Pica cirque (2-frame composite)
To the north and slightly lower than Emerald Lake meadow is a beautiful circular hanging valley called Pica Cirque. Picas are small mammals that look like tiny bunnies with round ears. They are famous for gathering mountain grasses and laying them on rocks to dry, then building "haystacks" of dried weeds that they can use for food over the winter. Native Americans and skilled climatologists (including KSL's Mark Eubanks) use the size of pica haystacks as an indicator of the expected severity of a coming winter.
Pica Cirque is the top of the alternate path up Mount Timpanogos: the Timpooneke trail. This trail originates at the Timpooneke campground on the northeast slope of Timp. The campground is about 400 feet higher in elevation than Aspen Grove. From the campground trailhead the Timpooneke trail climbs through a series of hanging valleys sometimes called the Giant's Staircase. The Timpooneke trail is longer than the Aspen Grove trail, but it is not as steep. You can see it in this photo winding across the bottom of Pica Cirque. Many people consider this trail to be more scenic than the Aspen Grove trail. While it is true that the view changes more often, it does not seem more picturesque to me. Perhaps that is because this trail does not pass Emerald Lake on its way to the summit. Hikers on the Timpooneke trail will only pass Emerald Lake on the return trip if they choose to climb down the glacier bed. With the snow gone that has become a difficult proposition.
I apologize for the color shift in the middle of this photo. I am shooting with the camera on full automatic; the camera is taking better pictures when left to its own devices than when I mess with it. I used Adobe's Photoshop Elements program to merge two photos into this one panorama. If I were a bit more skilled I could no doubt have color corrected the two pictures to achieve a more seamless meld. But this still gives you an idea of the view to the north as you start across the talus to the saddle.
As I leave Emerald Lake meadow and start toward the saddle it seems that I have left most of the smoke behind in the lower elevations. The sky above me is a strong clean blue and distant details are sharp. It is true that smoke still lingers in the east, but my immediate surroundings look just fine.