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!
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