Mineral Fork Trail is accessed from Utah Hwy 190 in Big Cottonwood Canyon, to the east of Salt Lake City. Further up the road are the Solitude and Brighton ski areas. We hiked the trail March 27, 2026. Above is the map of our hike from All Trails. Unsurprisingly we turned around before the end …
Author Archives: jimr77
Playing with the Features
Google Photos has a number of image filtering features; this post focuses on a new option that I particularly like in the “Remix” category. The different filters that are available in Remix are not named, the one featured here is the fourth that appears when I open Remix on an iPhone. It transforms photos into …
Utah Needs Snow, December 2025
The beginning of the 2025-2026 winter in northern Utah has been unusually warm and snow-free. The snowpack is well below historical averages. The forecast offers hope, with snow predicted during the first week of 2026. Hiking in the Wasatch just East of Salt Lake City, November 23 No snow in sight Visit to Antelope Island …
Myriad Mushrooms
We have been finding many distinctive mushrooms lately when we walk the dogs through nearby woods in Northern Minnesota. Scroll down for images and descriptions of some of the more interesting mushrooms. I am not an expert, so identifications of these mushrooms are best guesses with help from online resources like iNaturalist. Deer Mushroom (Pluteus …
The Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion
In Rollag Minnesota over the Labor Day weekend old farming methods are recreated at an event called the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion (WMSTR). This idea dates from 1940 when a group of farmers fired up an old steam thresher to harvest grain the old way. In 1954 the WMSTR group invited the public to …
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Visited by a Snapping Turtle
On June 9th this year we noticed a snapping turtle in our lake-front yard. There are two species of snapping turtle native to North America. The bigger alligator snapping turtle is typically found in the Southeastern United States. Our Minnesotan turtle is a common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina), which has a wider range across the …
June Wildflowers
June seems like the premiere month for wildflowers in our part of North-central Minnesota. This post shares photos of some of our local June wildflowers. They are arranged from those appearing early in the month to those that we see now at June’s end. Early June Hoary Puccoon Lithospermum canescens This is a favorite wildflower, …
Lower Falls of Bell Canyon
This post shares images taken on a hike through Bell Canyon which is SE of Salt Lake City Utah. Our destination, reached after 2.4 miles, was the lower waterfall in the canyon. The map below shows the trail we took on March 27, 2025. There are also inserts showing the trail’s location relative to Salt …
Early season skiing at Park City
The start of the 2024/25 ski season has not been ideal at Park City, Utah. The snow was slow in coming and is still less than we’d like to see. Also, a strike by the ski patrol created chaos during the Christmas season. As a local skier I knew to avoid the resort and its …
Summer at the Lake 2024
Simply a collection of good pictures from this season at the lake cabin in North-Central Minnesota. One of the two islands in our lake. This sunflower was a volunteer in our garden. A better result than in years when I had actually planted sunflowers. Looking east at dusk. Fall colors seemed muted this year, maybe …
North MN Outdoors 