| James on the summit | |
Keith on the summit, Silver Lake behind |
The next day Keith and James decided to hike up Scott Hill (10,116) and Silver Peak (10,006). It was an easy hike up Scott, since there is an old dirt road almost the whole way. From Scott to Silver is easy, but long. When they reached the summit of Silver, James realized that the peak he and Duane climbed back in April was the wrong one. They had been over on the other side of Desolation Peak. Once on top of Silver, Keith and James saw a new quad lift from The Canyons, that goes almost to the top of Desolation Peak (9,990). This added one more organization to our Destroying The Environment Hate List, along with Snowbird Resort and The Quarry in lower Little Cottonwood Canyon. The Canyons Resort is not nearly as bad as the others, however. Upon returning to Keith's car, we found a note from Dan, and saw his car at the trailhead. He had gone up Scott Hill with his girlfriend, and a school friend, and we had missed him somewhere on our return trip.
The next day, Saturday, was a day off. Keith was doing something, and couldn't hike, so Jon and James decided to look for good rock climbs near Pepperwood Falls, where we ice climb in the winter. They found a decent climb, which Jon lead, and they named it "Soak Your Belayer", since James, who belayed first for Jon, had to stand near the bottom of the waterfall, and get wet from spray. They named it, and rated it 5.5 (pretty easy), since there was no evidence that anybody had climbed there before. (i.e. not in the book, no rap down bolts) They found a walk-off, luckily.
The next day was one of the best single days of climbing we did that month. James, Keith, and Don S climbed up Tanners Gulch to Tanners Pass. From there they hoped to climb Sunrise Peak (11,275). When they began climbing, they were having more problems slipping than when James and Duane climbed Tanners Gulch in May, so they put crampons on near the bottom. This quickly solved the problem, and they continued toward the pass. It was sunny the whole day, making for softer snow. They had lunch on the pass between Sunrise and Dromedary Peak (11,107). After lunch, they headed west toward Sunrise. It was easier than the first time, because James knew which way to go around certain rock obstacles. After lunch and pictures on the summit, they all headed toward the pass. Just before arriving at the pass, Keith came up with the idea of climbing Dromedary peak also. James agreed, but Don decided to wait at the pass for them to top out and come back down. The route from the pass to Dromedary was trickier than the route up Sunrise, and a little bit more fun. After some quick pictures on the summit, James and Keith headed back down to meet Don and go home. Once again, the slide down Tanners Gulch took very little time, and they were back at the car in less than 45 minutes. Just near the bottom, along the streambed, James almost ran into a rattlesnake, but went around it and let Don and Keith know where it was. This was deifnitely one of the best climbs of the summer.
The next day (Monday) Keith wasn't able to climb because he needed a day to get ready to go to Mexico, that Saturday, and also to pack for the Bells trip on Tuesday. Since James didn't have his climbing partner, he met up with Chris H, and old friend who moved to North Carolina a few years ago. They hiked up towards Mount Raymond, and Gobblers Knob, but at the junction with the Desolation Trail, they headed toward Dog Lake. After following the beautiful Desolation Trail for a while, they met up with the Dog Lake trail, going back to the same trailhead. They had made a big triangle, seeing some areas usually missed because of lack of 10,000-foot peaks. It was great to catch up with an old friend, and a good hike. The afternoon was spent getting ready for the Bells trip to start the next morning.
Bells Trip
Day 1
In mid-June, Keith and James decided to do a 4 day trip to the Upper Bells Canyon area. James and Keith were the only people able to make it, even though everyone was invited. They decided to hike up to Lake Hardy, instead of Bells Canyon, because of the trailfinding difficulties in Bells Canyon. Jon dropped them off at the trailhead, on the Utah County side of the range. The trail to Lake Hardy was good, until they hit snow. From there, there were many false ridges they thought that the lake was just over. They made it up to a frozen Lake Hardy, after a full, grueling day with full packs. They settled down with James' Cheese Puffs, and relaxed in camp for a few hours.
Day 2
The second day, James and Keith had planned to climb Lone Peak (11,253) and Big Horn (Upper Bells Peak)(10,877). They got a late start out of camp, but made good time to Thunder Pass. From the pass, they headed southwest to Big Horn. Getting to the summit was easy, but getting from the summit to the pass between Lone and Big Horn wasn't as easy. There were cliffs that dropped off on both sides, and James and Keith had to weave in and out of them to get to the pass. From the pass, it was easy walking to the false summit of Lone Peak. But, from the false summit to the real summit was very exposed and scary. It took them half an hour to go those few hundred feet, because of bad snow, and exposure. On the summit of Lone, they had lunch, and celebrated Keith's birthday. James carried a present all the way up Lone, and gave it to him. It was a hat that James had made in Outdoor Clothing class in school. They now had matching hats, which you will see often, especially in the Winds. Getting back from the real summit to the false one was also quite hard, but James and Keith has less problems this time. They decided to go down to Bells Canyon and climb back up to Thunder Pass, instead of going back over Big Horn's cliffs. They made it back to camp okay, and enjoyed some dinner and relaxing.
Day 3
The third day, Keith and James packed up camp, and headed for South Thunder Mountain. After a windy summit, they headed down to the pass below Bells Cleaver, between Thunder Bowl and Bells Canyon. They left their packs there, and headed for North Thunder Mountain. The trip to North Thunder took less time than expected, and James and Keith had time to relax on the summit, and take pictures. Just before James got to the summit, he looked up at the highest rock on the summit, and saw a golden eagle, just sitting on the summit. Unfortunately, he scared it off, while getting his camera out. The guys signed the summit register, and headed back to the pass where their packs were. They got a quick snack from their packs, and then headed for Bells Cleaver. It only took about 20 minutes to summit Bells Cleaver from the pass. After a few summit pictures, they headed back to the pass, to get their packs, and hike down to the Upper Bells Reservoir. They set up camp just below the lake, and after dinner decided to go bouldering near camp, since James brought his climbing shoes. There was some good bouldering, but it was worth bringing the shoes.
| Hogum Divide and Hogum Fork from North Thunder | |
Keith on the summit of Bells Cleaver |
Day 4
They packed up camp again, and headed for Rocky Mouth Canyon. They went over to the minor side canyon next to the Upper reservoir, and left their packs there. The view from the top of Rocky Mouth Canyon Peak is cool, since you can see the whole valley. Too bad they had to go back there. After getting the packs, James and Keith headed down Bells Canyon, to the stream crossing. When Dan and James crossed the stream in October, it was hard, but when Keith and James tried it in June, during peak runoff, they couldn't safely do it. They had to bushwhack for half a mile on the wrong side of the stream, until they found a suitable place to cross. Then they had to buchwhack uphill on the other side of the stream to find the trail. After finding the trail, they followed it home, and waited at the trailhead for Keith's mom to pick them up. Just as they arrived at the trailhead, James' shoulder strap on his pack broke. Luckily, they were sitting on the curb waiting when it happened, so he didn't have to carry a broken pack down the trail at all.
Back To Day Hikes
The next day, Keith left for Mexico, and James was without a climbing partner for a week. He wanted to go up Broads Fork Twins with Don T, but was too tired after a four day trip at the end of 2 straight weeks of hiking and climbing. The next few days, Jon and James did some rock climbing at Storm Mountain, Pentapitch, and Crescent Buttress. The only day they didn't go rock climbing all week was on Tuesday, when James soloed up Mount Baldy (11,068), and Sugarloaf (11,051).
Saturday finally brought a number of the guys back to the mountains. Don T, James, Matt, Dan, and Kevin decided to climb the Pfeifferhorn (11,326) via Maybird Gulch. They made good time up to the Maybird bridge, and upto Maybird Lakes. James and Matt had been there before, so they found a way up even though the trail was covered in snow. Once they started heading for the east ridge of the Pfeifferhorn, Matt and Kevin decided to hit the ridge on a lower point since they didn't have crampons. Meanwhile, James, Don, and Dan headed up the planned route to the point where the east ridge meets the summit pyramid. On the way up to the ridge, they almost ran into mountain goats traversing the slope, heading towards Hogum Fork. Topping out didn't take long, and they had lunch and took pictures on the summit. James, Matt, and Dan wanted to stay on the summit longer and relax, but Don and Kevin needed to go home, so they headed down. After sitting around for a while, James, Matt, and Dan slid down the long steep slope off of the east ridge. Matt had so much fun, he wanted to climb back up it and do it again, so he did. Dan wanted to climb Hogum Divide (10,516), so he continued down Hogum Fork to get to it. James just waited at Maybird Lakes for everyone and tanned. Matt showed up at the lake first, and they waited for Dan to come down from Hogum Divide. After a while, they started to worry, and were about to begin searching for him, when he appeared announcing he made it to the top. They all then headed down towards Red Pine Canyon and the bridge. Unfortunately, they ended up at the stream nowhere near the bridge, and decided that it was downstream of where they were. Oops! After bushwhacking down the Maybird side of the canyon until they realized they were too far down, they found a log to slide across the stream. From here they had to hike uphill until they found the Red Pine trail. This took a while and began to get frustrating, but eventually they found it. Along they way, on the Red Pine side, they discovered an old fire ring, which was far from the trail. They were probably the first people to see it since the people who biult it, since it is in a place that is such a pain to get to, with lots of buchwhacking, that no sane person who wasn't lost would go there.
Finally, Keith got back from Mexico the night James, Matt, and Dan got lost on the Pfeifferhorn. On Sunday, Keith's first full day back, they climbed Honeycomb Cliffs (10,479), as an easy hike to acclimatize Keith to the regular elevation. It was an easy hike, but they found a glass gallon jug above Solitude's Summit lift, which was kept in James' Pathfinder until his dad threw it out, and they also found a good bouldering area, which they messed around at for a while.
On Monday, James and Keith climbed up Unnamed (10,910), via the Lake Blanche Fork. The hike to the lake didn't take much time, but reaching the peak took longer. A mostly Alpine snow route up was broken by one cliff. They found a weakness in the cliff, and went for it. They had to navigate nearly vertical snow for about 50 feet, then up 4th class rock for another 50. After that, they continued up the easy summit snowfield to the top. After lunch and pictures on the top, they found an all snow route to slide down towards the lake. After passing the small, shallow, seasonal lake above Blanche, they just followed the trail down.
Tuesday was a great day to be in the mountains again, and Dan joined Keith and James for a hike up Kessler Peak (10,403). They followed a trail next to the Doughnut Falls trail up the canyon until they reached what they thought was the north route. When the trail ended after about 200 feet, they went back and continued up the canyon. After no luck finding the right trail, they just headed for the ridge dividing Cardiff Fork form the on they were in, Days Fork. Getting to the ridge was steep, but easy. Then they just followed the ridge to the summit. They all got split up near the summit, and took different ways up. After meeting on the summit, they ate, and took pictures. Since Dan had to be back for some reason, he took off while Keith and James finished eating. He also told JJames and Keith the way he came up from where they split up was easier. James and Keith went the way he told them and then found the real trail down. After following the trail the whole way down, we met up with the dirt road in Days Fork and walked back to the car. They didn't see snow the whole day, compared to the day before, where Keith and James were on snow almost all day. James and Keith found a note on James' car from Dan saying he also found the trail down. We also found an old frying pan, which joined the jug until James' dad threw them out.
The last day of peak bagging for the month, and the last peak were on Wednesday, June 30th. James and Keith climbed Red Baldy (11,171) via White Pine Canyon. This would be the last of 32 peaks to climb, and a goal finished. They started early, and made good time to the place where they cut off to head up to the ridge, then to the summit. There were a few short sections of 4th class, but the route up the ridge was easy. Just below the summit, they stopped and made it to the top at the same time. Once they got home, James' mom asked if he felt the earthquake that morning. He didn't, so she explained there was one in White Pine Canyon, near Park City, around 10:00. This was a very eerie thing, since James and Keith were in a different canyon named White Pine Canyon, and had been talking about earthquakes about the same time there really was one. The White Pine the earthquake was in was just below Silver Peak, and they were near Red Baldy in Little Cottonwood. This is still a very weird thing. After returning, they realized they forgot a camera, but it was a day that meant a lot to them, more than most other goals they had set out to achieve. A picture wouldn't bring out the feeling of achievement felt that day, anyway.
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