Fall Colour Tour
Sunday, September 30

They say you shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day, but the Uinta Mountains don’t read fashion magazines, it seems. This year’s annual Fall Colour Tour on September 30 was on a spectacularly sunny day preceded by wind, cold, rain and snow — depending on your altitude.

The altitude of Mirror Lake, our destination, is 10,200 feet, so there was ample white stuff to highlight the beautiful fall colours on this tour. Our traditional destination has been the Nebo Loop, which is always impressive, but the wildfires this summer led us to try this new locale, which turned out to be highly rewarding.

Twenty-five brave souls (or silly folks who believe newspaper weather forecasts?) gathered at Hogle Zoo for the trip up Emigration Canyon, to I-80, to US-40, where we rendezvoused with three cars with five more folks. Then it was on to Wanship, Kamas, and Mirror Lake.

While regrouping in Kamas we saw an ominous sight — a DOT snow plow and salter descending from the Mirror Lake Highway. Fearing we might be turned back, the group headed onward, reassured by the kindly forest service fee collector who told us that the highway was clear and open.

And so it was, though a bit damp in spots. At Mirror Lake a festive picnic lunch was conducted on several tables near the lake (and in the sun), with only a few snowballs being tossed from table to table.

The return trip was made in smaller platoons, so that lovely but small overlooks could not be overlooked (can you parse that?), including Provo River Falls below Trial Lake — see photo taken by Roger Davis.

Other attractions were also taken in, including a famous establishment just east of the Kamas Fish Hatchery — see photo.

Every year at the club’s annual planning meeting pleas are heard for scheduling Sunday events in addition to our more common Saturday events. This was one such, and from all indications, it’s a popular idea.

Special guests at this year’s event were members of the Wasatch Mountain Jaguar Register, several of whom participated and expressed appreciation.

At the start a statistical anomaly was observed: all the Britmobiles were either red or yellow! But then the Jensens’ blue TR250 appeared, snapping the skein, as hack sportswriters are wont to declaim.

Braving the elements were John and Barbara Progess, Michael Scoggins, Susan and Jon Hermance, Chad Derum and Jamie Hughes, Roger and Jill Davis, Paul Jaroch, Larry and Margaret Farrington, Pugs (in sandals) and Diane Pivirotto, Terry Rees, Keri and Melanie Bruce, Kent and Kathy Jensen, Clayton Merchant, J. and Kay Jennings, Janet and Kent Topham, Dan Schweikert, Mike and Susan Cady, John Whitney, and your trip leader and obedient scribe.

—Gary Lindstrom

Click here to see photos from the event