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Birch Canyon - Dry Canyon, 10 September, 2023
Eight hikers turned out for a September hike from Birch Canyon to (Smithfield) Dry Canyon: Ralph, Kamren, Cameron, Joan, Teresa, Brent L, Susan and Dan (the leader). Cool temperatures were welcome.
We met two of the hikers (Brent and Kamren) at the trailheads, left cars at Smithfield Dry trailhead and then started at Birch Canyon just before 9am, traveling east through a Wilderness "cherry stem". We passed through maple forest and crossed into the Mount Naomi Wilderness after about two miles of hiking. There were about eight challenging but not deep stream crossings along the way. We passed a herd of longhorn cattle as we continued our climb up Birch Canyon.
Eventually we reached the subalpine zone in upper Birch Canyon and ascended the steep trail to the saddle between Birch and Dry Canyons, with excellent views of Cherry Peak, Naomi Peak and Mount Elmer as well as the Wellsville Mountains and Cache Valley to the west. We had lunch here, about 1:30, and rested in the shade of a large limber pine in the company of a dozen Clark's Nutcrackers.
After lunch we started down Dry Canyon, passed many large Douglas firs and enjoyed views into Cache Valley as we descended. There was evidence of an avalanche with many broken aspen which had conveniently been cleaned up. We reached the cars at about 4:40pm after descending 3500 ft. A light rain fell after we finished.
Total distance was 10.2 miles with 3600 ft of climbing
Trip Summary:
- Participants: Ralph, Kamren, Cameron, Joan, Teresa, Brent L, Susan and Dan (the leader).
- Drove 9
miles to Dry Canyon, then 6 miles to Birch Canyon
- Started
hiking from Birch Canyon about 9:00, lunch at 1:30 on
the saddle, arrived at the Dry Canyon trailhead about
4:40,
- Mostly sunny
skies and pleasantly cool temperatures
- Hiked about 10.2 miles with about 3500 feet of ascent and descent
Note:
This Dry Canyon is also known as "Smithfield" Dry Canyon
to differentiate it from a different Dry Canyon near
Logan.
Thanks
to Dan for the narrative, photos and GPS data, Susan
for photos, and Ralph for photos and GPS data.
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| The Birch
Canyon trailhead |
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| Hiking up the cherry stem road |
Mount Naomi Wilderness, 2 miles from the start of our hike | ||
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| Looking south from Birch Canyon
toward "Flattop" |
One of many stream crossings | ||
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| Longhorn
cattle at the edge of a burned area (from a 2019
fire started by an abandoned campfire) |
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| Upper Birch Canyon
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| Looking north
from upper Birch Canyon toward Cherry Peak |
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| Looking northeast toward Mount Elmer from the saddle between Birch and Dry Canyon | |||
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| Our lunch spot
at the saddle |
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| Looking west
toward Cache Valley on our Dry Canyon descent |
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| Butterflies on horsemint (Agastache
urticifolia) |
Rocky Mountain Clematis (Clematis
columbiana) |
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| Coyote mint (Monardella
odoratissima) with sphinx moth |
Tufted rockmat (Petrophytum
caespitosum) |
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| Mountain Ash (Sorbus scopulina) |
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Our GPS track shows about 10.2 miles
and 3500 feet of ascent.
You can look at our route using Google Earth
or download our GPS
file.
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