Sunday, June 28, 2009

Shingle Mill Peak, elev 10,690' Sep 2007

The hiking season is rapidly coming to a close but I wanted to get another peak in. Although not an "elevener," I had wanted to climb Shingle Mill Peak for some time because of it’s proximity to Cascade Mountain and Freedom Peak, and also because of it’s appearance from the freeway. I love the pyramid look to it, and the erosion terraces beneath it set it a part from many other peaks.
I took my trusty 2-wheel drive Pathfinder on the trip because it has a higher clearance than our other cars and Squaw Peak Road can be rather rocky past Rock Canyon Campground. I arrived at the trail head (on the left side of the road shortly past Rock Canyon Campground and marked with a post with trail #60 on it - the Dry Fork trail) at about 8:20 in the morning and got started soon thereafter.
The morning was chilly and I stopped a couple of times just to warm my hands in my pockets because they were getting cold on my trekking poles. The first two miles have most of the elevation gain in them, gaining about 1000 feet in each mile.
The ridge line is visible early on in the hike and looks a lot closer than it really is. But this was a good thing for me because it kept my hopes high that I would be there soon and back soaking in a hot bath in no time.
The trail was very well maintained and led through some pretty aspen trees, pine trees, and meadows. The one frustrating part of the trail was the constant switching back below the summit. Many times it looked SO much shorter to just climb straight up the ridge to get to the saddle rather than switch back and forth so much.
In fact, much of the switching back is just level walking, as you only gain about 400 feet in the 3rd mile. But I had read a report about a failed attempt trying to do what I had thought looked easier - hiking straight up the side to get to the saddle, so I decided to stick with the trail.
Just before arriving at the saddle, I looked back and noticed four tents that I had basically walked right by and not even seen because they were in a perfect camping spot just above the trail and surrounded by a few small pine trees.
Once at the saddle, there is a sign labeled with Big Springs Trail #59 pointing north, Dry Fork trail #60 pointing south (the way I had just come) and Shingle Mill Peak trail #57 pointing East, the way I was headed.
Once on Shingle Mill Peak, the trail is less defined but marked well with cairns by a Boy Scout for his Eagle Project. I followed the cairns with relative ease getting lost once in a while but finding the cairns not much later. In reality, it would be pretty easy to route find your way to the Peak on your own.
The trail ends up on Shingle Mill’s south ridge as it takes you to the summit. I arrived at the summit at 10:50, after about 2 ½ hours of hiking. Since I forgot to pack a lunch or even a snack for that matter, I decided to take pictures, try to call my wife (unsuccessfully - no cell coverage), and head back down. The views of Freedom Peak were great. I had no idea how rugged of a peak that is. Climbing it next year will be a challenge.
I headed back down, surprisingly having not seen any wild life at all on the whole hike other than the occasional bird that flew out of a bush that I had come upon which got my adrenaline pumping.
The whole hike took 4 hours and 12 minutes and was about 9.1 miles. It was a pretty fall hike and a good "easy" hike after a short time off from hiking, my last hike being Superior and Monte Cristo a month to the day earlier.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Mt Superior & Monte Cristo, elev 11,040' & 11,132' Aug 2007

With my wife still in California, I have a lot more time to go hiking. Just a few days since my assault on Red Baldy, I thought I better get another 1 or 2 down. I couldn’t get anyone to go with me for this hike, so I was on my own.
Having never looked for the Cardiff Pass trail head before, it took me a little time to figure out where to start from. One book I have said to park just East of the Alta Fire Station and to walk down .1 of a mile to a paved road where the trail starts. I did this, but there was no paved road after .1 or .2 of a mile. I tried to get information by stopping in the information center (located on the east side of the fire station) but they couldn’t help.
Finally I decided to continue walking down the main road and after about .26 of a mile I came to a paved road that came in from the north. I figured out that I think the Alta Fire Station the book was referring to was the old fire station because there looked to be an old fire station looking building where the road came in. For future reference, park next to the Mile post 12 sign and walk down the road for about .1 of a mile until you see the paved road come in from the north.
The paved road splits - take the road that heads right (or east), as the left fork goes to a house. The paved road winds around a building and turns into a dirt road. The dirt road switches back again and then an ATV road comes in from the left (the main dirt road continues straight). Take the ATV track to the left.
At about 9000 feet, a trail breaks off the ATV road. Take it. The trail will eventually reconnect with the road (not sure if it’s the same one) which you will once again follow until about 9300 feet. This is where a trail again breaks off from the main road on the left (north). The trail heads north about 10 yards, then crosses the road you were just on because the road switched back, and then continues on the other side of the road. The trail heads parallel to the power lines overhead but stays to the south of them at first.
The trail climbs at a steeper grade here and after a little while splits. Both ways end up at the same place so it really doesn’t matter which one you take. They both take you to a pretty little meadow with small pine forests mixed in. From here, if you look up to the ridge, you can see a power pole on top of the ridge. This is Cardiff Pass - what we are aiming for.
Once on top of the ridge at about 10,000 feet, turn left (west) and start for Superior first. The first big summit you see (which has some sort of weather station on it) is most easily bypassed on the north side, although a faint trail also leads around the south side towards a cave. I took the south route on the way up and the north (recommended) route on the way back.
Once past this summit, the trail stays for the most part on the south side of the ridge, sometimes 50-100 feet below it. I made the mistake of staying too close to the ridge which made the going harder and in some places more technical than I was comfortable with.
You’ll bypass another minor summit on the south and then come to a small spur ridge (barely noticeable) off of Superior’s south east side. The final 400 or so feet to the top are Class 3, sometimes maybe low class 4 due to poor route finding (personal experience). Before I started the climb, I left my trekking poles so I could use my hands for hand holds on some of the more difficult spots.
I came upon Superior’s summit much faster than I expected and looked over toward Monte Cristo and the large Cairn that marks it’s summit. The ridge between Superior and Monte Cristo is much easier than the ridge you have to negotiate before Superior.
The route is obvious, but you start by descending about 50 feet or so, continuing on towards Monte Cristo on level ground - at one point even coming to a pretty little grassy area which was a very welcome sight since all I had been hiking on for a while was rocks - and then finally coming to the final climb.
The final climb is relatively tame. It is about a 60 foot climb which was easier than most of the stuff I had already done.
I reached the summit and enjoyed the views of the many peaks on the ridge to the south. Also beautiful was the wilderness down to the north of the peak. I have never ventured into that area yet, but pan to do so next year.
After snapping some pictures, eating some crackers and calling my wife, I headed back down because some afternoon thunderstorms looked like they were starting to develop. On my way back to Superior, I spotted a hiker coming up to Superior from the South ridge. We talked briefly on Superior’s summit. He said that it was class 4 or 5, which is a bit out of my league at the moment. He left the summit for Monte Cristo, and I headed back down also.
Not long after I left Superior’s summit, I saw a small brown fox running from the trail down into some small pine trees. Other than one very sketchy spot that required a class 4 move, the descent went good and I was back to the car much faster than it took me to go up.
This hike, although not nearly as physically demanding as Box Elder or Lone Peak’s south summit, was way more technically challenging. It is definitely not for those scared of heights as much of the trail is narrow while hugging a big rock on one side with not much but air on the other.
In total, the hike was 5.5 miles and took me 4 hours and 20 minutes to complete.

Red Baldy, elev 11,171' Aug 2007

Another day off from work, another hike. A friend of mine, Trevor, agreed to go with me. Because this was his first hike of the year and his first "Elevener" I thought I better make it one on the easier side of the scale. Little did I know, the information I had on the Red Baldy hike was a little off.
We arrived at the White Pine trail head up the Little Cottonwood Canyon at about 8:00 and started down the trail about 8:05. I had hiked the first mile of the hike only a little over a week earlier on my way up to Red Pine lake and Pfeifferhorn.
Once we arrived at the split in the trail (straight ahead leads to Red pine Lake and left to White Pine lake), we followed the trail which makes a sharp switchback to the left. It appeared that there used to be a sign here as witnessed by a log post sticking up out of the ground with a notch for a sign. But no sign was present. The first part of the trail heads in an easterly direction and follows an old mining road.
The road switches back through Pine forests, meadows, and boulder fields, and crosses a few streams, some of which run down the road for a few yards.
After about 4 miles and walking thought a large boulder field at 10,000 feet, you leave the road and route find the rest of the way up to a spur ridge that runs up to the main ridge. One marking that helps know where to turn off is an overgrown road that breaks off briefly on the left and switches back until it ends not far after it begun into a small drainage.
You actually want to start up the drainage and, once past a steeper section off to the left, you want to head left, aiming for the last bunch of trees way up near the Red Baldy ridge. This last part of the hike is considerably more steep, covering 1100 feet in about a half a mile. Once there, it’s a short hike over stable black rocks to the summit.
We made it to the summit at about 11:20 (including an accidental .5 mile excursion to White Pine lake. Note: if you can see the lake from the road, you’ve gone too far. You won’t see it until you’ve started the final ascent up the drainage).
After a few pictures, a couple of granola bars, and a total of 30 minutes taking in the views, we decided to head back down. We made it back to the car about 2:15 just as some afternoon storm clouds appeared to be blowing in.
It was a challenging hike that had pretty scenery and a somewhat challenging final ascent to the summit. In total, it was 10.3 miles and took us 6 hours and 17 minutes to complete.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Pfeifferhorn, elev 11,326' Aug 2007

Another day off, another hike attempt. After trying to get a couple of people to go with me to no avail, I decided to make the attempt on my own.
I arrived at the parking lot for the White Pine trail head at about 7:45am and was on my way by 7:55am. The trail begins by descending on a paved path down to the river. A bridge crosses the river and the trail then heads off to the right (west). The first mile of the hike is a very gentile grade. It is at this point that the White Pine trail breaks off to the left, while the Red Pine trail continues straight to cross the river and a couple of other footbridges.
Not long after crossing the river the trail heads west parallel to the Little Cottonwood road far below. At one point, there is a great view down the canyon and out into the Salt Lake valley. Soon after the view of the valley, the grade steepens, but still not to drastically. The Maybird Gulch trail comes in on the right and is very noticeable due to the footbridge used to cross the river to take it. Continue straight.
A few tenths of a mile after the Maybird Gulch junction, I saw about 5 deer that didn’t seem to be afraid of me at all. One walked up to about 10 feet away from me and I was able to reach in my fanny pack, grab my camera, and snap a shop with out him even flinching.
I finally reached the Beautiful Red Pine Lake about 3.5 miles from the trail head. It was the first time I had been there, and I was enamored by the beauty of it. The Trail up to the Lake is very well kept and extremely easy to follow.
Once arriving at the lake look at the ridge behind it - This is the ridge you will need to climb to reach Pfeifferhorn’s main ridge. From the Lake, there is a well defined trail around it’s eastern side. Take it until you come to a stream that feeds into the lake. Here, the trail (or what trail there is) heads up the ridge. Although there might not be much of a trail from here to the main ridge, the rout is obvious.
The faint trail generally stays in the pine trees and heads in a south westerly direction up to the main ridge. Eventually, the trail emerges above the pine trees and from here, a little boulder hopping/climbing begins, not to mention that it was also the first time I noticed upper Red Pine Lake behind me. This was the first part of the hike that I felt my legs getting tired. The grade is steep.
Once to the main ridge, Pfeifferhorn is off to the right. A visible trail starts off to the south (left) of the main ridge as you pass a couple of minor summits before reaching the Pfeifferhorn summit base. The summit base is a massive structure which looks way too steep to hike when looking at it from a few hundred feet away. Although it is steep, it is very do-able and is about as steep as the Provo Peak trail.
But first you must negotiate the "knife ridge." It really isn’t too scary unless you’re scared of heights, I guess. There is some exposure but even if you choose a poor route along the ridge (which I did a couple of times) there are plenty of big foot and hand holds to get you back to where you need to be, if you don’t just want to retrace your steps to find an easier route.
I cached my trekking poles in some bushes before starting the knife ridge so I could have my hands free for climbing (I already has mu hat fastened to my camelback due to the strong winds).
Once past the knife ridge, the steep climbing begins on the summit base. It is either a difficult class 2 or an easy class 3 climb, depending on if you use your hands for balance and the occasional pull up as much as I did.
It was a busy day on the trail and I passed a couple on their way up to the summit and was on the heels of another climber. I made it to the summit just a few minutes past 10:30am. Once on the summit I struck up a conversation with the hiker who made it ahead of me named Christian. He mentioned that it was his first time up there and that he was going to try to take the Maybird Gulch way out.
To do so, it would be a steep down climb from a spot on the knife ridge, but I watched him do it with relative ease. I’m just not sure where to pick up the trail once in the canyon.
I spent about 30 minutes on the ridge, taking pictures, eating a couple of granola bars, and just taking in the breathtaking scenery around me. The summit of the Pfeifferhorn allows for great views of so many dominant peaks in the surrounding area. It was rather cold on the summit because of the wind so I was glad I had brought some thermal sleeves to put over my arms.
The hike down was quick and I noticed a few bits of the beautiful scenery around me that I hadn’t seen on the way up. This was probably the most scenic hike I’ve been on with Timpanogos (via Aspen Grove) being a close second. It was definitely the most enjoyable hike I’ve had.
Over all, the hike was about 9.6 miles round trip and took me 5 hours and 19 minutes to complete, with 30 minutes of that resting on the summit.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

South Lone Peak, elev 11,230' July 2007

A day off from work meant my first attempt at a hike in almost a month. And this time I wanted to try Lone Peak via School House Springs. I scouted out this trail last fall, making it just past the second hamangog (meadow). I arrived at the trail head in the city of Alpine at 7:45 and was on my way a couple of minutes after that.
The trail begins basically right next to a house with a small makeshift parking area for maybe four cars. The trail follows a four wheel drive road and is very easy going for the first 2.9 miles to the first hamongog, with one exception. There is one spot where the road forks - what looks to be a road comes in from the left which looks like another switch back. In a few yards, this way narrows and it becomes obvious that it is not the 4-wheel drive road that you should be on. But to save a few extra unneeded steps, when the trail forks, stay straight.
The books I have mention that at a point in the four wheel drive trail (at the fifth switchback), you take a route north (straight ahead) called the "Lone Peak Trail" instead of switching back and following the road to avoid private property. Based on my previous experience where I took the Lone Peak Trail on the decent, I ended up hiking through the private property on the way up and down because the Lone Peak Trail is brutally steep and only saves .07 of a mile each way.
Once arriving at the first hamongog, a sign marks the Lone Peak Wilderness and the four wheel drive road ends. In the middle of the meadow, a sign marks trail 200 which continues on to the second hamongog. At this point, a trail also comes in from the right (east) and heads, I’m told, to lake Hardy and South Thunder Mountain.
The trail to the second hamangog actually heads in a south westerly direction at first, and I wondered last fall if I was on the right trail. Eventually, it turns back north, giving you a great view of Utah county for much of the way to the second hamongog. About halfway in between the two meadows there is a camp site which looks to be often used. From the first hamongog, it took me about 1.4 miles to reach the second hamongog.
Almost completely across the meadow is a sign marking the way to Lake Hardy via a trail that comes in from the right (east). It says that it is two miles to reach the lake. I’ve read that it is better to take this junction to get to lake Hardy instead of the one from the first hamongog, but it seems as though it would add a couple of miles to the trip.
To reach Lone Peak, continue straight, or north, right at Lone Peak. .22 miles after leaving the second hamangog, a faint trail comes in from the right which can be easily missed. This trail heads in the most direct way up to Lone Peak. From what I’ve read and been told, you can continue on the main trail (west) and reach Lone Peak from the North but this adds a few miles to the trip. If you want to reach Lone Peak from the south, heading to the south summit before attempting the true summit, take the faint trail that comes in from the north.
From this trail, the climbing begins. The trail starts off docile enough but soon the trail fades and it is just a matter of ascending drainage’s and/or climbing over slabs of granite and boulders. This was easily the toughest part of the hike and I had to take many rest stops because of the steepness of the way. It didn’t help matters either that the air was filled with smoke due to the Milford Flat fire (the biggest wild fire in the state of Utah to date). One key here that kept me going in the right direction was once to the drainage, there will be a large cliff band to your right (east) and a smaller cliff band (more like a ridge) to your left (west). At first, you’ll stay close to the small cliff band to your left, but as soon as you get out of the drainage area, you’ll want to make your way to the top of the large cliff band on your right. It is just north of the large cliff band where you’ll make your way to the ridge.
Once near the top of the large cliff band that was on your right, head in a northerly direction towards the ridge. There are two cairns that mark the spot on the ridge. Just before the ridge, I carabined my trekking poles to my camelback as a short class 3 section began. After the short class 3 climbing, it is only a short class 2 hike over tundra and small granite rocks to reach the base of the summit to South Lone Peak. Here again, there is another bit of easy class 3 climbing to reach the summit of South Lone Peak at 11,200 feet.
There is a few hundred feet between the South Summit and the true summit. The whole way is class 3 with maybe a few class 4 moves also. If you are a little fearful of heights or not much of a risk taker, the south summit would be a great ending point. If you’re up for a thrill and have enough energy left, the main summit is attainable. I down climbed to the saddle of the granite blocks between the two summits but was about out of gas. I looked to see where my next move would be and saw I would have to down climb to some dirt below and then climb steeply up to reach the main summit. The climbing looked much more vertical than I had done thus far and because I was not in great shape yet for the season, I decided to head back to the south summit and call it a day.
For me one of the hardest parts of the class 3 climbing was remembering the way I had come so I could return the same way. A couple times I had to backtrack because I had gone the wrong way and taken my self to a sheer cliff.
The way back down was as planned and I made good time. Descending the drainage in parts was actually harder than ascending it because of how steep it was. And after my boots got a little mud on them, hiking down the slabs of granite was nearly impossible with out slipping.
I made it back to the car at 3:00. The whole trip took me 7 hours and 10 minutes and registered 11.8 miles on my GPS. I think the next time I try Lone Peak, I will try it from the Cherry Canyon trail.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Maple Mountain, elev 9,089' Jan 2007

It had been a while since I had attempted to summit a mountain and I had only been on one hike in the past four months. Needless to say, I was not in any type of hiking shape. Originally I had planned to attempt the hike with a co-worker but he backed out the night before. So I was on my own for the attempt.
The temperatures had been very cold and the low for the 17th was projected to be around 0 degrees. So I dressed warmly and headed for the trail head at about 8:30.
The trail head is the Y-mountain (slide canyon) trail head. I started hiking about 8:45 and was at the Y in about 35 minutes - not bad considering the kind of shape I was in. I journeyed past the Y and made the turn up Slide Canyon. Shortly after I was hit with a shot of adrenalin as I apparently snuck up on some unsuspecting birds that flew away right above my head.
I made pretty good time to Bear Flat, where I put on my snow shoes. The snow here was at least a foot and a half but there was a decent trail blazed. I continued past the turn off on the left for the Y-mountain summit trail. I decided instead of continuing on to where the trails to Rock Canyon and Slate canyon brake off, I would take a right straight up Maple Mountain as I had seen a hiker do last winter several hundred yards before the main trail.
The normal trail takes a sort of road up the northeast side of Maple Mountain at a normal grade but the way that I went was a very steep climb that in my current shape I was not prepared for. There was a slightly broken trail up the side of the mountain - just broken enough for me to follow it, not to be any kind of a help. After a much longer climb than I expected, I finally joined the road. I took the road for only about one or two hundred yards before the faint trail that I was following left the road on the left and headed for the ridge proper. It appeared that the road ended just a few yards ahead anyway.
For the most part, I just stayed on the north ridge all the way up to the summit, sometimes staying on the west side. I reached the summit just after noon after about 3 hours and 15 minutes.
From the summit I should have had great views of southern Utah County (Spanish Fork, Payson, etc) but there was an inversion that clouded up much of the view. But Mount Nebo, Santaquin Peak, and Buckley Mountain were easy to spot to the south. To the north, Lone Peak and Timpanogos were visible, but it was difficult to see Y-mountain through the trees.
After about 20 minutes on the summit, I headed down. The way down was a challenge for me to keep my feet. Parts of the hike were relatively steep, especially the detour I took, and so I spent a fair amount of time on my back side. Other than that, the way down was beautiful but uneventful.
Total, the hike took about 5 hours and 15 minutes and was a little over 7 miles - 7.2 according to my GPS.

Mount Timpanogos, elev 11,750' Aug 2006

Since the hiking season is rapidly coming to an end I thought I better hurry and do Timpanogos. I had talked to a friend, Mark Hiles, a couple of days before about doing the hike and he was very intent on joining me. He has a goal to hike Timp every year, and he hadn’t done it yet this year.
It was good to have him along too because he has been to the summit two times before, although both times he took the Timpanooke trail but descended the Aspen Grove trail once. I headed to his house at 6:40 and we arrived at the Aspen Grove trail head at about 7:10.
The Trail Head is well marked and starts at the north end of the parking lot (which requires a $3 fee). The first portion is a well graded trail which after a little while turns into a paved trail for the first .8 of a mile.
The first part of the hike takes you through the Primrose Cirque. It was a pretty view looking down the canyon, which reminded me a lot of the view of the beginning of Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Numerous switchbacks take you out of the Cirque and into the Hidden Lakes Basin.
This is a pretty change of scenery - big meadows with a couple of small lakes and one larger one above which in the cliff band we saw the first four of the 18 mountain goats we saw on our hike. Not too long after entering the basin, we came to Emerald Lake and the Timpanogos Shelter.
After leaving the shelter, we headed West and soon came to the boulder/snow field. For the most part, the trail is pretty easy to follow, and is also marked with cairns. Even if you do manage to lose the trail (as we did for a short while) it is easy to see where you are supposed to go off to the west. The trail which leads up to the saddle is visible as you climb through the boulder field to the west.
Once through the boulder/snow field the climbing up to the saddle begins. It really isn’t that tough, especially compared to Box Elder or Provo Peak. Once at the saddle, turn left (south) to head toward the summit. A faint trail also comes in from the right which leads to North Timpanogos.
At the saddle it became extremely windy. So much so that I had to use a carabineer to fasten my hat to my camelback. It also became a lot colder. It remained windy and cold for the remainder of the hike toward the summit.
The trail then takes you on some short switchbacks through a cliff area. After getting through this area, the summit comes into view and doesn’t look that far off. The remainder of the hike is just following the trail and watching the metal hut on the summit get closer and closer.
We reached the summit at 11:15 and spent a half an hour taking pictures, signing the log book, eating lunch, and hunkering down on the East side of the summit ridge to get out of the wind.
Instead of sliding down the glacier, which Mark had done on his previous two trips up Timpanogos summit, we oped for the more prudent route (in my view) of backtracking down the trail. The trip back down was where we saw most of the mountain goats. We also saw some storm clouds rolling in which accelerated our decent.
We arrived back at our car at about 2:50pm after 14.7 miles according to my GPS (all other sources I’ve read indicate that it should have been about 16 miles). It was a fun hike with a variety of different terrains. It wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined the "mighty" Timpanogos would be, but it left me tired and sore nonetheless.

Box Elder Peak, elev 11,101' Aug 2006

After about three weeks off from hiking, the mountains were once again calling my name. I still hadn’t conquered Box Elder Peak after a botched attempt a couple of months earlier, so I thought I’d make another attempt.
Being the typical cheap Utah County resident that I am, I didn’t want to pay the $3 that it costs to go up American Fork Canyon. That would have given me access to the Deer Creek trail head. Instead, I opted for the longer route with more elevation gain from the Dry Creek trail head in Alpine. I reached the trail head and started my hike a couple of minutes after 9:00am.
The first couple of miles was uneventful other than little rain shower and my encounter with a bobcat. I had stopped for water for just a few seconds when a bobcat started walking down the trail towards me. At first I thought it was a house cat, but after realizing that a house cat wouldn’t be where I was, and after seeing the bobcat turn around and run after spotting me, I realized what it was.
The main trail follows a dry creek bed for the first part of the hike. Many trails intersect the main trail and at times it is hard to know what trail to follow. For the most part, all of the trails connect back up with the main trail after a few hundred feet. One exception and a place where I got lost in my first attempt, was about a quarter mile after the second large stream you cross with the aid of logs. A trail comes in from the left and the dry creek bed that your hiking up makes a hard turn to the right up the hill. Make sure to follow the dry creek bed to the right.
After a couple of miles, you come to a field with a sign telling of the way to the Box Elder Trail #44 and the Deer/Dry Creek Trail #43. The book I was using to navigate recommended taking the Deer/Dry Creek Trail, so I decided to take that trail. I think I saw the point that the Box Elder Trail connected with the summit trail later in the hike, although I can’t be positive it was the same trail. If that was the trail it would have cut a mile or two off the hike and much of the elevation gain and loss that I experienced later. The main trail for much of this part of the hike looks like it follows maybe an old miners wagon trail because of the dual trails that exist for part of the way.
At about the 5 mile mark and at about 9600 feet, you reach another huge meadow with signs pointing the direction of White Canyon trail #188, Box Elder Trail #44, Deer/Dry Creek Trail #43, and Granite Flat Campground. At this point, Box Elder Summit which has been hidden for most of the ascent, is in clear view and it is clear that you should take a right to follow the trail heading in the direction of the Peak.
It is at this point that you have to loose a lot of elevation (at least it seemed like a lot) to get to the final ridge. There is another tricky point here. After about maybe a half mile, you come to a post in the trail that probably used to have a sign on it. The sign is long gone but trails go to both the left and the right of the post. Follow the trail to the left. (I believe the one to the right is the Box Elder Trail #44) After a few hundred yards, a small, faint game trail breaks off to the right and starts heading up the ridge. Follow this trail.
This is where the steep climbing begins. This part of the hike reminded me a lot of the ascent of Provo Peak. Another note to prevent making life extremely miserable for yourself - For the most part, the steep trail stays on the ridge. At a few points along the way, game trails break off to the right and look like much easier going - they are not! Stay as close as you can to the ridge to avoid having to climb on your hands and your knees up the steep side of the mountain later (personal experience). I spent a few MISERABLE hundreds of yards bushwhacking on the steep right side of the ridge and even thought about turning around and heading home for a while.
I felt a little altitude sickness at about 10,500 feet until I descended back below that elevation on the way back which made the final ascent that much more difficult. I stopped to rest much more along the way than I usually do. The summit comes into view but always seemed very far away. It wasn’t until I reached the final few hundred yards, which contours right that I realized that I was almost there.
I finally reached the summit at about 1:20pm and spent about 15 minutes enjoying the views of surrounding peaks. While at the summit I took time to sign the log book, take pictures and spot a couple of mountain goats off in the distance. I actually heard them before I saw them (they started many little rock slides down into the Box Elder cirque).
The decent was pretty uneventful. I did see a huge buck off to the right side of the trail which ran when I grabbed for my camera. I arrived back down at the trail head at about 4:15pm tired and ready for a good meal.
This hike was definitely the most difficult I have attempted to date. There were many beautiful meadows, some with purple wild flowers in contrast to white granite boulders protruding out from the meadow. The water flow is much greater in the early summer months which makes the waterfalls much more picturesque but also makes crossing the streams a little more scary (even though you cross on logs). All and all though, this was a brutal hike from Dry Creek, and probably a one time hike for me. The hike totaled about 14 miles and took me about 7 hours and 15 minutes to complete.


A couple pictures of the trail signs:

Mt. Baldy and Sugarloaf, elev 11,068' & 11,051' July 2006

After a week of teaching Junior Golf Camp and with another week of it this week, I thought I better stick to a relatively easy hike. Mt Baldy and Sugarloaf were just what the doctor ordered.
I left my house in Provo at about 8:30 and arrived at the trail head at the Albion Basin Campground around 9:40. After getting my gear ready, I was on the trail at 9:45. The hardest part of the whole hike, was trying to stay on the right trail. There are a few signs that point you in the right direction but, not being familiar with the area, there were other spots where I was lucky to stay on the right path.

The first little bit of the hike follows an interpretive trail with signs along the route that discuss geology, hydrology, and animal and plant life in Albion Basin. The trail crosses several little streams, which added a small since of adventure for a relatively tame beginning.
Once arriving at Cecret Lake, I opted to continue following the main trail to the right because I couldn’t immediately spot the trail I had read about that meanders around the east side of the lake. This decision added a total of about .75 miles to my hike.
Once past the lake, the faint trail runs into a dirt service road that heads up the mountain. If you are not familiar with what the peaks look like, continue following the road uphill - there are spots where other roads connect with the road the trail follows. At one point, the road actually takes you right under some ski lifts.
The road finally T’s after a short while with the trail which leads to the saddle between Sugarloaf and Mt Baldy, to the left. After turning left here, the Sugar loaf ski lift station is directly ahead of you in sight. I hiked Sugarloaf first, so I continued just about to the station, taking a small faint trail that leaves the service road to the right a few yards before actually arriving at the station.
This is where the hiking begins. Even though there isn’t much farther to go at this point, the last 600 vertical feet are much tougher than the rest of the hike to this point. The trail climbs through a rocky area before the summit comes into view.
I arrived at the summit just before 11:00. Once at the summit, I could easily see the trail that I had read about that meandered around the east side of Cecret Lake, and I wish now that I had spent a little more effort in finding it so I wouldn’t have had to backtrack over a trail I had just been on.
After a few minutes on the summit of Sugarloaf, (there was no summit log) I decided to get going to Mt. Baldy. The decent was relatively easy as the grade was steep, but not insane. It was easy from here to spot the "Baldy Express" ski lift station and the trail that ran up Mt. Baldy behind the station.
I reached the saddle again and continued under the ski station where I found the faint trail. At first I wasn’t sure if this was the trail because the first part of the trail goes straight up the mountain where climbing, albeit easy climbing, is required. After just a few hundred yards, the trail once again regains it’s relatively gentile grade all the way to the top of Mt. Baldy. At the summit, again there was no log, but there was an emergency toboggan turned upside down. I was met at the summit by a group which I had passed on my way up to Sugarloaf and again on the way up to Mt. Baldy. They were able to help me identify many of the other 11,000 foot peaks in this area.
The American Fork Twin Peaks looked very accessible from here, (although I hear there is a pretty ferocious knife ridge that has to be negotiated) and views of Pfeifferhorn, Lone Peak, and the back side of Timpanogos were outstanding. I could also see Provo Peak and East Provo Peak. To the north, the Cottonwood Traverse looked extremely daunting.
All in all, the hike was 5.58 miles round trip and took me a total of about 2 hours and 45 minutes. If I had needed to, I probably could have made it in less time, but I decided to take my time and enjoy all of the unfamiliar peaks around me. The scenery on the hike wasn’t as spectacular as many other hikes I have been on and the hike it’s self was much less physically demanding than all of the other hikes I have been on. But the views of the surrounding peaks made it all worth it. Two more eleveners down!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Spanish Fork Peak, elev 10,192' July 2006

With the next two weeks not looking very conducive to hiking with my work schedule, I thought I better get another mountain under my belt. Spanish Fork Peak seemed like just the place. After reading about other hikers’ trip reports on the Internet, I thought I’d make the attempt.
The trail head was pretty easy to find. I just headed up Maple Canyon until I came upon Whiting camp ground. I drove through the camp ground until a dead end where there is a small parking lot with a noticeable trail at the end (trail #006).
I got to the trail head a few minutes after 10:00 and left around 10:10 for the summit. The beginning of the trail is on what appears to be more of a four wheeling track. After about .25 of a mile, the trail to the summit splits off to the right and crosses a river (trail #007) .
I crossed the river and began climbing at a steady pace which really didn’t ease much the remainder of the hike. The scenery of the hike was spectacular, with pretty much every landscape available in the Wasatch range. The trail took me along side the river for quite a ways, though pine forests, meadows, aspen groves, desert landscapes, and lush vegetation. I also came across a couple of places that had been recently used as makeshift camp spots.
The first point of interest to me was Maple Canyon Lake. This was a small lake surrounded by large meadows on the West and pine trees and cliffs on the East. Looking at the top of the lake, I could see swarms of Mosquitoes, that fortunately were more interested in staying in their formation of flying around in circles than they were in using me as a meal. Still, I hiked past the lake quite quickly as I didn’t feel like donating blood. It was actually from the lake that I had my first views of the summit and the triangular summit station.
After leaving the lake, I quickly came upon a spectacular view of the Spanish Fork Peak Cirque. I couldn’t see how I could possibly get from where I was at the bottom to the ridge. Making matters a little more challenging, was the large amount of snow left in the bowl that was left over from the winter. It covered the trail in a spot for about 50 yards. When I crossed the snow, I could not find where it picked up on the other side. I took out my GPS which indicated that I was quite a bit off course. I tried to get to where my GPS said I should be, which amounted to quite a bit of bushwhacking and wasted energy. It wasn’t a total waste, though, because when I got to the spot where my GPS indicated the trail should be, I turned around to see where I had just come from and I could faintly see some switch backs leading from the cirque to the top of the ridge that I couldn’t see from my vantage point on the trail. A quick note to future hikers: at the point where the snow blocks the trail, cross the snow and start hiking steeply up toward the ridge. You should stumble upon the switch backs.
After getting to the ridge, a trail comes in from the right, but the trail to the summit goes off to the left. Instead of taking the ridge line to Spanish Fork Peak, the trail descends to the north/west side of the summit. Here I had my first view of the city below. The trail then winds through a beautiful pine forest. The trek was made a little more difficult by some downed trees that were blocking the trail, but it was easy to find a way around these trees.
Next, the trail takes a sharp left and goes from a lush forest setting to a desert landscape where I actually stumbled across a rattle snake on the trail. One final small snow field crossed the trail but it was easy to navigate around.
The final climb to the summit was steep and I found myself resting far more than I had previously on the hike. Finally I reached the summit at 1:24 and had terrific views in every direction. I took some time to sign the summit log, eat a couple of granola bars while swatting at the many flies on the summit, take some pictures, call my wife, and then decided to headed back down the mountain.
The descent was rather uneventful, but I did realize how rocky the trail is in some spots, which made it very hard on my ankles and knees. Also, it seemed to take forever. After 5 hours and 17 minutes and 10.6 miles (I went .2 miles out of my way trying to find the trail) I made it back to my car.
It was a very tough hike for me because of the altitude gain and the total milage of the hike. But the views along the trail and from the summit made the trip very much worth it. A very beautiful hike!




Near the small lake pictured below, I saw this bear paw print. A reminder that I wasn't alone out there!






Provo Peak, elev 11,068' Jun 2006

Since most of the snow had melted on the higher peaks, I thought that on my next day off from work, I should attempt my first 11,000er. Since Provo Peak is the closest to me, I thought I would start there.
Although eventually I would like to make an attempt from the valley floor, until I gain my hiking legs for the season, I thought I better make the attempt from the trail head off of Squaw Peak Road.
A Spring avalanche, still blocking the road, made the hike just a bit longer - about 1.2 miles longer round trip. Hiking the Squaw Peak Road, however, actually turned out to be a good warm up for what was in store for me.
About 3.9 miles from Rock Canyon Campground there is a small turnout/parking area. Across the road (to the east) is where the trail to Provo Peak starts. Although unmarked, it is impossible to miss as it actually starts as a four wheeling trail.
The trail starts east - northeast for a little bit and is pretty easy to follow. It eventually runs into a terrace which was carved by the CCC in the 1930's to prevent erosion. The terrace heads north - northeast and was a sharp left from the four wheel drive trail I was just on. The terrace made for easy hiking on a steady uphill grade, but nothing overwhelming.
At about 8800 feet altitude, a cairn and an arrow made with rocks stand in the middle of the terrace apparently to mark the place to turn east off the terrace and start up the hill. I followed the arrow and left the terrace, but didn’t see anything that remotely resembled a trail so I went back to the terrace and continued on for about 60 more yards. Sensing that I needed to start heading east, up the mountain, I decided to leave the terrace here since it appeared that other people had done the same in the past.
Still, even at this point there was no apparent trail. It was pretty obvious where I needed to go to gain the west ridge, so I decided to try my first attempt at bushwhacking. It was pretty easy to navigate my way through aspen trees and other shrubs as it was still pretty early in the season and the bushes and shrubs hadn’t grown very big yet.
At about 9300 feet, I found the trail again. This gave me peace of mind knowing I was going the right way, despite the fact the trail let me straight up hill at an insane grade. This is how the rest of the climb would be - straight up the west ridge of the Provo Peak. This trail made the "Y" trail look like a piece of cake. There were, however, several small break off trails that all seemed to reconnect a few yards later.
As I approached the summit, the wind started gusting so I took my hat off, stuffed some large rocks in it and left it on the trail to pick up on the way down. At this point also, my hands were just about numb as the temperature was dropping and clouds were rolling in. I knew I better hurry before the weather really started to deteriorate.
I reached the summit about an hour and a half after leaving my car. Unfortunately because of the clouds blowing in, the views of Timpanogos and other mountains were obscured. Actually seeing the clouds blow by me was quite a scary sight. They were moving fast and although obviously they wouldn’t hurt, the velocity at which they blew by my face was a little unnerving. It also started to sprinkle. So I grabbed my camera, snapped a few pictures, signed the logbook which was stowed under a pile of rocks at the summit, and hurried down the mountain.
It started raining hard for a few seconds which made me a little uneasy as the down-climb was very steep and I was nervous as to the condition of the road since my pathfinder is only a 2 wheel drive.
I ended up losing the trail again at the same spot that I picked it up on the way up, but accidently ended up taking the same route down as I did up, judging from spotting a couple of my footprints going up the Peak.
I made it back to my pathfinder and started the bumpy trek back. The longest part of the whole trip was having to wait four hours while construction crews worked on the Road. I guess there are worse places to be stranded, but I was too worn out to do any more exploring.
My original plan was to also climb to East Provo Peak but because of the deteriorating conditions and the steepness of the down climb to get over to the peak, I decided not to make the attempt. I was caught a little unprepared on this hike, as I didn’t expect the temperature to be so cold at the summit.