This weekend I had originally planned to hike up Mt Timpanogos with my friend Casey Friday afternoon, spend the night up near the top, then head to the peak and back home Saturday morning. The weather forecast looked good at first; maybe a little chilly, but dry. The forecast changed throughout the week, though, and by Thursday it was obvious that we'd be trudging through a foot or more of snow with temperatures in the 20s and 30s.
So we decided to postpone the trip and hope we'd still be able to find a weekend this year to do it. Driving home from work Friday, looking up at the newly frosted mountains, I knew I couldn't stay away from them this weekend.
We decided to hike up to Grandeur Peak from Millcreek Canyon. I attempted it last year, but there was more snow than I was comfortable with and I turned back less than a half mile from the peak. This time we ran into snow almost immediately, but with another year of experience and other people on the trail the snow didn't keep us from reaching the peak.
The trail was a bit icy in places, a bit slushy in others, and even muddy in a few places. On the way back down the icy places became slushy, the slushy places muddy, and the muddy places--well, they were still muddy.
Grandeur Peak isn't the highest peak, but its proximity to Salt Lake City provides some incredible views. The day was a little bit hazy, but we were still able to get some good pictures and enjoyed our time at the peak.
There were dozens of cars at the trail head when we arrived, and there were quite a few people on the trail. Not so many people that it felt crowded, but a lot more people than we thought we'd see on a cold October Saturday.
In all, we hiked about 7 miles (for a yearly total of 82.25 miles) and climbed about 2400'. It was great to get out hiking on a beautiful day and add another peak to my completed list.
Love it! You are amazing!
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