On the way to my office in Brigham City there is a spur of the Wasatch Front Mountains in the Cache National Forest. As far as I have been able to find out, this short range has no specific name, but it does contain a couple of hiking destination peaks called Willard Peak (9,764 feet), Ben Lomond Peak (9,972 feet), and Chilly Peak (8,550 feet). From the highway, you can see where the peaks split and there is a very interesting looking canyon, out of which (during snow-melt season) there are a few waterfalls. I've always been curious, so today I just left the road and worked my way back and up into this canyon (officially unnamed, but the locals call it Willard Canyon).
To reach the canyon mouth you have to work your way between mining pits, which are horrifically ugly. (Side Note: One thing that has surprised me since I moved here is that Utah makes absolutely no concession to beauty when it comes to industry. If they want to mine somewhere, they do it -- they may have to claw open a beautiful mountain range and create a horrific eyesore, clearly visible from homes and highways, but so what? It's money!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a environmentalist wacko, but the blatant disregard for nature is a bit disarming at times).
Anyway, once you get past the mine pits, it's really quite beautiful, with sage, a very loud rushing creek, and dense vegetation squeezed into steep canyon walls. I want to hike deep into this canyon soon, but today wasn't the day (not enough time, and the creek was so swollen with snow-melt it was impassible in places). I will go back in the future, but I'll give you the pix I took on this trip.
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