You want steep? You want lots of bushwhacking? Look no further. There's no trail except for a goat path along the ridge. 4.8 miles where the descent is as slow as the ascent. Having the beginnings of a cold didn't help but I do think this is significantly harder than Timpanogos Peak. I thought I was making better time downhill but the GPS never lies, a pitiful 1/2 mph both ways not counting time at the peak. Here are the gory details:
7:43am Leave vehicle (7550ft) 8:35am Bottom of gully 10:00am Bottom of ramp 11:50am Saddle 1:13pm Arrive at peak (10900ft) 1:42pm Depart peak 3:52pm Stop on ramp for foot care 5:31pm Bottom of gully 5:51pm Back at vehicle
I highly recommend two hiking poles. I only took one and ended up making one out of a dead conifer. It wasn't ideal but helped a lot to have a second pole both going up and coming down.
Also, when you get up on the ridge, try to stay right on the ridge (within 10 ft) as much as possible. There are only a few spots where a tree straddles the ridge and you have to duck down on goat paths.
GPS Tracks: kml gpx
3 comments:
Post photos of the ridgeline!!
It helps a lot to have a GPS, there is a small section of bushwhacking through thick aspen that you have to do near the beginning. It's only 100 yards or so but you can't see where you are going without a GPS and it is easy to go right by the spot where you can get down into the gully.
You park at the last turn in the Squaw Peak road before it heads down to Rock Canyon. There is a waypoint on the map: http://tinyurl.com/CASKMLOLD called "CAS Park"
The spot where you get down into the gully is 40.291660° -111.600022°, I'm not sure why its not on that map. This is the spot: http://tinyurl.com/CASGullySpot
There is an ATV trail at the northeast end of the parking area road that you start on, it turns into a hiking trail that you have to follow carefully. That ends in some thick aspen that you have to make your way through roughly east. After you get down into the gully, follow the bottom of it uphill until you enter the chute proper. Climb up the rocky chute until you come to a large (5' diameter?) log laying in the chute where it opens up a little wider. Just above it is a ramp that cuts back to the south. At the top of the ramp head uphill to the rock face and scramble up the narrow chute. The hardest part is over once you are on top of the ridge at a small flat spot where there's an old fire pit with trash and a big dead tree standing. You can head up staying near the top of the ridge you are on until you hit the top ridge where you can see down the other side to the east. The peak is now about 0.75 mile to the north, stay up on the very top of the ridge except for a few spot where you have to duck under trees.
Good luck.
See:
http://mikeswalktalk.blogspot.com/2008/08/cascade-peak-longest-short-hike-around.html
http://mikeswalktalk.blogspot.com/2009/08/cascade-mountain-peak.html
http://mikeswalktalk.blogspot.com/2009/07/cascade-approach.html
Photos of the gully: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikescalora/sets/72157646831956391
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