It was almost a year ago to-the-day when we last visited the Mt. Holly saddle and peered down into the
Cottonwood Creek Basin. On our way into this beautiful valley, we discovered a plethora of currant bushes with ripe berries. We noted on our calendar that we needed to return the following year to harvest some of these sweet little berries . . . today was that day!
Tom (and his Crew) needed to get some exercise, so they decided to join us on this outing. Of course, that meant we needed to find the "Peakbagger" a peak for his ascent log. Soon after we started hiking, one caught Tom's eye and we began to formulate a plan - one for picking berries and one for grabbing Peak 11,000.
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Kent & Tom discussing our route . . .
We will follow Trail #219, to the saddle, on the right hand side of Mt. Holly |
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Before long we started seeing currant bushes . . .
Maybe we won't need to hike into the Basin to harvest berries, after all! |
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When we reached the saddle we met a mountain goat hunter . . .
He was watching a herd of goats across the basin |
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| Rather than hiking down into Cottonwood Basin, we opted to hike out the ridge to an unnamed peak |
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On top of the peak . . .
Tom and his special girl, Lola, enjoying another hike together! |
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Kent with his special girl, Allison . . .
Might have to use this one as our Christmas picture for 2022! |
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| Can you see Ezy? Is he bashful or what! |
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| Heading back to the saddle . . . the aspens are just starting to change color |
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| Colorful lichen |
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| Back on the trail heading for Peak 11000 |
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| Kent stops to pick a few currants on our way to Peak 11000 |
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| If Kent thinks we need to fill this bucket . . . we're in trouble! |
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| Lola & Ezy enjoyed a nice cold drink from Lake Stream before we started our ascent |
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| Mushrooms emerge from the soil right after the monsoon rains |
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Lunch with a view . . . up on Peak 11000
(Looking back to the ridge we were on earlier in the morning . . . just to the right of Mt. Holly) |
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There goes Kent, again . . . pointing towards something??
As usual, Tom was interested, even though he has no idea what he's talking about! |
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Two cups of currants is just enough for a small batch of jam!
It's hard to believe that's all we collected, between the three of us, in a half-hour of picking!
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After summer's last stand of 110+ degree temperatures, in the St. George area, it sure was refreshing to get away to one of our favorite spots in southern Utah - The Tushar's. With not a whole lot planned, this turned out to be a great little hike. It came in at slightly under four-miles and about 1,300 ft of total ascent. Tom has provided a post from his Peakbagger.com page that details our hike with a top map and downloadable GPS tracks. You can view it by clicking
here.
