Lunch Hike 5-19-2009

Kirk and I took about an hour and 10 min hike at luncn today from Canyon Glen to up above the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. The weather was perfect.

GPS Tracks: kml gpx

Big Baldy South Ridge Loop

This was a nice strenuous spring hike up the south facing ridge of Big Baldy from Dry Canyon. Justin, Nutmeg and I left the trailhead parking lot just before 10:00am. The first mile is a warm-up on the normal Dry Canyon forest service trail. There is an unmarked side trail 1.0 miles up to the north.
The next section is a mile long and varies between quite steep and insanely steep. 2427 vertical feet in 1.3 miles, bring a ladder, there are no stairs. This unmaintained trail has it all; switch backs, steep washouts and reasonable sections. There are a few spots where the trail is a little hard to follow. There are a few juniper trees where you can stop and rest in the shade. We passed a group of three on the way up, Justin stopped to take a photo for them. This trail tends to be hot and dry once the snow is melted, so bring plenty of water.
There was snow around the flag pole at the front (lower) peak. Nutmeg enjoyed laying on and eating the snow, Justin and I had a bite to eat. After a short rest we moved on to the true peak before the other group arrived. We skirted a deep snow bank (3-6 ft high) on the way to the summit. We had a little bit more to eat and drink before heading down the popular trail towards the saddle.
The trip down to the saddle was mostly on the snow bank. The snow was soft enough to sink your heals for footing but not so soft that you sing in up to your knee. There were a few muddy spots between the snow banks but nothing too messy.
We met an older man at the saddle wearing a full backpack. He said he had come up Battle Creek and that only the last 500 feet was snowy. There was more snow to cross on the way down from the saddle on the Dry Canyon side.
I never been a big fan of the Dry Creek trail especially going down, I normally recommend going down Battle Creek, it is a much nicer trail to descend. I took a nice panorama of the snow on the CCC terraces, stay tuned to the blog for a link to the picture. We chatted and greeted several other hikers coming up Dry Canyon. We made it back to the truck about 3:00pm.

Distance: 5.8 miles (2.33 mile up)
Moving Time: 3:20 (1.7 mph)
Vertical: 3365 ft

GPS Tracks: kml gpx
GMaps: Terrain Satellite

Hope Campground to Buffalo Peak

This was a late afternoon hike to enjoy the beautiful weather on a spring evening after working on the car. I wanted to explore the hiking trail that run through the back of Hope campground that I had discovered on Tuesday when I went hiking at lunch. I parked on the road just outside the campground entrance and walked into the campground. This section of the trail starts from the south end of the campground loop, there are two different trail that lead out, one from the southwestern most campsite and one from the southeastern most campsite. The trail eventually merge as shown the map and tracks. There are orange ribbons marking the trail that look fairly recently placed, probably this spring. The trail winds through the trees roughly paralleling the Squaw Peak Trail road but far enough away that I didn't hear cars. There are a couple of stream crossings that were no problem, I suspect these will dry up in the summer. The trail ends by interesting the road where it most closely approaches the overlook at the top of Little Rock Canyon.
I decided to hike on to the top of Buffalo Peak by bushwhacking up the north ridge. It wasn't particularly difficult bushwhacking but I wouldn't suggest it unless you enjoy pushing through thick brush. The terrain wasn't too steep, if there was a trail cut through the brush it would be very enjoyable. I came upon a odd shack made of plywood. It had some plastic and metal pipe nearby but I can't think of why it was built. It didn't look like it was built by kids but it did look like kids had used it in the last few years. Once I was on the ridge where I could see down into the valley the going was fairly easy.
After spending a few min on the peak I followed the established trail down to the Little Rock Canyon overlook. I then backtracked the trail to Hope Campground. I chatted with the camp host. He did not know the name of the hiking trail but told me it was part of the Provo marathon.

GPS Tracks: kml gpx
GMaps: Terrain Satellite
Photos: Flickr