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Show Mramiitaiim i bylVanChalat In other parts of the country, people are turning on their air conditioners and complaining about the heat. Not us. It feels like summer has just begun. Though there are signs that the season is almost half over, we are just getting the barbeque warmed up. For instance, by the time the cottonwood trees start spreading their seeds like a midsummer snowstorm across the yard, our garden is usually in full swing. But this year we are way behind schedule. At the moment our carrot tops are only as high as an ant's eye. In fact, the beans, peppers, tomatoes and zucchinis actually frosted Sunday night. Frost in July? Oh, well. We should just admit that summer doesn't officially arrive in Park City until the Fourth of July. And it didn't disappoint us last weekend. The snow on the mountain has finally begun to recede in earnest. The report from the Uintas is that the backcountry is finally opening up. Wilderness Wilder-ness Ranger Frank Erickson says "the snowmelt really accelerated this week. Things are changing daily." As of Tuesday, he had this report from the Kamas Ranger District: The Shingle Creek Trail, which begins nine miles outside of Kamas on Route 150, was clear and dry except for the stream crossing three miles up the trail. The log crossing, he said, was hazardous because the creek was deep and running fast. Parking at the Highline Trailhead, he said, was limited and the trailhead was still snow covered. The trail from Trial Lake to Wall Lake was open with patchy snow and the Bald Mountain Trail was still snow covered in places, which could be rough going for casual hikers. For hikers planning to enter the Uintas from Smith-Morehouse, Erickson recom- mended reaching the trail from the south end of loop A in the campground and cutting southeast to the trail. The usual trailhead is blocked because Smith-Morehouse Creek is running extremely high. In general, Erickson said, hikers will start running into snow at 9,400 feet. His crew added that Mirror Lake, Wall Lake and Castle Lake have thawed and fishermen are beginning to have some success in the lakes where fingerlings have been planted in past seasons. He also reported that diehard skiers will find cross-country travel difficult but there is still good skiing in the couloirs between Reid's Peak and Bald Mountain and in the chutes on Hayden Peak and Mt. Agassiz. Erickson said that his crew of rangers would be in the field starting next week. They are there to assist campers when needed and also to remind them about the principles of "no trace camping." They will be asking campers to locate their campsites "out of sight and sound of the trail and other campers." He added that aluminum foil waste has been a problem. "It doesn't burn, honest," he said. "It would also help, if people use existing fire rings especially in heavy use areas." Erickson also asked that those who make their campsites at timberline not cut the low-growing stunted vegetation there. Those runty little trees may not look like it but they are an important part of the ecology. "Some of those trees are quite old," he said. "A scrub tree might have a trunk with a two-inch diameter so a camper thinks it would grow right back but that tree could be over one hundred years old." The technical name for that marginal growth along the timberline is krumholz, and it deserves a little respect too. IJ.C. Summer Jit Horse Program TjJjV Lessons: beginners thru advanced ; rnfl Western & English i'Vrnraf Offering private & semi-private . ; Mliff W on exPerienceci horses or your own. ;-, tSWi "'" Lessons include complete horse care, ; ,., rju, '&wffc stablemanagement & feeding instruction I'1 Minimum age 6 years . ; fjTj f Get your kids signed up now and they'll be : : )X $ Jf - ready for our annual J . C . Park City Horse Show ; ; k 1 in September at Ernies Arena. ; Call Julie 649-6132 |