Desolation Peak (9,990)

Now that we're finally mostly settled into our new house, it's time to start hitting the trails again.  Even though it seems like this summer will never end, one day it will.  And, really, it's going to end fast.  There's not much time left to get in some good hiking. 

Today I had pretty much all day to devote to hiking, which was really nice.  I didn't have any obligations in the afternoon or evening so I didn't have to hurry back.  So, with lots of time, I decided to do a longish hike and ended up on Desolation Peak (I don't think that's its "official" name, but that seems to be what most people call it. It's also commonly known as Peak 9990 because of its elevation.)

The trail starts at the Mill D North Fork Trailhead, which is most of the way up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Surprisingly, it's on the North side of the road.

The route I took is shown below.  It was quite a climb.

I started hiking at about 6:45am and it was COLD.  Really cold.  Well, it could have just seemed cold because it has been so hot this summer.  I had to get started quick so my hands didn't completely freeze up.

One thing I loved about this hike was all the trees.  I think I was in the trees for 80-90% of the hike.  The sun would peek through from time to time, but just long enough to let you know it was still there.  

Another highlight of the hike was following right next to a stream for about a half mile.  It was nice to hear water running so near the trail for so long.  It was also reassuring that there was still water in the mountains even with the low snow year.

About 1 3/4 miles from the start, the trail splits.  You can continue to the left to go to Dog Lake, or to the right to go to Desolation Lake.  I considered going the short distance up to Dog Lake after coming back down, but wanted to leave myself a reason to come back to the trail one day.

The trail isn't too steep up to the split.  It's not an easy trail, but it's certainly not difficult.  Most people, regardless of fitness level, could probably make it up at least to that point.

At the split it starts to get steeper, and remains pretty steep for at least a half mile.  I took a lot of short rests to get up that part.  Fortunately, the trail levels out and hardly climbs much at all after that.  There are quite a few level places, and even a couple places where the trail goes back down.

After the steep part after the split the trail goes through some beautiful meadows.  It was so incredible.  The meadows would probably be even prettier earlier in the summer when the wild flowers are blooming.  Even still, it was pretty.  And check out how green it all still is.

About 3 1/2 miles in there's a steep hill that climbs about 50' up.  Then, after just a hundred feet or so, it drops back down.  Just around the corner is Desolation Lake.  It's not much to look at--especially this year--but it was nice to arrive at where I'd planned to go.  An interesting thing about Desolation Lake is that there's no outlet.  Snow melts in the little basin there and just stays.  It's kind of cool.

Annie always gets mad at me for taking pictures of things rather than people.  So here's a shot of me at the lake just to prove that I was actually there and not just pulling random pictures from the internet.

My only goal was to get to the lake.  Once I arrived there, though, I still felt really good.  My knees were holding up, I still had plenty of water, and it wasn't even 9:00am, so I decided to go higher.

From Desolation Lake, the trail continues up to the Wasatch Crest Trail.  It's primarily used by mountain bikers, from what I've been able to tell.  I think I saw close to 50 bikers up there.  Up above the Wasatch Crest Trail I went a little off-trail headed directly toward the peak.  The peak was about 300 vertical feet above the trail.  It took a little work, but I finally made it to the top.  From the top I could look down on the Salt Lake Valley to the West and Park City to the East.  In fact, that ski lift in the above picture is part of the Park City ski resort.  Pretty wild.

It was nice to just sit on the peak all alone for awhile.  Well, all alone except for the ants.  I flipped quite a few of them off (of me).

The hike back down was just as pretty as the hike up, but I got to see everything from a different perspective.  The above picture is one of my favorites.  My only complaint about the hike back down was all the bikers riding down.  All but just a couple were extremely courteous and friendly, but only a few of them told me how many more people were in their group.  It was great when they told me because I'd know how many more people to expect.  When they didn't tell me I had to keep looking over my should for the next couple hundred yards wondering if another one was headed for me.  Not a big deal.

Anyway, it was a great hike.  It was nice and cool, not too crowded, and the scenery was absolutely what I needed to see today.  In all, I walked 9.6 miles and climbed nearly 3,000 feet, making an average slope of about 12%.  I would recommend the hike to anyone.  And, if you don't think you'd be able to make it the 3.7 miles to Desolation Lake, you could at least do the 2.4 miles to Dog Lake.  It's probably just as pretty. :)