Last week Sherry was talking with Beth, one of her co-workers and talking about Inspiration Point, Beth said she had never been there.  That was all it took for us to plan a trip up to the top of the mountain.

Inspiration Point is the end of the road leading from Mantua into the Willard Basin and to the top of the mountain.  There is only two peaks up there that are higher in elevation, one is Ben Lomond Peak, the other Willard Peak.  You have to hike to each of those two.

The road up to Inspiration Peak is very rough!  Much like it was before they graded it three years ago.  Slow going and bumpy as the dickens.  But we made it without incident.

Normally on Oct. 11 it would be very cold and windy up on top of the mountain, but t0day it was balmy and rather calm.  If it was cold Beth would have had a bundle of coats on, here she is just wearing a blue sweater.

My picture taking prowess is terrible, I should have had Willard Peak in the background, but I missed it.  Oh well, another reason to go up there again.  You can see a small portion of Ogden in the background on this shot.

And since they both work at Smith and Edwards, here they are pointing down at the top of the store.  Trust me, it’s down there.

This is the view looking north along the Wasatch Front and Brigham City is in the background, lower left of the Wellsville Range (the farthest range out).  You can see the back and North side of Willard Canyon just beyond the pines.  A real pretty scene.

And for the duck hunters out there, you can see just how much water there is in the Bear River Bird Refuge and in the Willard Spur of the Great Salt Lake.

And here is a closer look at the Willard Spur.  Not much water fellas.  Unit 5 is beginning to fill as you can see the puddle in the middle area but just out from the dump channel of Willard Bay, there sure isn’t much in the way of ducky water.  Pretty dry.

I expected to see more wildlife than we did, but I forgot my binocs and spotting scope.  I did see a Mountain Goat, but could not get a still enough picture of it to post it up on here.  We did see a doe and fawn and a small flock of turkeys, oh ya, and a weasel!  It was a fun day.  We took a minute in the basin campground to have some lunch.

Bears Butt

Oct. 11, 2012