Little Black Mountain

It was the warmest day of the long weekend for our hike up Little Black Mountain (hike description is here), my first big hike of 2010. We were hoping for blue skies, but it became increasingly overcast as a weak front moved through the valley. Nonetheless, the route along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, north of Avenues Twin Peaks and to the foot of Little Black was pleasant - full of wildflowers. Then the real ascent began, about 1,200 feet in about 0.75 miles! On the summit ridge, we were greeted by thousands upon thousands of glacier lillies (photo at left). There was a distinct onion-like scent after we trampled ones growing on the trail. The scrambling and routefinding was more difficult than expected, but four of us reached the true summit, and the others found lunch spots just short of the peak. On the descent, we found trail routes along the ridge with only a couple of spots requiring detours. We also encountered a swarm of ladybugs and a horned lizard. I was glad to do this hike again after many years! See rest of photos here.