Grandeur Peak 2.0

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.

Grandeur Peak

Who would have thought I'd be able to hike on November 30th?  I had hung up my backpack for the year and wasn't planning to do any more hiking till next spring, but the weather this week has been so great I figured I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and hike again.

I don't think that I've been up Millcreek Canyon since I was a cub scout, so I was pretty excited to go check it out. Maybe it looks better when there are leaves on the trees, but I wasn't overly impressed. It was fine, and I tried to enjoy it, but it's just not my favorite canyon.

The trail to Grandeur Peak starts at the top of the Church Fork picnic area.  What I didn't realize is that the Church Fork picnic area closes for winter, so you have to park out on the main road, adding another steep 1/2 mile of hiking to the day. That was fine, though. At least there was no traffic on the road.

 Once I got on the actual trail I really started to enjoy the hike. The trail follows a stream for about a mile or so, and I was a little surprised at how much water was in it this time of year.  I guess the snow that fell a couple weeks ago is melting off and filling the stream. It was nice to have the sound of the water to hike next to.

There were a couple "bridges" over the stream as the trail continued to climb.

About 2/3 of a mile up the trail (or 1 1/3 miles for me, hiking from the road) the trail takes a hard left and starts switching back up to the ridge, leaving the stream behind for good.  It was at this point I realized there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.

The trail went up and up, switching back and forth along the mountain, until at about 2 miles from the start of the trail (or 2.5 for me) the trail hit the top of the ridge and I could see down into Parley's Canyon. 

It was interesting to look South and see all the snow on the mountains.  Looking from South to North it looks like the mountains are all pretty much snow-free, but looking North to South they're covered.

The above picture shows Mount Olympus to the far right, and the picture below continues showing the ridge between Millcreek and Big Cottonwood Canyons.  One of my goals for this winter is to learn all of the peaks and protuberances in the Central Wasatch Mountains so I can look smart and point out what peaks are in the pictures, but I can't do that yet.  I just barely figured out which canyon is which!

After another half mile of hiking I got my first glimpse down into the Salt Lake Valley. It wasn't a great glimpse, but pretty good.

From that point on, though, everything was covered in snow. I had hit a few small patches here and there, and there was a bit of ice on the trail, but it didn't look at all fun to continue on through the snow.  I probably could have made it to the peak--it looks like a lot of other people have since it snowed--but it's just not worth the risk. On the whole hike I only saw 7 other people and three dogs, and most of those were just milling around near the bottom of the trail, appearing unable to make it to the top. There was little chance that anyone would be climbing to the peak after me so if I fell or got injured nobody would even know.

I did have great cell phone reception up there, and I always hike with my HAM radio, just in case, but it simply wasn't worth the risk.  I've decided that I enjoy the hike a lot more than the destination, and risking my life for a slightly better view and some bragging rights just doesn't make sense to me.

The hike down was pretty uneventful. It's amazing how sometimes you don't notice how steep a trail is until you hike back down. It was a stinking steep trail.

In all, I hiked 6 miles--3 up and 3 down--and climbed 2100 vertical feet.  It wasn't my favorite hike of the year, but it wasn't too bad, either.