Red & White Baldy Loop

The goal of this Wasatch Eleveners outing was simple, hike to the top of Red Baldy and return. Before even leaving the trailhead a suggestion was made to also climb White Baldy. Just before reaching a mile up the trail a decision was made to hike Red Baldy first and then White baldy and come down Red Pine Canyon. We left the trailhead at about 8:20am after a few minutes of conversation.
The trip up White Pine Canyon was fairly uneventful except for Lori's close call with her brand new GPS. We were following the Wasatch Eleveners book route number 12.1. We found the spot on the 4WD road to turn uphill mostly by elevation. Those Lori said it was "close to the lake", the lake is not visible and about 3 tenths of a mile away so don't look for the lake to know when to turn. When you get to N40 32.542 W111 40.378, pick a spot that looks the best for going straight uphill.
We all made it to the Red Baldy peak by 11:30am where we ate and took photos until noon. There are many lakes visible form the peak including White Pine Lake, Silver Lake Flats Reservoir and Tibble Fork. You can't see Silver Lake from the Red Baldy Peak no matter what Lori says, however it does come into view later in the hike on the way over to White Baldy. Truthfully the hike up to Red Baldy Peak felt too easy for an Elevener, the off-trail climb was a challenge but just doesn't compare to most other Eleveners like Timpanogos, Pfeifferhorn or Box Elder.
When we left the peak and headed down the ridge towards White Baldy. This peak feels like a very real Evelener. Maybe it was tiredness from first climbing Red Baldy but this was a very tough hike. From the saddle between the two baldys, the climb up White Baldy is a long, challenging scramble over white granite rocks and boulders. I was sure that the hike down Red Pine Canyon had to be easier than going back the way we came. There are many great views along this ridge, we stopped and took photos several times.
We reached the peak all together at about 2:10, it took over 2 hours to get between the peaks, longer than any of us expected. We ate the second half of our lunches, provided medical treatment and took more photos. There was a bit of discussion on the best way down. I lobbied for following the book's trail (9.2) but others wanted to make their own path down into the steep, rocky and boulder strewn bowl above Upper Red Pine Lake. I headed down the ridge as the book suggest while the others were making their way off the ridge into the unknown. The first, mostly level section of the ridge was fairly easy going. Todd and I met up on the ridge after it turned the corner, my path was longer but easier going. We lost sign of Gene and Lori but kept heading along the ridge. The ridge trail was not as easy after the turn especially where it descended. Todd and I continued to pick our way along the ridge, each time the trail got painful the rocky boulder field below looked better and better but there were not any good place to get off the ridge visible.
We finally gave up on the ridge 'trail' when we saw a doable descent off the ridge and after a little bit of painful steep slippery going made it to some tundra in the bowl. We work our way over to the 'real' trail near the upper west pond. Though looking and yelling several times we never made visual contact with Gene and Lori in the bowl.
We followed the nice, real, mostly dirt trail down to the Lower Red Pine Lake where the Forest Service trail began. After crossing the bridge at the southeast end of the lake we found Gene and Lori relaxing in the shade. They claimed to have been waiting for about an hour after crossing the bowl in a more or less direct route form the White Baldy Peak ridge. They said the going was tough but it was much shorter than the route Todd and I had come down. It had taken Todd and I a little more than 3 hours to reach the lake from the peak, OUCH.
What no one had suggested on the peak was that going back to White Pine Canyon was the easy way down. Oh well, at least we got to see more new and interesting scenery. The hike down from the Lower Red Pine lake is a long slog after 8 miles of hiking over Red and White Baldy Peaks.
We arrive back at the trailhead at about 7:00 pm, a very long day. Lori stopped to soak her feet in the creek so if you are camping and get water from the stream and it tastes funny (funny as in "something smells funny") you will know why.

PS: These were my #7 and #8 Wasatch Eleveners, Booyah!

GPS Tracks: kml gpx
Google Maps: Terrain
GPS Tracks (Red Baldy 12.1): gpx
GPS Tracks (Red Baldy to White Baldy): gpx
GPS Tracks (White Baldy mostly 9.2): gpx
GPS Tracks (All of the above in one GPX): gpx

Photos: Flickr