Square Top

On Friday 15 October, my dad, brother, and I hiked to Square Top to see "the Downs Tree". I grew up hearing about this tree, which my great-grandpa Downs started taking people to a long, long time ago. This tree was burned on the inside, most likely from a lightening strike, but still stands. It's a literal family tree for us Downs' with probably a dozen or more sets of family members' initials carved into it. My dad and two of my brothers have been to the tree multiple times but I never really thought about going until a year or so ago. I decided that if I was going to do it, I needed to go before my dad go too old. :) We picked the Friday of Fall Break and it was a gorgeous hike. We set out about 7:30 from Smithfield Birch Canyon and finally reached the summit around 3:30. Along the way we stopped for pictures, food breaks, and many, many short rests. Boy was I out of shape! I definitely wanted to give up a couple of times and was convinced more than once I was going to die before I made it to the top. :o) However, I pushed passed my mental block and told myself that I could do it. Near the top we spotted a couple hiking along the rim. We met up with them on their descent and quickly recognized that it was our dentist and his wife. At the top (elev. 9750) I could see all the way to the Uinta Mountains, though barely a sliver was visible due to some clouds over them. I had an incredible view of Cache Valley as well. There just aren't words to describe how amazing it was. We had to descend a steep 1000 feet from the top just to get to the tree but boy was it worth it. It was so cool to see the initials of my grandpa and great-grandpa, men whom I never knew, carved into the tree. My dad carved my initials into the tree to mark my successful hike to the top. We didn't spend much time at the tree, long enough for some pictures and food, and then started hiking back down. We headed down the opposite side from where we climbed up and eventually made it to the end of the road in Dry Canyon. By that time it was dark and we were exhausted. It was about a 12 hour round trip but I'm so glad I did it. The leaves were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and I was only injured a little bit from a trip over a tree root. I just wish I hadn't been so excited to see the tree that I forgot to get a picture of how big it was. Oops! ;)