This happened in June. I have been really busy with subsequent activities that it took me over 2 months to finally put this together.

Anyways, in June, I took the troop on a 3 day, 2 night, backpacking trip on a trail close to home called the Stansbury Front trail. It is located in the Stansbury Mountains just west of Tooele and Grantsville, and maybe 50 miles west of Salt Lake City. We did this as a through hike, so someone dropped us off, and then picked us up and two different locations. This is a very underused trail. Trailrunners like it, as well as dirt bikers and mountain bikers, but we didn't see anybody until the very end. The trail is on National Forest land, but it is not wilderness area, so dirt bikes are allowed, but no 4 wheelers. The trail seems to be made by dirt bikes, so steep climbs and steep descents, and not a lot of switchbacks. June is basically spring, so the flowers were bursting. 2 years ago, we did the exact trail, and it was really wet, meaning lots of water sources from snow melt. This year was really dry, so almost no snow runoff. However, every spring that was on the map that we passed had water. A map, therefore was a necessity. The full trail is 22 miles long, but we only did 15 miles of it. This trip was meant as a break-in trip for our weeklong trip in July. Enjoy the pictures!



















I almost forgot, I made a video of the trip as well.
Video

The meadow and twilight pictures were awesome! Thanks for sharing.

ETSU, that might be a good place for you to consider for your trip next spring. Another possibility (again, known to me only from trip reports) is the lower section of Colorado's Lost Creek Wilderness.

Out here, in addition to suggestions already made, the Rogue River Trail in SW Oregon and California's Lost Coast.

FinallyME, looks like a good time was had by all!

Thanks.

I'd caution against this in the spring unless you like lots of rain and cool temps. June-Sept would be best. Typical spring Lost Coast trip It will always be quite windy in general.

Personally, the best time for this trail is late May, and June. After that and it is too hot and dry. Plus, May and June are when all the flowers are out. The fall might be good as well, lots of broad leaf trees at this elevation, mostly aspen. This is a low elevation trail. The highest point is around 8000 ft.