Signs of a Wet August and the Start of Fall

Thanks to an active series of monsoon surges the Wasatch are remarkably lush right now, with firm, moist trails (at least on north aspects) and a jungle-like feel (by Utah standards).

Adding to the ambiance was a light, steady shower in the early afternoon.  That shower was produced by an approaching upper-level trough in the westerly midlatitude flow – a harbinger of the return of the storm track as fall approaches (hooray!).

Indeed signs of fall are beginning to appear, with a few trees already beginning to pack it in, even at these lower (7000–8000 ft) elevations.

Boy scouts are working to realign the trail in the area we were in today.  Although it's great they are out working on the trails, we wondered why the realignment was needed and the existing trail was in pretty good shape.  All we could figure was that there's a desire to move the trail away from the stream that runs down the canyon.  However, it appeared this was being done at the expense of mature aspens.

Hopefully those trees were diseased or dead as otherwise it's a damn shame to lose them.