Skyline (the other direction)

July 20, 2016

You’ve got to make plans to get up high this summer and check out the views from the top of the Tushars!  The Poison Creek gate was opened July 11th, allowing you to drive on the Paiute ATV trail clear through to Bullion Pasture and down Beaver Creek into Marysvale.  Now it really feels like summer, or are we on the brink of autumn?  Who knows what kind of weather to encounter on a road (FR 123) that climbs over 10,000 feet in elevation.  Many families are gathering at Big John’s Flat because it’s so beautiful, July temps are wonderful there, and because the 4 mile dirt road off UT 153 is in great shape for all vehicles and trailers.  This week’s hike is the Skyline Trail from Big John’s trail head southbound to Lake Stream trail head, ending where we left off last article.  Skirting right below Mt. Delano and Mt. Holly, you have incredible views to the west and south, with the opportunity to spot deer, elk, marmots, eagles, and zillions of colorful wildflowers.  This is probably the only trail on the Tushars where you’ll see another soul, outside hunting season, and rightfully so because it is spectacular, and we should be out there enjoying it and sharing it with others.

The Skyline Trail became a National Recreation Trail in 1979 and is a highlight of the Beaver Ranger Districts forest trail system.  It is designated for non-motorized travel and currently has three nice trail heads suitable even for small to medium horse trailer’s.  Big Flat would be the best equestrian starting point if you have one of these huge, fancy horse-condo type trailers because Lake Stream T.H. and Big John’s are a bit steep, rough, with tight turn-arounds.   I’ve noticed several discrepancies with the posted mileages, one sign saying 8 miles Big F. to Big John’s, one saying 8.3, but my data collected recently by Garmin GPS suggests total mileage as 9.8!  That’s significant.  Big Flat T.H. northbound to Lake Stream T.H. I recorded as 5.3 and Lake Stream northbound to Big John’s I recorded as 4.5.  GPS are helpful, but also misleading, as you can accumulate mileage just standing still. What is important is that you’re headed the right direction, you don’t loose the trail, and you just keep on truckin!   To help you stay on the trail, look for “trail blazes” scared into tree trunks, one small marking atop a taller marking.  Also a pile of rocks called a cairn may be built at a trail junction, or across treeless ridges or barren, rocky terrain where other signs and clues won’t work.  To get to the Big John’s T.H. for the Skyline Trail, near Griffith Creek, drive up Beaver Canyon (UT 153) and turn left at mm 16.3 onto FR 123.  Reset your odometer and you’ll arrive at trail head in 4.9 miles.  There is a restroom there and a big green map of the North Creek Trail System Complex.  Most people have been using a shortcut heading straight south from the parking area, but it is a hot, dry two-track for half a mile.  The actual, designated trail climbs up into the shady spruce trees above the parking area, switchbacking to then head south and converge with the shortcut right as the trail drops easterly into the east fork of merchant creek,  opening up your first magnificent views of Mt. Delano above you.  Please have a fun and safe summer and take your family hiking from Big John’s “Into the Tushars!”