By Arnold Platt
(January, 2020)

I woke up and went through the process of eating breakfast and getting ready for the big hike to Donut Falls near Salt Lake City with my hiking buddies, Dave and Roger. I was excited to be going hiking again. The last time was in October when they put me through the baptism of fire at Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. Since then, I had been through two surgeries removing many varicose veins in both my legs. The recovery was finally over and it was time to go out hiking again!! And boy, was I excited to see a neat waterfall.

Dave and Roger showed up in the minivan and we started on our way. When we hit the freeway, we started heading south, which immediately confused me to no end. After some careful prodding of my older friends, making sure the Alzheimers hasn’t started setting in, Dave let me know that the trail to Donut Falls was most likely under several feet of soft snow, so the plans had changed. We were now heading to the western desert of Utah to hike a little used trail to Notch Peak, the tallest vertical drop in the United Started, even taller than El Capitan at Yosemite. I was still excited, though. A hike is a hike. I just enjoy seeing new areas and enjoying the sights and nature.

The drive took around two hours, the last 30 minutes or so on a dirt road that was reminiscent of my time on my grandfather’s cattle ranch in Northern Arizona, except with no trees. As we got closer to the trailhead, there were men with pickups and horse trailers in the area, and sun a very large, white, shaggy dog stood in the way. It was the size of a small pony!! And he had a painted brand on his wild fur. I have this love for dogs that has me wanting to stop and pet every dog I see, but this one was not interested. He was working. That’s when we noticed the hundreds of sheep coming down out of the mountains. What an incredible sight. To see men scraping out a livestock operation in such a barren landscape was truly awe-inspiring.

After passing the sheep, we hit the trailhead and started up the small wash/trail to find that it, too, was covered in snow. We had traveled all this distance to avoid the snow on the trail just to find it again. We soon realized that there was no way that we would be able to reach the summit, but that’s the nice thing about hiking. It’s not about getting to the end of the trail, though that is a wonderful thing, but enjoying the time with good friends in an incredible setting.

As the snow on the trail got deeper, we went off trail and headed up a ridge and then down the other side. I got some amazing pictures of the western desert and the nearby cliffs. They appeared to be some variety of limestone as there were many small caves and interesting rock formations ask over the walls. Many of the small caves appeared to be faced looking out of the cliff wall, ancient guardians protect the entrance to the Mines of Moria a la Tolkien.

We finally made our way out of the canyon and back to the vehicle to endure the long drive home, taking a different route through the small mining town of Eureka and eventually home.

All things considered, the day and the hike was a complete success and worth it, if only to be with good friends in a beautiful setting. We departed ways with plans to return to Notch Peak before the summer to reach the summit and check off yet another amazing hike. Till then, there are many more trails to explore and even more hours strengthening our friendships.