Burger Peak

 I had the time for one last hurrah in Utah. We were leaving in less than a week. I had the chance to do a hike with my friend Tim one last time before we left. We chose to go up to Pine Valley. I had hiked the trail from Oak Grove quite a few times, so this time we went around to the backside and started from the Forsyth Canyon trail. This trail was almost a straight shot up toward Signal Peak. Having been to the summit of Signal Peak before, though, I was hoping to make it up another peak. This time we were going to the top of Burger Peak. The trail started pretty open, but eventually closed in a bit with forest all around us. There was even some water in places with a few creek crossings. It was mainly an uphill slog, but with beautiful views around us as we went. As we got closer to the top, there were some projecting bits of rock and the forest changed.

Soon we were hiking in aspens and pines. I was going to miss hiking with Tim. It was nice to have someone to go on these adventures with that enjoyed challenging hikes as much as I did. He was often in better hiking shape than me and always up for just about anything. We both did great on this day as there was significant elevation to gain. We climbed 3500 feet over 5 miles plus. As we neared the top, we had to do just a little bit of scrambling to make the summit. From there, we had views for miles seeing down into St. George and the areas around there. We enjoyed the summit and the fact that it was somewhat cool up there. These St. George summers were so oppressively hot. This was the first time that we had stayed for June and the beginning of July and it was just too much for me. 

On this day, though, we had the elevation to keep us cool and the trees on the way down. This was definitely a great hike for a couple of young guys in good shape. Utah really did have a lot to offer in the outdoors, but I was looking forward to the water and the mountains that Oregon had to offer. Still it was going to be quite a bit of time for us. We had a few days left of packing to do. My dad would come out to help us load the moving truck. Then we would drive to Oregon. We had to take one more look at one of the houses that we liked. We were hoping that maybe this one would be the house for us. It was expensive and needed some work, but we had to have a place to live before school started. It was going to be an interesting end to the summer for us no matter what.