a hike and picnic up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We were surprised to find that although it was almost Summer, the cool temps and snow were still lingering up the canyon. We had planned to do the Brighton Lakes hike, but the amount of snow still on the ground at the base made that one a no-go, so we opted to do the 1 mile hike around Silver Lake (that has no elevation gain). In the winter this lake freezes over and is used for cross-country skiing as part of the Solitude Nordic Center.
Even here, on the shady part of the trail it was still covered with hard-packed snow (and lots of fallen pine needles and cones).
And the southern side of the lake (that is shaded by tall pines for much of the day) still had a layer of ice and snow covering it.
Feeling that a 1 mile hike wasn't quite enough we headed further back down the canyon to hike up Mill D North Fork (about 700ft lower than Silver Lake) where the trail was free of snow. The first part of the trail winds through thick forest of spruce, fir and pine. 
As the trail climbed higher, the pine trees were replaced by aspens that hadn't yet sprouted their summer leaves. At one point we disturbed a herd of deer that were grazing among the trees.
After a hiking about 2 miles we came alongside Mill D North Fork Creek a pretty spot to rest up and take in the view back down the valley towards Mt Kessler, before heading back to the carpark.
