Hiking: Kessler Peak

Last Saturday, August 10, a few of us from our church hiker's group headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains to try hiking a peak I've never hiked before. Kessler Peak is easily visible to anyone traveling the canyon. Near Donut Falls and just across the ridge from Mineral Fork, and across two ridges from Lake Blanche, it's a prominent point in the Wasatch. Visible also from Mt. Raymond and Gobblers Knob, it reaches to 10,403 feet in elevation, which is higher than both Raymond and Gobblers across the way.
The trail begins off of the same trailhead that goes to Donut Falls. It's rated as difficult and main challenge is a 2,874 foot elevation gain in about 2.2 miles. That's according to alltrails.com. We measured the distance at just over 5 miles. It's very steep.
Much of the trail is in the shade, which is a plus considering the extreme exertion you are under when climbing it. Trekking poles are recommended, especially on the way down. Once at the top you will be rewarded with amazing views of Broad's Fork Twin Peaks, Dromedary, Mt. Superior, Mt. Raymond, Gobblers Knob, and the backside of Mt. Olympus. You can even find Sundial Peak if you know where to look.


Getting there:

From the bottom of Big Cottonwood, drive up about 8.9 miles to where there is a large parking lot along the road on both sides. On the right is the turn off for the Donut Falls trailhead. There is often parking available right at the trailhead, so it's worth taking a look, especially early in the day. The trailhead is about .8 miles on this side road. Girl on a Hike has a good description of how to find the actual trail here: Clickety-click

Trip Report

Three of us began this hike. Myself, Robert, and Luke. I being the oldest, age 60,  began huffing and puffing from the beginning. I had asked some folks previously if  this hike was as tough (meaning steep) as the really steep part of the Jacob's Ladder route to Lone Peak. I was having a hard time making myself understood as to just exactly where I meant. I found this hike to be not quite as steep as that, but steep enough to keep me stopping to catch my breath, especially as we gained elevation.
Part way up we saw an old miner's cabin and just past it, a mine that went back in a ways. I hadn't brought my flashlight or headlamp along and the small cell phone lights were ineffective at showing how far back the mine went in. If I ever do this hike again, I'll bring one. On the way down, we met some guys who were familiar with the area and they told us there was one place where there's a tunnel all the way through the mountain. There may be a cave troll there though, so beware.

What remains of an old cabin near an abandoned mine.

Robert examines the mine.

Soon after we passed the cabin and mine, there was a pretty long stretch of extremely steep trail. After that, we were near the top and zig-zagged around rocks picking our way up. No scrambling was involved, but it was terrain that required watching where you put your feet.
Once on top the views were amazing. I sat down and ate a Clif Bar then took a few pics. Soon it was time to go down.

Robert checking out the views with  Dromedary Peak and Broad's Fork Twin Peaks visible.

Toward Little Cottonwood and Mt. Superior

Luke and Robert checking pics and maps

The upper Cardiff area above Donut Falls

Mt Raymond and Gobblers Knob to the north.

The backside of Mt. Olympus and the Salt Lake Valley

Dromedary and Twins

The steepness on the way down was tough too. I was glad I had the poles as they saved me from falling on my rear end a time or two.
As we ended, Robert, who at 51 is a very experienced hiker who gets out frequently, commented that even his calves had begun burning. As for me, my calves had given me trouble on the way up, and my quads on the way down. For me, I'd rate the difficulty as pretty extreme. The good news is, stepping up my workouts to prepare for steep hikes kept me from having severe muscle pain a day or two later. Sure, I ached a bit, but not like I normally do. I really do recommend if you can't actually get out and hike a lot, that your gym workout include step climbers and treadmills with increasingly steep angles. And some plyometrics are helpful too. Preparing yourself to do hikes like this is part of having a great adventure.

Mineral Fork: a return to the past

Years ago, there was a place called "Mineral Fork" high in the Wasatch Mountains, in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Actually it's still there, but years ago, you could drive up in it in four-wheel drive vehicles. It wasn't easy. There were some waterfall crossings that were pretty intense back then. We went up there once in the 1970s in my friend's FJ40 Toyota Landcruiser ( I later owned one, and I have missed having it ever since I got rid of it in the early 80s). All of us were teenagers out for a fun four-wheeling experience.

My friend's Landcruiser was a lot like this except baby blue.

We drove up to a mine that I later found out was called the Wasatch Mine. People had been here before us, long ago, working in the side of the mountain, looking for precious metals. That road may have been started by them--or maybe it existed even further back and was some kind of Native American trail, or even a game trail in places. Now, while it's still open to ATVs and is the only place in Big Cottonwood that allows that, it is a great place to take a hike. No ATVs were up there this day, and if they were, they would've had a challenging time getting past a tree that had fallen across the trail. I have heard that before long ATV access will no longer exist up here.
The reason being is partially because not many people hike here. They find other more popular destinations, like Lake Blanche, Desolation Lake, and nearby peaks, like Mt. Raymond and Gobblers Knob.
I knew this. I had been up this trail several times since the four-wheeling days in the seventies. The first time was soon after that time. I hiked up in there. I think I was still a teen, but maybe I was 20. Anyway, I was young and dumb and failed to pack water. There is a stream up there that comes right out of the mine, turning the rocks orange. The water is contaminated, but I didn't know that then. I was mad with thirst and bent down to drink out of the stream. I didn't feel all that good afterward, but I didn't die. Although maybe, if I get cancer sometime in my life, it will end up being because I put that contamination in my body way back when. You never know.
This past Wednesday, I had been planning a hike with my son Ben, who was going to take me to breakfast and then hike with me as a birthday present. My birthday had been a few weeks ago, but we had scheduled the hike for my staycation week. The night before, Ben ended up having car problems and had to take his car to the mechanic. He wanted to be available if they called him, so he had to cancel (and hopefully reschedule) the hiking portion. We still went out to breakfast and after that I drove up to the "trailhead". Wanting to still do the original hike with Ben, I had decided to do Mineral Fork instead of our original plan, which was to hike the Alexander Basin trail to Gobblers Knob.
There is no sign at the beginning of  the Mineral Fork trail. At least not right at the roadside. All I can say is that it's above the S-curve, but before you get to Mill D, and it's a gate on the right side of the road. Hike back in there, cross the stream, and you'll see a sign there identifying it as Mineral Fork, about fifty yards in.
I began hiking at 9 am. There was only one other vehicle parked near the gate. I had no idea if whoever was in the car had gone up the Mineral Fork trail, or maybe had used it as access to fish Big Cottonwood Creek, or something else.

These waterfalls are just above the road

The trail is fairly steep and switchbacks back and forth across the stream a couple of times before finally making its way back into the canyon.  It's mostly through wooded areas, so there's protection from the sun for a large portion of the trail. This particular day, was overcast, so there was more sun protection, and less opportunity to get any great pics. In addition to the steepness, there's a lot of loose rock on the trail. I had a time deadline, so I thought I'd hike up until about 11:00 and then turn around. I knew that I'd be taking a bunch of pics, which would slow me down, so I had no idea if I'd make it to the Wasatch Mine, which was three miles back in. My goal would be to get beyond that and up to the Regulator Johnson Mine, which is another two miles, and then up to the ridge, to look down into Lake Blanche and over to Sundial Peak.
I made it to the mine just at 11:00 and took a few pics. The history of mining in these mountains was evident throughout the upper canyon. Definitely interesting for the history buff as well as the hiker.
It had begun sprinkling, so I tucked my camera away in my pack and headed down. I found some wildflowers that I had to try and get some good photos of though, and the camera came back out. The rain still hadn't

Wasatch mine tailings and wildflowers

intensified, so I left the camera out.
When I was maybe 2 miles back down, a guy came up behind me and passed me. I assumed he was the owner of the other vehicle I had seen down below. That's the only person I saw on the trail.
It's a Beautiful hike with many possible picnic sites and places to rest. If I would've begun earlier, I could've made it to the other mine and possibly the ridge. I will have to keep that in mind for future adventures.

Looking up at the Wasatch Mine and upper Mineral Fork

The Wasatch Mine

Stewart Falls with a couple of my buds

My grandson, Jack had been itching to go hiking with me for several weeks. It had been tough scheduling it though, because they were in the process of moving out of our house and into an apartment and just balancing everything was killer.
Finally they moved out and a few weeks later, I was able to schedule a hike. I invited Jack and his older brother Taggart to go with me. Their two sisters had just got back from camp the previous week, and I thought it was about time the boys got a chance to get out in the wilds.
They are not experienced hikers. Their family situation has left them precious little time to experience the outdoors. With that in mind, I wanted to challenge them a bit, but not make it too tough. I decided to take them to something cool like a waterfall, and after thinking about it a while, I chose Stewart Falls as our destination. It had been decades since I had gone there myself, and I knew that I would enjoy it just as much as the kids.
Steward Cascades or Falls (as everyone calls them) plummet on the eastern side of Mt. Timpanogos high in the Wasatch Mountains. The Aspen Grove trail to the top of Timp also begins nearby, so make sure you are looking at a sign that says "Stewart Cascades".
Online, I found that it was a 3.4 to 3.6 mile round trip. The sign at the trailhead said it was 2 miles to the falls, so a 4 mile trip. Either way was okay with me, but I knew I may have to urge the boys on with encouragement.

We started up the trail around 8:30. It was a Beautiful morning--blue skies, a few clouds to break the sun now and then. Taggart and Jack began to talk, pretty much non-stop. They both had to tell me things, often both speaking at the same time. I had to say "one at a time or I can't understand what you're saying".
About halfway in, Taggart said he was having trouble with his feet. He wore some beat up old tennis shoes, and I think that's all he had to wear. I'm going to have to check into that. Anyway, I'm thinking he was feeling a hot spot on the bottom of his foot. I worried that we might need to turn around, but threw that worry off to the side of the trail and encouraged them onward.

I'm not sure why kids have to strike these interesting poses.

Along the way I showed them evidence of avalanches that had come through, and explained that the white-trunked trees were not birches, but were quakies--and told them the real name of them as well--quaking aspen. I explained a few more things to them as we went.
Finally we were at the falls and they loved the spectacular cascade. We stayed there for maybe 15-20 minutes, then headed back.

They hiked even faster heading back, and Jack, who a little while after Taggart had complained of his feet complained about his as well, even took off running. Of course later on, after he stopped running he had to tell everyone we passed who were on their way up how tired his feet were.
I told him to hold off on doing that stuff or people were going to begin thinking of him as a whiner.
All in all, it was a great little adventure--the kind I need to do much more frequently with my grandkids.

It really must've been tiring. The ride home.

Desolation Lake in the Wasatch

Scenery near the road caught in the early morning sunlight.

This past Saturday, I had the great opportunity to get out with some of my friends from church--Robert and Luke--and hit the hiking trail. Actually, it was my first time going hiking with these guys and it was fun. They are both part of our church hiking group and Robert is the head of it. I will definitely think of them as friends from now on. I had already been thinking of them as my brothers in Christ.

Our destination was going to be Desolation Lake in the Wasatch Mountains. It was a trail I had been up a couple of times before, at least to the lake. I had been on the trail several more times, but they were shorter hikes for whatever reason--one being a snowshoeing expedition in which there were time constraints and a point where we just needed to head back down. That however, is a story all its own.

Looking up the canyon that is part of the Desolation trail.

This time our hike began at 8 am. The weather was a bit cooler than normal for the time of year it was, and when we began I was wearing a jacket. I got to lead for a while. I was actually the oldest on this trip, though Robert who I think said he was 51, had only recently donated a kidney (within the past month). Still, I felt a little like I was the most out of shape of the lot. I'm in good shape though and I'm going to be 60 in just a couple of weeks, so the way I look at it, it's just great that I'm still out there doing it. Luke, who appeared to be in his thirties was having no trouble.

View to the south east.

After a couple of miles, we passed a fork in the trail, the one to the left leading to Dog Lake.
Before long it got to be too hot from the exertion to continue wearing my jacket. I took it off. Somewhere around that point, Robert took the lead and I took the rear. Robert's pace was a little too stiff for me and I fell back a bit, still hiking, but at a pace that I could keep going. Every so often Robert and Luke would stop and let me catch up.
A mile or so later, we got to another detour to Dog Lake and discussed perhaps taking that on the way down.
We got to the lake in about two hours and took a selfie.

From L to R: Luke, Robert, and Shane

The lake was Beautiful and we stood and gazed at it and the surrounding terrain for a few moments, Robert describing other trails in the area. Across the lake what looked like some kind of Scout group or something was fishing. When we met up with them later, we didn't have the heart to tell them that there's no fish in that lake. Kind of like the days when I was in Scouts and they took me on a snipe hunt.

Desolation Lake

The guys fishing can be seen to the right on the bare portion of the shoreline.

The clouds had begun gathering as we had neared the lake and as we stood there, the sky darkened and a cold breeze cut like a knife. We all ended up adding another layer and Robert put on his gloves. We headed back down the trail.
As we headed down, it began snowing. At first, just one or two flakes every five seconds or so, but soon it was coming down pretty good. It lessened up a bit as we descended, and I have no idea if there was any kind of accumulation. From my vantage point, it was a short squall that would end soon. Still it was amazing to see on the second day of summer.

Snow coming down in late June up here is a rarity.

We passed the detour to Dog Lake and decided with the weather the way it was, we maybe should just head down.
Talking about other possible adventures in the future, including climbing Kessler Peak, we reached the bottom less than four hours from when our hike began.

Kessler Peak

Good hikes with good people are some of the finest moments in life.

Grandeur Peak this week: Trip Report

The selfie to prove I was there.

The morning began well. After several weeks of rainy weather, the Wasatch Front was finally calming down. I don't mind rain, but I hadn't wanted to hike in the mud. I had hiked a couple of times already this spring, just to get out. However, they were short hikes and I was ready to do something a bit more substantial. Since a lot of the high country hikes that I haven't done yet are still covered in snow, I decided that I would do Grandeur Peak--I had been up to the ridge once before, but had to turn around because I had time commitments that day and hadn't made it to the top.
Grandeur Peak, if you live in the Salt Lake Valley, is the peak just to the left of Mt. Olympus as you face the Wasatch Front. To get to the trailhead, enter Millcreek Canyon and go up a few miles, past the Boy Scout owned area on the right, to the picnic area called "Church Fork". If you get there after 8 am, you can drive through the picnic area to the trailhead. I got there early, so I parked on the canyon road and walked up the paved drive to the trailhead, adding maybe another half mile total to the hike.

The morning sky was Beautiful!

The scenery amazing!

Looking toward Mt. Olympus to the south.

The weather was great, although it was going to get warm. I had to make the choice of wearing a short-sleeve shirt, or a long-sleeve shirt to protect more of my skin from the sun. I chose the long-sleeve--a polo shirt with a little thicker material thinking that it might be a little cooler up there.
A mile or so into the hike, I was wanting the short-sleeve, lighter shirt as after the first part of the hike, which is rather pleasantly shaded and following the stream, it opens up and there is very little shade. I got hot.

Wildflowers in bloom!

But down at the beginning of the trail, it was nice and shady. Much of the lower forest is filled with deciduous trees--Cottonwoods and others of which I am not well-versed in their names. Not a lot of conifers though. Higher up it turns into scrub oak, dogwood, maple, and mountain mahogany. It was in those reaches I began to see little tent caterpillars--in some spots hundreds of them. These voracious insects can do immense damage to trees. I was hoping there weren't too many of them and that the National Forest Service was aware that they were there. I think the USU Extension Service puts out information on them periodically. I took a few close-ups of the beasts.

After that segment of the trail,  the sun had broken over the nearby peaks and was lighting up the mountains. It was Beautiful!

The timber thinned out and scrub oak and lower growing shrubs predominated. Not that the sun was out, it was HOT!

The openness meant the Sun was beating down!

Before long I reached the ridge, which was the furthest I had ever gone on that trail. From there it looks like it's just a short distance to the top, but looks are deceiving. it ended up being quite a bit further than I had thought. But right then, I looked down the other side of the ridge into Parley's Canyon. The gravel pit that is at the lower end of Parley's was quite visible from there.

Gravel pit at the lower end of Parley's Canyon.

It's probably another half mile or so to the top from there, and some pretty steep stuff with a few very minor scrambles.

Though Grandeur is a shorter peak in relation to others nearby, like Olympus, Mt. Raymond, etc., there is a nice 360 degree view once on top.

Views of the Salt Lake Valley predominated to the west.

The upper reaches of Parley's and views of Mountain Dell and Little Dell Reservoirs

A group of hikers had gathered on top and they were discussing the two snakes in the trail below. Evidently the snakes had arrived on the trail after I had passed because I never saw them, however apparently they were caught in the act of making baby snakes. On the way back down I was hoping to see them so I could tell them to "get a room". Each person I passed on the way down mentioned the snake until one didn't. "Did you see any snakes?" I asked. "No," she said, "but a lot of people have mentioned it." Since there were no snakes on the trail from the top to where I was, and since this hiker hadn't seen them either, I figured both of them had finally managed to either leave the trail of they actually found a room. Who knows?

The rest of the way back down was uneventful. At the bottom, I took a pic of the waterfall that's just above the picnic area.

Not a bad day at all and a great hike for my first lengthy one of the year. Another great adventure!