Lone Peak via Cherry canyon and down Big Willow

 

I woke up Friday morning with a plan to be out the door by 4:30am but found it hard to find the desire to leave the comfort of my home. I wasted time for an hour and was about to call it a day when my daughter woke up which in turn woke my wife who gave me the courage to get up off my butt and go do what I had planned.

I started hiking at 5:30am at the Cherry canyon trail head in Draper. It was hard work I had very little desire and felt physically drained from my weeks work and a hard run I did Wednesday night. The sky was full of clouds that kept blowing in from the east; they never produced rain but looked quite intimidating to me. I few weeks earlier thunder storms caused mud slides to come down the mountain and washed nearly all the trail away in many spots for the first mile and even higher on the mountain I was walking in a deep rut at times. For 3.9 miles the trail switch backs up the face of the mountain staying between Bear canyon and Cherry canyon and climbs 3,850 feet.

When the trail reaches the bottom of the big bald knoll, I call Baldy; it splits in a couple directions. The obvious direction is a well worn trail that leads around the head of Bear canyon and to Colt springs, if you want to get to the hoarse trail go south on a faint trail around the base of Baldy, and to get to the Jacobs Ladder trail head up to the top of Baldy this is the best way if the Lone Peak circ is your distention. I went the direction to Colt springs. The trail is a fun run, after all the steep up hill I just got done with. I ran up and down mild hills through an old pine forest, my spirits were lifted and got me motivated to pick up the pace and make up some time. I ran through the head of Bear canyon and climbed to the north ridge, this is where the Eagle trail connects, and in to Little Willow there the trail steadily climbed, but less than the valley floor, until they merged. At this time I started wondering where the Allen cabin was. I had been there once before but could not remember. It wasn’t hard to find though; the trail lead me through a flat pine forest, where I thought it might be, around a hill and up a rise into a meadow in the valley floor. On the right side of the valley in a stand of pines was the cabin with more than two feet of snow surrounding it.

The cabin is 5.5 miles from the Cherry canyon trail head and I had been hiking for 2:35 hours. The cabin was built years ago by Tim Allen and his brothers. It is in a National forest and is not suppose to be there but it has helped and saved a number of people who had been caught unprepared in these rugged mountains. It is dirty and smells and needs some repair but inside is dry with a place to build a warm fire and stay out of the elements.

When I left the cabin I crossed back over the stream and followed the north rim of Little Willow up. There isn’t a good marked trail; some piles of rocks in a few areas and at times I could see where others had gone. The bottom of the valley was covered with snow and I was doing my best to avoid the snow because my shoes did not have good traction on them.  I only had about 1.9 miles to go but was gaining 2100 feet of elevation in that distance. I was tired and could tell the altitude was affecting me I would take a few steps and have to stop for a breath and continued this for the rest of the way to the top. This route seems endless to me I climbed up to a ridge just to see another I had to climb up and at the top of that ridge I saw another and another but after an hour of this I came to the west rim of the Lone Peak circ.

The view of Lone peak was awesome with the sun rising in the east giving a glow to the cliffs and the whole area had a veil of mist. Almost every where was covered with snow except the rim and I followed it up and down around the rim to the saddle that connects Lone Peak to Big Willow. From the saddle there is 1/3 of a mile to the top and it is all boulder hopping and route finding. I love this part and always feel energized as I cross the boulders. The climb is steep and exposed with no definite trail and when I finally reach the top I am totally pumped to be there. Lone Peak is the best peak I have been on; it stands all by itself with 600 foot cliffs on three sides and a 8×10 foot platform as the top unlike the others that are a pile of broken rock gently sloping to the top. When I got to the top I had been hiking for 4:11 hours and the trail ended up being 7.5 miles.

I followed the ridge down from the top and to the northern most peak. From here I normally go west to the saddle but instead I kept to the ridge over looking Bells canyon. Very shortly the rock on this steep slope became unstable and my progresses slowed for fear that rocks might be dislodged and crush me. At one point I stepped off one boulder and on to another, that was the size of a truck hood and about two feet thick, thinking it would be stable, and as I stepped on it is slid down the hill about a foot. This scared me pretty good; after that I was checking every rock no matter how big before I stepped on it or hung on it. The lower I climbed the worse the terrain became; soon I was climbing down small ledges and around and even under some massive boulders. I made sure no matter where I went I would be able to return the way I came so not to get stuck on some cliff with no means of retreat. As I climbed down the view of the Gully below was blocked and I could see that following the ridge was near impossible without climbing gear. Now I knew the ridge was not a possibility I had two options, go back the way I came or see if I could descend the gully below me.

The gully is used as a down climb for climbers that climb the cliffs at the head of Big Willow so I thought it would be a good option to access Big Willow instead of going back the way I came. I climbed down to it and it didn’t look too bad at first glance just a short steep dirt area leading to a snow field I could slide down. I started in and had the thought that I should roll a basket ball size rock that was setting on loose dirt at my feet. Down the hill it rolled and with in seconds a small land slide started. I rolled another loose rock hoping to dislodge any thin else that was loose but it didn’t help I realized the entire gully was a bunch of decaying rock that gave away with the smallest amount of disturbance. I was now in a bad spot not able to go down and not wanting to go all the way back up and was praying hard that I would not make the wrong choice. It came to my mind that I should stay to the trees on the left side of the gully even though that meant I would be climbing on the cliffs some the trees would at least give me a better hand hold. I worked my way through the trees and down the cliffs to where the snow began in the gully. I tried to access the snow in a couple of places but each time felt bad about it; the slope was so steep and only ten feet wide and I had no way of stopping myself if I lost control. Once I was about to jump on to the snow with a branch I found thinking, if I sat on this branch the friction would slow me. At that point I had a strong impression that I needed to stick to the trees by following the trees I would end up 15 or more feet from the gully floor with no obvious way off the cliff. I did it any way trusting in the inspiration and followed the trees until there where no more but by then the rock on the cliff face was much more stable and I was able to down climb to the snow field outside of the gully.

The snow field was not as steep as the gully but as soon as I stepped on the snow I started to slip. I had a pair of trail running shoes on with small treds on the sole and they are too soft to kick steps into the hard snow. Only the top inch was soft and under was a hard crust, just sliding down the hill was not an option either because below me was all sorts of rock and debris. I carefully worked my way across the snow just looking for an option better than sliding down and smashing into the rocks. I found a stick on the snow field about 12 inches long and an inch in diameter and this stick saved me many times from sliding down the mountain uncontrollably. The first time I slipped I hit the stick into the snow and it broke; now it was only 6 inches long, I stabbed it in the snow again this time it caught me. I regained my footing and noticed just a few feet away from me was a big divot made by a rock I pushed off the top. It made deep cuts into the hard pack as it hit the snow would bounce into the air and hit again and if I followed the rock trail I might get some footing.

While trying to get to the rock trail I slipped many times it wasn’t like I just fell over but I would immediately start to slide fast down the hill and every time the little stick I had would stop my fall. I know without the aid that stick gave me I would of surly slid down the hill and came to a crushing stop on the rocks. I have had close calls before but this was the first time I felt that I was going to die or very best get severely hurt with the smallest misstep. Fortunately for me I have a wife and three kids, that God must really like, who wanted me to come home safely, because every thing went well; I made it to the rock trail and this gave me enough footing  to work my way down to an area where I could slide and safely navigate around the rocks. To control my speed and direction I traveled I sat on the snow dug my heels in, my butt in, the stick I had and another stick I found among the rocks. It took all my strength to control my fall down the snow. The slope lessened the further I went down, I eventually was able to stand up and run/slide to the bottom.

When I was on safe ground I had traveled ½ mile in 1.5 hours and was exhausted. My hands where numb from grinding into the snow and had no feeling for 15 or so minuets. The rest of the hike was uneventful as I ran 4.5 miles down to the Bonneville Shoreline trail and then followed it south to my car. Round trip was 15.5 miles in 7:43 hours. The stick that I believe saved my life not sits in my wife’s curio cabinet as a reminder to me not to do that again and to do all I can to always come home safely no matter what.

Gobblers Nob from Mill B north fork and Butlers fork

 

The snow has stayed on the mountains, this year, far longer than years past. Some years I have made it to Lone Peak by the first week in June but this year has been very different. Now it’s June 12^th and the snow level is still between 8000 and 9000 feet depending on what side of the mountain you are on. By 10,000 feet, on steep slopes, the snow is slick, hard and very treacherous to cross. I have stayed on the south slopes so that I might be able to climb higher before I get into the snow. I have never hiked the south side of Big Cottonwood canyon and used this opportunity to see as much as it as I could.

            Mill B north fork looked like a good place to start and my intentions where to hike to Mt Raymond and Gobblers Nob, and to see as many of the trails as I could. The days before it had rained every day and just dumped large amounts of water and was unseasonably cold so as I prepared for my hike I expected to get a little wet and wore warmer clothes than I normally do. I started hiking at 6:00am at the S-curve in Big Cottonwood canyon and headed up the north fork. It was a beautiful morning and a gorgeous forest that the trail crossed through; it followed up stream and through an old growth pine forest. As the trail climbed nearer the ridge, the pines gave way to scrub oak and maple trees. The oak and maple grow close to the trail and the foliage hangs into the trail and every thing was dripping with water. I put some Gators on hoping to keep a little dry but it took only a few hundred yards before I was completely soaked. My pants were saturated, water was running down my legs and filling my shoes, this continued through out the hike.

            The trail climbs fast; it gains 1000 feet every mile for the first three miles. I enjoyed every bit of the climb; the trail is easy to follow and the canyons and ridges it crossed where full of beauty. I saw a few deer in the pines above me as I crossed through one canyon. The quakies all had new leaves and they had a golden color with dark green pines on the slopes and as the sun rose the light shimmered off the water that covered everything. At 3.6 miles the trail crested a ridge over looking Maxfield basin. I was so impressed with this basin, being there was the highpoint of the hike. There were cliffs above and big pines shading the forest floor; it made the perfect little bowl to hang out in and relax. I didn’t stay long though because I wanted to reach the peaks. Less than a quarter mile up the trail there is a saddle and the first trail intersection which had a sign, and facing the sign, to the left was Porter fork to the right was Mill A basin and behind me was Mill B north fork; Mill A basin was the way I needed to go to access the peaks.

            The trail stopped climbing as it traversed around the south side of Mt Raymond for about .75 miles. I got my first look at Gobblers Nob from the southeast ridge of Mill A basin; I also could see the more impressive view of Mt Raymond and the ground I would need to cover to reach both peaks. So far there hadn’t been any snow fields to cross but as soon as I crossed the ridge to the north face all the ground was covered with snow. The snow was so hard I couldn’t kick steps into it and the slope was to steep to travel across. I soon had to turn back and tried following the ridge to avoid the snow. This also failed because the ridge soon turned to cliffs and progressively became worse and finally forced me down the face. This was very concerning to me because there was no safe options. I was lowering myself down ledges on to hard snow and if I slipped I had no way to stop and would slide and fall until I was stopped by a tree or a big rock, either way I would be hurt. I went really slow and managed to get to safer ground with out incident.

At the north side of Mill A basin just a few yards from the saddle there is a sign indicating the Bowman fork is up and over the saddle, Butler fork trail is northeast and traverses the south face of Gobblers Nob and this is where the Mill B north fork trail ends. At the saddle I realized I would have to find a new way down because of the snow on the north side of Mill A basin and I knew there wasn’t time to summit both peaks so I decided to go for Gobblers Nob, it being the highest at 10,245. From the saddle to reach the top the trail climbs over 1000 feet in less than a mile and then follows the ridge to the north east peak, this is the high point. It took me 3.5 hours to reach the top and the trail was 5.75 miles long and 5140 feet of climb. The view was very cool; I could look at the entire Big cottonwood ridge and all of Mill creek ridge both of which I have hiked the distance. Alexander basin was below and looks very fun for a future hike, it is so impressive to see how much area there is to explore and I feel lucky to live so close to it all.

Butler fork is the way I chose to go down because there was no snow that direction. The going was fast compared to the climb up to the peak because it was relatively flat as it traversed around Gobblers Nob at 8500 to 9000 feet. From the saddle it steadily dropped and after 1.25 miles I reached another fork; the way I was going, traversing around the mountain, would lead to Dog Lake and if I turned I would go down the trail to the trailhead. I thought it wouldn’t be too far to go to Dog Lake and continued around the mountain. The trail wound in and out of canyons following the contour of the mountain as it passed through some very beautiful country. At times I had trouble staying on the trail as it was not well used, sloped, and fairly narrow but it made for a fun run. I followed this trail for another 3.25 miles, a total of 4.5 miles from the saddle, and ended up not seeing Dog Lake because I had come to the trail that would take me down to the road and had to go around one more canyons to get to Dog Lake.

                   I liked this next trail because it was fast and steep and not to rocky. Just a few 100 yards down the trail I got a good veiw of Mt Raymond and Gobblers Nob and the entire mountainside I just ran. The trail wound through stands of trees and crosses a number of streams and as only 2.75 miles to the top of this trail. It is the best way to access Mill A basin and the peaks above. The shortest way to the basin is to take the left at the fork, and sign, which is a mile from the trail head.

5 hours and 41 minuets I made it back to the road; the problem that I ran into was when I came to the road my car was 4 miles down the canyon. My feet where sore and wet and running down the road wasn’t very fun after 2 miles I took my shoes off and ran barefoot; I find this helps me keep running when I don’t want to because my feet feel lighter and different muscles are being worked. After 42 minuets I made it to my car, tired but very satisfied and happy with all I just did.

Neffs canyon, I’ve hiked better

For years I have been told “you should hike up Neffs canyon it’s beautiful”, or Neffs canyon is a great hike”. I felt as if I was missing out on something because I had not hiked Neffs canyon. Well I did it and I’m not too impressed. Don’t miss understand it was a hard hike and I got a good workout but I think it was talked up a lot or maybe I have just done some spectacular hikes.

I started up Neffs canyon on 06/06/09 at 2:15pm and was hoping to reach Mount Raymond and Gobblers Nob from Wildcat Ridge. This was a big goal as I ventured into new territory; also I have been sick for more than a week and felt drained.

The trail starts out on an old road for about a half mile and starts a single track trail when it reaches the stream. At the stream the trail branches in a number of directions. The first crosses the stream and goes up North fork to access climbs on the north face of Mount Olympus. Others cross a few yards up stream and either dead-end or connect together into the main trail. One other does not cross and follows up the stream to I don’t know where. I took it for about 100 yards before I realized it was wrong and turned around. The trail became steep and rocky; it was loose rock which varied in size from pea gravel to softball sized rocks and continued this way for 2 miles. The trail crosses the stream 5 times in 2 miles so the potential for wet feet is high. After 2.25 miles the rocky trail stopped and it was just steep, I believe that the poor trail condition was a big part of my dislike. At 2.75 miles there is a beautiful meadow surrounded by cliffs, and a great view down the canyon.

It wasn’t long before the trail disappeared in snow fields, at 8400 feet, and I was left to find my way through the snow and trees. After a steep section the canyon opened up and flattened out and I had a few draws to choose from to ascend. Unfortunately I picked the wrong one. I went up a draw east of the spring and it got steep and loose. At times I was sliding down the hill while trying to traverse. When I got to the ridge I could see where I should have been, west was a nice open saddle directly below Neffs springs.

I hiked the ridge to some cliffs and didn’t see a safe way around or over them. I was out of energy cold and felt some vertigo from being sick and I thought it unwise, given the circumstances, to find a way over or around to continue the hike. I watched a couple storms pass by; it was cool to watch the thunder storms from the perch I had on the cliffs. I got cold up there and started down but not before scrambling around the base of the cliffs to see if there was a way around.

I hiked down to the saddle and slid down to Neffs springs, this was defiantly the way I should have gone up, and down out of the snow. I got very frustrated on the down hill because I could not go fast for fear of twisting my ankle on all the loose rock. I like technical trails and have run down many; but this one was not technical just loose. When I got back to my car I was tired and had a good workout but not impressed with the experience. There are many other trails, I believe, that have all of the good views and much better trails. I will probably do it again when I feel better but run the ridge and down another trail.

Timpanogos South to North

When driving through Northern Utah County looking east is a wall of mountains known as Mount Timpanogos. The ridge is huge and intimidating to look at so of course I thought “I want to hike that ridge”.

 American fork canyon gives access from the North West, Provo canyon gives access from the South and there are a few dirt roads that come in from the East, all though they are only open part of the year. Provo canyon and American fork have a connecting road called the alpine loop; this is a scenic by way and has many hiking trails off of it. The most popular trail is timpooneke trail; this trailhead allows a hiker many choices. The Great Western trail which will lead you through some of the most beautiful country you will ever see, also many canyons and ridges have trails through the area, and the most popular is to hike the summit. The other summit trail is Aspen Grove; it is just above Sundance ski resort in Provo canyon, is where I began this experience.
            I started at 5:00am so it was dark for the first hour. Right off the bat as I walked up the trail I jumped a moose, kind of scary in the dark because it could kill me, luckily it just ran down the hill. Just after light as I reached 10,000 ft I saw some fresh poop and tracks in the dirt. I always get excited when I find animal sign it is so fun to know they are near. It was not to long after I heard some rock fall above me, looked up and saw a mom and her kid scaling the cliffs above me. They move on steep terrine so easily; I just stopped and watched them for a bit then picked up the pace in hopes of seeing them again or even more I hurried up the switchbacks and entered a basin and scanned the area of wildlife. As I walked up the trail it wasn’t long until I saw a goat then another and then more, it was a small herd resting in a small grove of trees. They didn’t seem too concerned that I was there as they rested there and grazed slowly.
            I had a goal that day of hiking all the peaks in the Timpanogos circ and the ridge from South to North so I cut my watching short to continue on my way. Once again as I crested another rise I spotted some more mountain goats ahead of me and sped up to catch them. This is when the experience went from good to great, I caught up with the herd and realized that there where more than 40 goats and I was in the middle of them. They were every where around me and didn’t care that I was there. I sat down on a rock and just watched them play and interact, some being less than 20 feet from me.
I have a hard time distinguishing mature males and females and even this close the only difference was in the width between there horns so after a while of trying to tell the difference and resigned to watching the kids play. That was fun; they are just these balls of white fluff with legs, as my wife would say “Oh so cute”. They would run up the hillside as fast as they could jumping and chasing each other around, and from a dead stop jump 3 feet off the ground, turn in mid air land and try to ram there friend. The agility and power they possess is astounding. It is great to see a creature that has adapted so well to its surroundings even at a young age. I watched for about a half hour before I got a little cool and thought I had better move on.

            I Climbed up the trail to the upper section of the Timpanogos Basin where the shelter is located, also the glacier, and Emerald Lake. Looking to the left the prominent peak is Roberts Horn to the right is the glacier and straight ahead a massive cliff with the peak on top. To reach the peak a trail follows the base of the cliffs North East and climbs to a saddle and back to the South West along the top of the cliffs to the top. My plan was to go up the glacier and to the Southern peak on the mountain, right after I summit Roberts Horn. There wasn’t a defined trail just the path of least resistance to the top. Roberts Horn is only 10,993 feet almost 800 feet lower than Timp but gives a great view of the basin and a beautiful scene looking down the valleys below. The weather was a bit unsettled and it looked as though a thunder storm was blowing in. This made me a bit nervous because if I got soaked I would have to go down. Fortunately it missed me and all I saw was a temperature drop and a few sprinkles.

            I didn’t know what to expect climbing the glacier I had never been on it so late in the year. It was very hard but not slick and was cupped over the entire thing which gave it the look of a lake when a breeze blows over the top. It was easy hiking to the top except for some mud as I left the glacier and crested the ridge. The slope to the South peak was treacherous; a cliff on my left and a scree field on the right. I had to be so carful; at times the rock would start sliding and small land slides would pull me down the mountain until I could move out of it. When I reached the top the ridge kept going but I decided that since this was the highest point south I would start the ridge traverse here.

            I did my best to run the ridge but had to use the trail to get around a few cliffs. The summit of Timpanogos was the next peak. By now the clouds cleared and a cold wind was blowing. I huddled in the shack on the top and ate some food for 10 minuets before I went on.

            On the ridge there were 6 points I considered peaks because there was 200 feet, or more, of climb from their “key saddle” to the top. I followed the ridge as best I could from one peak to the other. As I hiked I kept seeing one or two Mountain Goats perched on cliffs that seemed to have no real access. It wasn’t until I was nearing the northern most peak on Timp that I started seeing dozens more. I never got too close to them because I was on the ridge and they where sitting in the shade on ledges below me. I would love to take a day or two and just try to follow a herd of goats to see how they get to some of these places, may be I would find it is not even possible for me to go where they can go.
            After all of this I had an 8 mile hike back to my car and with me I took a lot lf great experiences and memories. It took 8 hours to complete; I saw 76 mountain goats and have no evidence because I forgot my camera.

Brighton rim loop

Living on the Wasatch front makes me very lucky, to have over a dozen different canyons and more hiking trails than I could number, with in an hour or less drive from me.
The cool thing about this particular hike was how many of these canyons I was able to see in such a short time. Two of my friend and I started in Big Cottonwood canyon at about 6:00am and 5 hours later had seen Little cottonwood, American Fork, the canyon Wasatch state park is in, and if we hadn’t ran out of time we would have been looking down to guardsman pass. Two weeks earlier I just finished a series of three races that consisted of 2 marathons, one entirely on single track trail and a 16 mile steeple chance so I was taking it easy and just enjoying the with friends. Next summer I will have to do it all.
We hiked up ski resort trails for the first 1.5 miles with .25 mile of boulder hopping to get to the top. I have been up there many times for snowboarding and it amazed me because with out snow the whole mountain is cliffs and boulders and then we turned around and saw where we were going my friend started having doubts if coming with me was good. After talking about alternate routes down they were ok and continued. There was no trail to Mt Wolverine but the ridge was obvious and we followed it to the top. The sun was up by now and the temperature was perfect for hiking. The fall colors were out in full and it seemed that as I ran up the ridge looking from one side to the other there was always something more to see. At the top I had a fun time naming the peaks that I recognized those I have hiked and those I plan on hiking some day.
Mt Tuscarora was just a bump on the way down the ridge to a huge saddle. The ridge dropped 550 feet just to climb back up 525 feet the trail was well used but very gravely and steep. This saddle is a major intersection for trails one went from Big cottonwood to Little Cottonwood another was the ridge trail that was also the Great Western trail that links Big Cottonwood to American fork. The Great western trail stretches from Canada to Mexico and I hope some day to hike the portion through Utah.
Sunset peak was the best peak of the hike it was steep but on a good trail and from the top there are 4 major canyons that we could look down Big and Little Cottonwood, American fork, and Wasatch State park. I also noticed the rock was unique here it looked like salt and was very abrasive and was crumbly it made for a treacherous hike down. The next saddle we looked for a way down because we had ran out of time but didn’t look safe so we went up Pioneer peak to find another way down. We hoped that an ATV trail that came from Wasatch State park to the ridge indicated a trail into Big Cottonwood unfortunately we were wrong and ended up going down a gully that was extremely hazardous. We made it down safely to the ski runs and in all hiked 7 miles saw 5 peaks climbed 2335 feet with a total elevation change of 6716 feet how’s that for a morning hike.