Peaks and Valleys

My trip to southern Utah ended with a 5-hours-plus drive back to Salt Lake City, where I had my convention to attend.  After the convention, I had one full day left in Utah and decided to use it driving around in the Wasatch Mountains just east of the city.  There are not too many places on the planet where such huge mountain peaks exist in such close proximity to a major city.  Naturally, the numerous ski resorts (including the one which hosted my convention) are major destinations in their own right.

Even in summer, these mountains make quite the spectacle -- replete with bizarre folded rock formations where the layers were twisted out of shape as the peaks were forced upwards.  

I began the day with a quick view across the pool area at my resort (Snowbird) and down the steep grade of Little Cottonwood Canyon towards the city's southern suburbs.

After driving into town to get fuel for the car, and for myself, I drove east up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  I'm not really sure why the distinction.  Different size of the rivers perhaps?  The two valleys otherwise look remarkably similar.  

 

At the head end of the valley is the Brighton ski resort, a facility which mainly welcomes day skiers rather than being a getaway destination in its own right like Snowbird.

From here, the road climbs steeply, with multiple tight curves and no centre lines or guard rails, up to the 11,500-foot summit of Guardsman Pass, and then plunges even more steeply down the eastern side of the mountain range.  A hair-raising drive, to put it mildly.  I could only grab one photo of the view at the summit from inside the car as every possible parking spot for hundreds of metres in each direction was taken.  If you are going to drive up here, do it early in the morning!

The worst of the descent as that my rental car wasn't geared nearly low enough in first to handle the hill.  Even in that lowest gear, the car kept running away and I was afraid I would burn the brakes out before I got all the way down.  Massive sigh of relief -- the brakes and I both survived that descent.  At least the good views continued to compensate.

That breakneck hill brought me down to the shores of Deer Creek Reservoir on the Provo River.  In this desert state, it's a hugely popular recreation area.

The highway, now four lanes and divided, runs across the face of the dam and then on down the Provo River Canyon.

On the way, you get to see several waterfalls -- this one being the most spectacular.

And so out of the canyon to the city of Provo, and then back north to Salt Lake City.  The whole tour took just 3 hours.

Final pictures during takeoff for Toronto the next morning: aerial views of the Great Salt Lake and its adjacent mountains west of the city.

And a view of the gorge which takes Interstate 80 through the Wasatch Mountains northeast of the city.