Desolation Trail

#10 of 100 hikes in 2015
Salt Lake City has a large group of outdoor enthusiasts. Whether you like to rock climb, hike, backpack, camp, repel and more, Salt Lake has something for you. Doing these things are always better with friends and family, right?! Well, what if you find yourself new to town, newly single, or want to find people like you to enjoy Utah's great outdoors with but don't have anyone? Meetup Groups are all over the country with every interest you could find. Me, I found myself divorced after 21 years and I can't always drag my kids with me, so I joined Meetup. I'm now a member of various hiking groups and starting to venture out with them. (Psst, this is not easy!)

Base of Desolation Trail

The hiking Meetups have been great because they allow me to meet various people with diverse backgrounds and age groups, and we all have the same thing in common, hiking! And honestly, I'm kind of directionally challenged so I don't know that I trust myself hiking alone. I would be that girl the helicopter would have to come find because she got lost on a trail...

The Desolation trail hike was with the "Utah Outdoors" meetup group which I had never met with or hiked with before. So this past Saturday, Feb 1, I joined in - we hiked Desolation Trail up Millcreek Canyon. It was fun. I must admit I was extremely nervous about going; and honestly, I didn't really even feel that well. I think you can see the apprehension on my face in the picture below. But I have to hit 100 days in 2015, right?! So I got my trail shoes on and joined in.

Map of Desolation Trail via Everytrail.com

Meetups typically have an "event organizer." In the Utah Outdoors group from my observation, they are like mini-guides; they have experience with the Utah trails and outdoors. They are not paid or reimbursed for their time - I think the organizers do it out of wanting to meet people who enjoy the outdoors as much as they do. This Saturday's guide was Dave. And he took us up Desolation trail to the Salt Lake Valley Overlook. The trailhead is about 3.4 miles up Millcreek Canyon and located on the right-hand side of the street by the Millcreek Inn. The hike is about 2.5 hours and about 4.8 miles in and out. The trail is marked online as "moderate" and I have to agree. I went there thinking it wouldn't be difficult but the elevation gain was pretty steep and quite a few switchbacks. We didn't get to see much in the way of an overlook because the clouds were so thick. 

Salt Lake Overlook via Desolation Trail

I'm not sure where my other leg is in this photo!