2021 was a great year for getting some hiking stuff accomplished! I wasn’t so much about reaching a specific mileage tally or total elevation gain this time. Instead, my focus was more about knocking a few significant things off my list. My biggest goal for the year was to get all lower 48 states west…
Tag: peak bagging
Rock Canyon Combo
Squaw Peak was #2 for me as I work through Utah’s first Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge in 2021. However, this peak wasn’t enough by itself, so we bushwhacked and broke trail up to Buffalo Peak to make this a Rock Canyon Combo! Friends from the Wasatch Peak Baggers were already talking about doing Squaw in…
Grandeur Peak Yo-Yo
I accepted the new Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge for Utah yesterday with a Grandeur Peak Double! There are several routes up Grandeur that I would categorize as Standard, Strenuous and Adventurous. The Standard route is up from the Church Fork trailhead out of Mill Creek Canyon. This eastern approach climbs 2,500′ in about 3 miles. …
Notch Peak for 3 Peaks in 3 Days
If you’re continuing the read from yesterday’s trip report, “Red Sky at Night, Sailors’ Delight” is supposed to mean there will be good weather the next day, right? WRONG! This was the weather as we left Nevada heading east on Hwy 6/50 over Connors Pass. Fortunately the weather didn’t follow us into Utah so that…
Wicked Wind of the West on Wheeler
This was our second peak of choice after doing Boundary the day before. The original plan was to do a Whitney-Boundary combo but the wildfire situation in California forced them to close all their trails. That’s when our goal changed to 3 peaks in 3 days with Boundary and Wheeler in Nevada, followed by a…
Got Granite from the Southwest Ramp
Coming in at #4 of my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints is Montana’s tallest, Granite Peak at 12,799′. Granite is one of the tougher high points of the West but we made it up and back in less than 48 hours! I went with Oliver Hansen, a hiking friend from Grantsville, who did Dessert…
Kings Peak and a Utah Trifecta
#3 in my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints is Utah’s own, Kings Peak. The goal was for my neighbor Chad and I to do the Utah Triple Crown; which is all three of our tallest peaks, in order, in one day. Those peaks are Kings (13,528′) , South Kings (13,518′) and Gilbert (13,499′). However,…
Deseret Peak via Temple Couloir
When I did Deseret Peak from the Twin Couloirs two weeks ago, I saw another route to do before the snow completely melts away. I knew if this didn’t happen before May rolled out, it would be too late and there was no way I wanted to wait until next year. So yesterday was the…
Next 14er: Pike’s Peak
The next time I’m in Colorado, which will be September 2019, I will be going for Pike’s Peak from the Barr Trail. I got the idea after first hearing about the Manitou Incline, and then finding out that’s one of the trails up to Pike’s. This will be my second 14er behind Gray’s Peak in…