Spectra Point and Ramparts Overlook

Directions • This hike is in the Cedar Breaks National Monument, located about four hours south of Salt Lake City and open from late May to mid-October. To get there, take Interstate 15 south to the State Road 143/Parowan exit. Turn left on Main Street in Parowan and left on 200 South, then take a right on 143. Follow it about 15 miles to the Visitor’s Center, where you pay a $4-per-adult entry fee. Children 15 and under are free.

About the hike • This hike offers some of the state’s best hiking features, red rock and green forest, in a neat little package. The tr...

The last weekend of July was a good one for hiking.

Sure, the weather was overcast, but that helped cool temperatures. Here’s a sampling of photos hikers tweeted from the trail.

Send us more photos on Twitter or you can like our Facebook page.

— Nate Carlisle

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Crystal Lake Trailhead to Long Lake

Directions • This is a beautiful alpine hike that winds past four different glacier lakes and through clearings filled with wildflowers.

To reach the trailhead, located about 90 minutes from Salt Lake City, take Interstate 80 east to the Heber/Vernal exit. Drive through Kamas to the Mirror Lake Highway, State Road 150, and turn right. The turnoff is about 25 miles from Kamas, just after the Provo River Falls. Keep left as you enter, and park in an unpaved lot near the Crystal Lake Trailhead.

At about 10,000 feet, the Wasatch-Cach...

With persistently high temperatures and multiple hiking deaths this summer in Utah’s desert, it’s worth taking a look at hot-weather hiking recommendations.

Writing for the blog Section Hiker, Kevin Orcutt today offers some timely tips from an East Coast perspective, reflecting on his summer adventures in Utah and Arizona. Some are self-evident: Avoid mid-day heat and pack light.

Others are more creative, like packing a wet shirt in a zip lock bag to put on if you ever find yourself in danger of heat exhaustion.

One of my favorite tips is “Camel up.” I never considered pre-hydrati...

Not everyone spent Utah’s holiday by pulling a handcart.

Here’s a sampling of trail tweets, though I noticed a lack of photos from one place: Emigration Canyon. Seems as if it would have been an appropriate place to hike on Pioneer Day.

Send us more photos on Twitter or you can like our Facebook page.

— Nate Carlisle

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Wildflower season is in full bloom and it showed in the photos tweeted by Utah hikers from the trail.

View the slideshow to see the flowers and other Utah hiking scenery.

The Tribune covered wildflowers over the weekend, too. The latest edition of the Utah Bucket List was all about wildflowers.

And Erin Alberty wrote about walking through wildflowers with her daughter.

Send us more photos on Twitter or you can like our Facebook page.

— Nate Carlisle

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On Sunday, the latest edition of the Utah Bucket List is about wildflowers. Good timing.

Now is the time to see the wildflowers in Albion Basin.

I went up Little Cottonwood Canyon with my daughter on Wednesday, and the flowers are about as lush and diverse as I’ve ever seen.

We focused on the area around the Catherine Pass trail and saw:

• Buckwheat

• Little sunflower

• Sticky geranium

• Paintbrush

Directions • From Salt Lake City, take Interstate 15 to the 344 exit at 12th Street. Turn right at the exit, continue on 12th Street heading east. The street will turn into Canyon Road. Just before entering the mouth of Ogden Canyon, turn right on Valley Drive. The Greenery parking lot is immediately on the left.

This trail begins in the Greenery/Rainbow Gardens parking lot in the mouth of Ogden Canyon. Park in the southwest corner of the lot, near a banner that reads “Rainbow Trail.” Go under the banner, make a left at the bulletin board, then a quick right to find the trailhead. Though this ...

Lambs Canyon

Getting there • Take Interstate 80 east toward Park City and get off at the Lambs Canyon exit. Take a quick right on Lambs Canyon road and follow it to the trailhead. Parking is on the side of the somewhat narrow road.

Directions • This is a great hike for Salt Lakers who want to get on the trail quickly but avoid the crowds in Mill Creek Canyon. It’s also a bit cooler, starting at a higher elevation and offering a good amount of shade.

The hike is a bit of a challenge — elevation gain is more than 1...

We’re a few days late, but we wanted to show you how some Utah hikers spent their Independence Day.

Some went to the national parks. Some climbed a mountain with family.

We collected some trail tweets for your review. If you’re hiking and tweeting, tag us @UtahHikes. You can also go to our Facebook page to post a photo.

— Nate Carlisle

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For a state full of people who love their country, Utah doesn’t have many flag-waving trails.

There’s no Freedom Trail or Liberty Pathway. We do have a Washington County. Millard County and its seat are named for President Millard Fillmore, but I don’t know of any trails named for either him or George Washington.

What we do have is American Fork Canyon. It’s full of some of the best hiking trails in the state. The canyon, on the north edge of Utah County, is an easy drive for the majority of Utahns.

So in honor of Independence Day, here are some trails you can hike in Utah’s most p...

The people — and I — have spoken.

Voters in The Tribune choice awards made the hike to Delicate Arch their favorite.

I, on the other hand, selected the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop in Bryce Canyon National Park as the winner for the editor’s choice.

You can read why these hikes won and see who were runners up by clicking here.

Of course, the whole exercise is kind of like picking which of your children you like best. It was painful and without a wrong answer.

But let’s hear from you? Did the voters get it right? Did I?

Grandeur Peak

Getting there • From Salt Lake City take I-80 east to I-215 south and take the 3900 South exit. Make your first left onto Wasatch Boulevard and follow it to about 3800 South, and look for signs pointing you toward Mill Creek Canyon and Church Fork picnic area. Make a right into the canyon and follow that road into the park for about 3 miles. You can park along the main road at the base of the picnic area and climb up to the trail head, or you can try to drive and find a spot in the very small parking lot at the Gradeur Peak trail head. Drive past the picnic tables until you reach a dead end by a waterfall. Be careful as yo...

The Associated Press discovered what a select group of hikers discovered long ago.

The Wave on the Utah-Arizona border is breathtaking. But, while it’s not crowded by, say, national park or the mall the Saturday before Christmas standards, there’s too many people wanting to hike there for the sensitive and dangerous area to handle. Thus, the Bureau of Land Management has a lottery to determine who gets to hike The Wave.

It’s reasonable and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s also an example of why I occasionally hear Utah outdoor lovers say something to the effect of, “There’s spots in this state I’m never ...

The weather cooled for the weekend, and that sent hikers onto Utah trails.

Here are some tweeted photos and video from the trail, including hikes from Ogden to Zion National Park.

Tag us on your hikes by sending a tweet to @UtahHikes or like our Facebook page.

— Nate Carlisle

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Getting there • From Payson, turn south onto Canyon Road (600 East) and follow it into Payson Canyon, where the road becomes Nebo Loop Road. The trailhead — marked by a sign — will be on your left in about seven miles, with free, ample parking on the opposite side.

Directions • At little more than a quarter mile long, Grotto Trail (also known as Grotto Falls) is a short return for a long drive to most anyone who lives outside of southern Utah County. But with its mostly gentle uphill slope, bridges and splashy finale, the easy hike makes an excellent adventure for child...

Jeff Alt has some hiking-with-kids credentials: He walked a 50-mile path in Ireland with his wife, young daughter and extended family, and took his son on his first hike at age 8 weeks.

The Cincinnati-based hiking expert, who has also walked the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail and the 218-mile John Muir trail, has a new book coming out called “Get Your Kids Hiking! How to Start Them Young and Keep it Fun.”

Here is some of his advice:

• Make hiking a routine your kids will look forward to, starting as young as you feel comfortable with baby carriers.

• P...

Two women were airlifted off Mount Timpanogos on Monday — not for injuries or exposure, but for apparent alcohol poisoning.

They were part of a group of four hikers, ages 21 to 23, who had been drinking and decided about a half-mile from Aspen Grove they were too impaired to make their way down to the trailhead, said Utah County sheriff’s deputy Doug Willis. The group called 911 about 8 p.m., summoning an ambulance and a search and rescue crew.

When rescuers found them, one of the women began to drift in and out of consciousness; a helicopter was deployed to fly her to a hospital. While medics were readying th...

I've been spending long days in the sun this spring working on The Utah Bucket List project. Being comfortable on a 75-mile mountain bike ride on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park and canyoneering in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument made a huge difference in my experience. A big part of that was due to the Sunshade shirt from Patagonia. The long-sleeved and tall-collared shirt kept me covered and cool despite pedaling a mountain bike in 90-degree weather. Lightweight fabrics can sometimes be irritating next to the skin, particularly on the shoulders when you are carrying a backpack or CamelBak. That was not the case with the sunshade shirt. With more hot weather...

It was another great weather weekend in Utah, and that sent people to the hiking trails.

Check out some of these tweets and photos from the hiking trails. Tag us with your own photos on our Facebook page or on Twitter: @UtahHikes

— Nate Carlisle

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