Not Everybody Loves Raymond

A couple weeks ago Annie and I set out to hike Mount Raymond. Well, our first thought was Timpanogos, but as it got closer and more obligations set in both before and after the hike we knew our time would be more limited than we would like so we opted for a shorter (though maybe not much easier) hike up Butler Fork to Mount Raymond.

The trail starts at a smallish commonly overlooked parking lot just before the dogleg in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's on the North side of the road and there are usually enough parking places for everyone hiking the trail. From time to time you'll see cars parked on the other side of the road, but not very often.

The Butler Fork trail, like most other trails in the Wasatch Mountains, starts out steep and gets steeper. There is a section in the first half mile of the trail that really makes you question your sanity, but it also lets you know why they've never bothered to build a bigger parking lot.

The trail goes about a mile (I can't remember exact distances and I'm too lazy to go get my GPS) and splits. The left fork continues up toward Mount Raymond (the Mill A Basin, specifically), and the right goes up toward Dog Lake. I've taken both trails. They're both steep but beautiful.

There are many (I lost count) switchbacks another half mile up the trail that seem to go on and on. At the last switchback there's a trail that goes south toward Circle All Peak. We didn't go that way this time, but I describe it pretty well in one of last year's posts.

After the switchbacks end the trail stays on top of a ridge running North and South. It's nearly flat and there are incredible views in both directions. This is the first glimpse you get of the Mill A Basin to the West with  Mount Raymond looming over it. When I hiked this trail last year I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to see more of Mill A (I went East instead of West from here). It was nice to get the chance to see it close up and with all the Fall colors.

At the North end of the ridge the trail ends at a junction with the Desolation trail running East and West. To get to Mount Raymond (or Gobblers Knob) go West. East will take you to Dog Lake and eventually to Desolation Lake.

The steepness of the first part of the trail had taken its toll on us and we were pretty worn out at this point and started making backup plans. I knew that the trail would lead us to a saddle between Mount Raymond and Gobblers Knob, and that we'd probably have great views there and enough of a sense of accomplishment that we could go home feeling good about ourselves, so we set our goal to make it to the saddle and save the peak for another day.

The views were amazing as we traversed the basin and switched back up onto the saddle. We sat down for a few minutes and had some food. After resting for a bit we decided to push on and at least see what the trail was like a bit farther up so we'd know what to expect for next time.

We didn't make it too far before the steepness and rockiness were too much to keep the hiking fun, so we turned around and headed back. If I recall correctly, we hike about 7.5 miles and climbed about 3000 feet. It was a grueling day but I'm glad we were able to hike together. Maybe we'll be able to finish our hike to the peak next year.

Beartrap Fork

A couple weeks ago I pulled myself away from my busy summer and headed out to the mountains. The days were already starting to get short so I knew I'd need to find a shortish hike. For some reason I decided to hike Beartrap Fork near Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Aside from the incredible views at the top I can't think of a single reason to hike this one again. Yeah, it was pretty, there were tons of trees, there was nobody else on the trail. All that's true, but the trail was so steep and overgrown that I had a hard time getting into a rhythm.

It might have also been the fact that it had been 5 weeks since my last hike. I'm still not sure how I missed 5 summer weeks of hiking, but I did.

The trail starts at an ominous looking gate about a mile and a half past the turn off for the Spruces campground, and about a mile and a half before Solitude's lower parking lot. There's no parking lot or sign, you just have to pull over at the right time and look for the sign above.

There were good views all the way up, but plenty of tree cover for hiking the trail during the day. The trail is pretty easy to follow, but there are a few places that are overgrown, and quite a few small trees blocking the trail. There's not anything that's hard to get past, but it wears on you a bit as you're climbing.

With all the rain we've had this summer the trail was still pretty wet; not muddy, but wet enough to be slippery. There are parts of the trail that are pretty flat, but the respite you get from those parts is more than made up for by the steep parts.

The last half mile before reaching the junction with the Wasatch Crest Trail is pretty much just straight up the side of the mountain. There's a trail, but it doesn't seem to be strictly followed by most people at this point. This part of the trail is out of the trees as well, which would make for some miserable hiking during the heat of the day. Fortunately I was racing the sunset and the heat wasn't a worry.

After a little over 2 miles of hiking the trail meets up with the Wasatch Crest Trail, which is primarily a mountain biking trail from Guardsman's Pass to Millcreek Canyon. I'd love to ride it one day, but for now I'm fine staying on my feet.

After a short, nearly level walk from the trail junction I found myself overlooking Desolation Lake. I had stood in this exact place a couple years before, but took the Mill D North trail instead. That hike is easily one of my favorites in the Wasatch. If I ever decide to see Desolation Lake again I bet you can guess which trail I'll take.

 Despite all the negative things I have to say about Beartrap Fork, it was a very pretty hike, and it got me to a beautiful overlook in half the distance it would have taken from Mill D. Of course, that came at a cost. I hiked 4.5 miles and climbed over 2,300 feet (21% average grade). I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good workout or someone who wants to hike a trail without having to say hello to anyone.

Clayton Peak 2.0

On Tuesday my friend Casey and I headed out again to nearly the same place. Two weeks ago we parked at Brighton and headed West up to Mount Millicent. This time we went East to the top of Clayton Peak (Mount Majestic) on the Lake Mary trail.

We carpooled up the canyon and got a pretty early start. We were hiking by about 5:30pm and made good time up the first mile to the Dog Lake junction. With it being late and both of us being a bit out of shape we didn't even look out over the overlook because we knew we'd need to hurry to get back to the car before dark.

The trail is moderately steep until the junction with the Dog Lake trail, but after turning off on the trail to Dog Lake, then almost immediately turning left on the Clayton Peak trail, we hiked on relatively flat ground for almost a mile. The wildflowers and wildlife were all on display. One of the benefits of hiking during the week is that there's nobody around to scare the deer away.

We made great time between Dog Lake and Snake Creek Pass. Casey had never hiked this trail and was very impressed with the views from on top of the pass. We were able to see most of the Heber Valley (which may just be the most beautiful valley in the state) including some of Deer Creek Reservoir.

The pass sits at 10,019 feet according to my GPS, even though the sign at the top says 10,200'. Looking up at the 10,700 foot peak from the pass made it painfully obvious that the GPS was right and we still had 700 vertical feet to climb. At least we didn't have to walk far for all that climbing. Most of it was done in less than 1/4 mile.

We had great views from the top, even being able to see the Easternmost tip of Jordanelle Reservoir to the East. We saw more lakes from the top of the peak than we saw people on the trail.

The hike back down was uneventful (except for my slight detour to check out the trail up from the other side of the pass). We hiked about 6.5 miles and climbed about 2000'.

Mount Millicent

One of the best things about our new house is having a next-door neighbor that also likes to hike, and who has been to places I've still never been. Casey (my neighbor) and I have decided to try to hike every other week through the rest of the summer, and our first hike was up to the top of Mount Millicent. 

Milly Express

This wasn't a hike that I even had on my list. I'd never considered it before. It seemed a little dangerous with all the rock hopping near the top. Casey had already climbed it, though, and he was still alive so it couldn't be too bad, right?

View of Mount Millicent from way down below

We started at the Brighton parking lot and headed up the service road to Twin Lakes (this was my contribution; by taking this road instead of the trail that Casey would normally take we saved a mile each way). It was a relentlessly steep climb, but before we even stopped to take a rest we arrived at the lake. After a few pictures of the lake and the dam we continued up the winding service road to the top of the ski lift.

Twin Lakes from the Dam

As we left the dam we heard a metallic banging noise coming from near the lake. We looked through the trees and saw some guy with a metal baseball bat hitting dead branches of downed trees. After having scenes from horror movies flash through my mind we realized he was gathering firewood, but didn't have an axe (or much sense).

We continued up the hill to the top of the lift and that's where the fun began. This was the part that I was most nervous about. We had to pick our way up a steep, rocky slope, as you can see in the picture below. It was like walking up a very irregular staircase.

Casey looking for the best way up the mountain

About 1/4 of the way up I actually started enjoying it. The rocks were pretty stable (every now and then one would shift) and it went much better than I thought it would.

After a climb of 600 vertical feet we reached the top, and as we were taking in the impressive views the mosquitoes came out. We didn't see any near the lake, but a thousand feet higher at the top of the mountain they were everywhere.

Lake Mary with Clayton, Pioneer, and Sunset peaks

We spent quite a bit of time up on top identifying all the other peaks around us, making plans for future hikes. I think I was putting off climbing back down due in part to the fear of descending on the rocks that we had climbed up. My fears were unfounded, though, as I quickly discovered it was easy to climb down the rocks.

Meese

As we returned to the trail (or road, or whatever) we started making good time down the mountain until we suddenly looked up and saw two moose 100 feet in front of us on the trail. We quickly backed up and wondered how to get around them. Wee shouted at them, clacked our trekking poles, anything we could think of to get them to move.

They didn't move. Had they been 50 feet off the trail we might have tried to cautiously get around them, but being close enough to the trail that we could poke them with our trekking poles we decided to backtrack up the hill a bit and find another way around.

We made it easily back to the lake, and from there back to the car and headed home. It was a great after-work hike that took us 1,900 feet up in a total of 3.6 miles. Yeah, that's steep.

Lake Catherine (From Brighton)

The day after Independence Day we were invited to hike up above Brighton with some friends. Normally I try to stay away from the mountains during holiday weekends, but I really like hiking with these people and I figured it would be a good hike to take Titan on.

Titan at Lake Mary

I had planned to carry Titan the whole way up the mountain, and I probably could have. He was able to walk about a half mile or so, though, which gave me a bit of rest in the middle of the climb. 

Lake Martha

I've been up this trail a few times and have a few other more detailed blog posts about the trail, so I don't have a lot to say about the trail this time.

It was a bit of a struggle to make it to Lake Mary, but having been up the trail in the past I reassured everyone that the hard part of the trail was already done. Most of the group continued on to Lake Catherine (passing Lake Martha on the way). We found a snow bank just off the trail and had a snow ball fight (in July!)

Panorama of Lake Catherine

The bugs hadn't been bad at all the whole way up until we got within 10 feet of Lake Catherine. Wee were instantly swarmed. Oddly, though, there were places with bugs, and places without bugs. The bugs seemed to just stay in place. I picked up a few mosquito bites while spraying Titan with some Deet.

This was actually the first time in all the times I've been to Lake Catherine that I actually sat down at the water's edge and enjoyed being there. I'm always quick to arrive at my destination and then move on. It was nice to have the time to enjoy the moment a bit.

The hike was right near 4.5 miles, if I remember correctly, with about 1,700 feet of elevation gain.

Broads Fork

Wednesday night I was finally able to get out after work and do a real hike. I've done a couple low elevation hikes this Spring but none of them were really worth writing about.

I was a bit unsure where to go. There's still snow in the highest elevations, and I've done a lot of hikes the last couple years. I didn't really want to repeat a hike when there are so many more to do.

After weighing my options I finally decided to head up the Broads Fork trail. It's the trail that leads to Twin Peaks (that tall peak you see between Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons). It was the shortest drive and the most intriguing of all my options.

The trail starts at the bottom of the S-Curve in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's the same trail head as the trail to Lake Blanche, but instead of going South from the parking lot you go West.

The trail starts out steep and slowly gets steeper. In fairness, it also has a few flat spots. The trail stays in the trees most of the way up, but was a little overgrown in a few places. My legs got scratched up a bit trying to squeeze through the bushes.

I started hiking at about 5:30pm, having driven there straight from work. It felt great to be back out hiking in the canyons and seeing all the green in the trees and bushes. I didn't realize how much I missed the smell of the mountains until I got a half mile in. With the steepness of the trail I wasn't able to maintain my usual fast pace, but I still made pretty good time.

After about half a mile I heard some voices ahead of me just off the trail. I noticed there were some cliffs up on the right, and there were a couple guys (20ish) climbing around on them (or I imagined they were climbing around. In reality they were sitting at the bottom of the cliffs when I passed).

One of them asked me if I knew where the trail went. I was tempted to tell him it lead to the parking lot at the S-Curve, but figured he probably wanted to know where the other end of the trail went.

I told him that I wasn't really sure, but had heard that it leads to a couple meadows and eventually a few peaks. They must not have been impressed with my description, or were just lazier than they looked, because I didn't see them at any point higher up the trail. In fact I didn't see anyone else higher up on the trail than that.

About a mile in I started to hear the roar of the river and it was loud. Usually a roar like that only accompanies a waterfall. I caught a couple glimpses of the river through the trees and was impressed by the quantity of water coming down the mountain.

Fortunately there was a bridge across the river at about 1.2 miles and I was able to cross. I took a few pictures as I crossed and got a little dizzy seeing all the water roaring beneath me.

As I recall, the trail stays somewhat flat for a bit after crossing the bridge and for quite awhile the hiking is very pleasant. There were multiple times on this trail that I said to myself that that part of the trail was absolutely perfect. The trail was pretty soft in most places, had good shade, great smells. and occasional views. It was a great trail. Except for the parts that were too steep to be enjoyable, but even then all the other factors nearly made up for the steepness.

About a half mile from the bridge I entered the lower meadow. The trail dipped down a couple dozen feet (which is always a little frustrating because you know you have to make that elevation up again somewhere) and I had a short, flat respite from the relentless climbing.

According to my records, this meadow sits at about 7500', which is about 700 feet above the bridge just a half mile back. The upper meadow (my final destination) sits at 8200', another 700 feet up, and just a half mile further. That's an average slope of about 26%.

I was excited to reach the upper meadow, and not just because I knew I was finished climbing. It was beautiful to look back and see the canyon I'd just climbed, and look forward and see the snow on the peaks towering another 3000' over me. I spent some time exploring, taking some pictures, and eating a snack. I briefly considered hiking a bit farther but talked myself out of it when I saw the sun dip behind the mountain.

The trip down was uneventful and much faster than I expected. I saw 3 people within a half mile of the trailhead, two going down and a third coming up. It seems strange to me that with over 1 million people living within an hour of this trail I could be the only person that day to spend time in that meadow. I'm not complaining--I like the solitude--but it still boggles my mind how few people make the effort to get out and explore with so many beautiful places so close to home.

In all, I hiked 5 miles and climbed 2300'. It was a difficult hike but worth it in every way.

Lakes Florence, Blanche, and Lillian

In an attempt to get another night out in the woods under my belt I asked my neighbor Casey if he'd like to do a backpacking trip sometime. We both had this weekend free, and as it turned out the mountains were still there. There are always a lot of good places to hike here in Utah and we picked one of the best ones. 

We made it to the trail head by 4:45pm, a bit earlier than I thought we might, being a work day and all. There was one parking spot left (maybe two) when we got there and we pulled right in. It still amazes me how quick and easy it is to get up into the mountains here.

We took the Lake Blanche trail from the Mill B South parking area. The trail starts out on a steepish paved trail for about 1/4 mile, then the dirt trail branches off from the paved trail and gets even steeper. Our goal was to get to Lake Blanche with enough time to set up camp and cook dinner before the sun went down. The sunset in the valley is right around 8:30, but we knew we'd be losing light before that.

If you're unfamiliar with the Lake Blanche area, there are actually three lakes at the top of the trail: Blanche, Florence, and Lillian. Blanche is by far the most spectacular with Sundial Peak shooting 1500' up from the lake, but the other two are worth the climb even if Blanche wasn't there. The interesting thing with these three lakes is that you have to hike to the highest lake first, then hike down to the others. As a result, almost nobody goes past Lake Blanche. 

In the image above it looks like the last mile of the trail goes straight up the side of the mountain. That's not an illusion. It's steep. According to my GPS data, the trail averages a nearly 17% grade, with the last 3/4 of a mile averaging 23%. I like trails in the 10% range.

We made slow progress up the trail. It's a lot different to carry up an additional 25 pounds. Hopefully by next summer I can lose 25 pounds from my front to make it easier to carry 25 pounds on my back. It was also extremely hot. I doubt the temperature dipped below 90 the whole way up. We were dripping sweat by the time we arrived.

Despite all of our short rests, we made it to Lake Blanche by 7:00pm, making the trip 2.25 hours. I did it without a pack last year in 2. We were very impressed with ourselves for making the climb. According to the GPS, we hiked 3.4 miles (note the 2.8 miles on the sign above... liars) to the lake and climbed 2700 feet (they got that part right on the sign).

As soon as we made it to Lake Blanche we started looking for a good place to camp. Last year I had seen a few good spots up on the hill to the North of the lake, but none of them looked very good to me this year. Camping spots can look great until it comes to throwing down your pack and setting up camp. Thinking about sleeping there can really change your perspective.

Since we arrived so early we decided to keep looking. There were a couple places that would work up near Blanche, but nothing really jumped out at us. We followed the trail down near Lake Florence (the next one down) and found the most perfect camping spot I've ever seen.

We didn't even have to keep looking. It was perfect. There was a small grassy area--easily big enough for both of our tents, surrounded by large rocks with an amazing view down the canyon.

Shortly after we arrived the sun dipped below the ridge as we set up our tents.

Casey went down to the lake to pump some water so he'd have something to drink that night, and got water for his dinner. Not having a filter, I packed nearly 4 liters of water up the mountain (that's 8 pounds of water). In the above picture Casey's coming back up from the lake.

The above picture shows the little waterfall that comes down from Lake Blanche and fills Lake Florence. We got to listen to the sounds of the waterfall all night.

We both cooked Mountain House meals. By cooked I mean we boiled water and poured it into the bag and let it sit for 8-9 minutes. While the food was rehydrating we hiked over to some rocks overlooking the big dropoff into the canyon and we ate dinner there while the sky darkened.

After chatting for awhile under a bright moon we each went to our tents and went to sleep.

When you think of sleeping in the mountains, you think it'll be cold, right? It wasn't. It was hot all night. I think we both got a bit of sleep, though, and no bears came through camp, so that's a plus. In fact, there was hardly a sound, hardly a breeze, hardly a speck of light after the moon dropped below the horizon. It was extremely peaceful.

Around 7:00am I got out of bed and got dressed. The sun was starting to lighten the sky and I wanted to get some good pictures of the sunrise. I see the sunrise most days on my way to work lately, but I'm usually cursing it for shining in my eyes as I'm trying to drive East. This was one sunrise I could enjoy.

The above picture is looking to the North at the ridge between Millcreek and Big Cottonwood Canyons. The canyon in the bottom of the picture is what we walked up.

After eating some breakfast and taking down camp we each filtered some water so we'd have something to drink on the way down. We took a little side trip all the way down to Lake Lillian just to see it up close, and then climbed back up to Lake Blanche. There were already a couple dozen people at Lake Blanche (but only one group of really quiet people near Lake Lillian--like I said, few people ever go past Blanche). As we descended we ran into about 50 more people in various states of exhaustion. We talked to a few people a little more than just the customary, "Hey, how's it going?" People seemed excited that we had spent the night up there (but they seemed equally glad that they weren't carrying our packs).

It was a great, relaxing trip. Casey and I seem to have very compatible backpacking styles, and I love being able to pick his brain about backpacking; he has a lot more experience than I do.

In all, we hiked 7.8 miles and climbed over 3000' (2700' to Blanche, then another couple hundred to get back up to the main trail). For the year, I've hiked right near 58 miles, 20 of those with a full pack.