I thus had a date with the Wasatch Range.
3 years in, there have been many follow-up dates, and the relationship has been successful and often passionate. If I may be so bold to say!
My parents house sits on top of the the still very active Wasatch fault, which is eastern most example of Basin and Range extensional normal faulting. It creates a spectacular 5,000ft gain directly up from the Salt Lake basin in their front yard, the view from which is fantastic for any mountain lover.
With this new base of operations, I immediately dived into creating a hiking radius, because I both love to be comprehensive but also prefer to not be overwhelmed. (background info: https://eispiraten.com/viewtopic.php?t=8912 )
For the last 3 years I've been working on my Wasatch radius when I am in town visiting family, and this is how we are currently looking:
But there is one hike that my eyes bugged out with hungry anticipation when I planned it, only a couple miles from my parent's house. I have planned and executed 570 hikes in my life, and this hike, without a shadow of a doubt, was on paper (and google earth) the best one of them all. Effectively a lavish epic encirclement of Taylor Canyon, featuring all kinds of excitement. It had everything I love about a good hiking route. I called it "THE ULTIMATE HIKE" and refined and somewhat obsessed over the route for nearly 3 years.
The problem was, I had no one to do it with. My father is my OG partner in crime in the outdoors, but this route would be MY biggest day yet, and at his age it was a touch beyond what he could tackle with confidence. It also wasn't all that safe to attempt solo for the same reasons. And a great hike just can never be *that* great unless you have someone to share it with who also appreciates the greatness....
And then I found this message board, and the oddities within.
I sent out an invite to a few of the posters here, and the inimitable Dima was the one who had the availability to fly out to Ogden for a weekend and make dreams reality. Awesome! We took a budget flight from the OC to Ogden itself, meeting my father on the tarmac like it was a private jet, and I walked Dima through the route at the airport parking lot as the vista lay before us.
We began THE ULTIMATE HIKE in the front yard of my parent's house at 6AM on July 4th. Because only an ultimate hike would begin and end at one's own front door!
1) My parents' house front yard.
2) Soccer fields
3) Golf Course parking lot
THEN WE WERE THWARTED BY THE GATE OF A GATED NEIGHBORHOOD AND WERE FORCED TO TURN AROUND IN TOTAL DEFEAT!!!
4) But not to be thwarted, we heroically found a different suburban street to walk up.
5) 29th Street Trailhead to the mouth of Taylor Canyon past morning trail runners and dog walkers.
6) The trail up Taylor Canyon, through its lush riparian understory.
7) After filling up at the last water, we climbed out of the canyon on its north side to the Hidden Valley overlook, where we chatted up an old-timer hiker, who would be the last person we would encounter until the very end of the day. Hell of a cairn made from the 490 MYA Maxwell Formation limestone!
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8) Following an actually very well-constructed trail (that was on no map at all) through the Oaks up to our first bag of the day, Pt 7144.
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9) Out of curiosity, followed the mystery trail further as it encircled the hanging Hidden Valley. (we added it to OSM the next day)
10) Bushwhacked through the oaks, maples and shrubby willows(?) and then scrambled up ledges to bag Taylor Peak 7596. Dima compared the experience to Strawberry Peak Mountaineers route. Bushwacking in the Wasatch is generally a joy, with nothing that tries to stab or poison you like the Gabes, and I was excited to share it with Dima, who knows all too well.
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11) Neither of us took a photo from the summit of Taylor Peak for some reason, but it is some rugged country down into Ogden canyon from there.
12) Now began the stretch I was most excited for - traversing along this razor-edge ridge at the headwall of Taylor Canyon. All indications were it was spectacular. After scouring the internet I had found no trip reports, tracks or indication of anyone ever have hiked it before, which is mind-blowing to me, as this is merely 2 miles outside of the city extremely visible from all over it. CRAZY! I had no idea if it could be hiked, and I was very pumped to find out. Searching for any mention of it on the internet with Dima the night before, all we could find was one guy on Cal Topo who labelled it "Gnomes' Bridge" .... this is a pretty cool name IMHO, so I'm going with it.
Gnomes Bridge was everything I dreamed it to be. There were stretches where it was as easy as walking across your living room, but plunged down thousands of feet on either side, with a vista of mountain joy in every direction.
It gave one the sense of flight... Dima and I were sky-walking.
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13) We summited Pt 7730 (visible from my parent's living room) and the ridge progressively became steeper and more narrow and more spectacular, the exposure growing and the difficulty of safely crossing increasing. There was still uncertainty if it could be fully crossed without ropes.
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I found a deadly sentinel of Gnomes' Bridge, quietly hidden and monitoring all gnomes who request passage.
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Finally we crossed the last stretch, the stretch I was most uncertain of, and the exposure became the most extreme of the day.
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But the rock was solid, the holds were good, and it looked scarier from the vantage point of an observer than when you were actually on the ridge yourself.
That last most intense stretch of the ridge line delivers you finally to the safety of a beautiful high altitude White Fir forest ("Gnomeville") and it was there we celebrated our crossing of the bridge.
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14) Gnomeville was beautiful.
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And featured all the whimsy one would expect from a Gnome Forest.
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It was another 2,000 ft of gain through the forest, and we spooked a sleeping bull Elk with an incredible set of antlers along the way.
Reaching the crest of the Wasatch, we bagged No Name Peak 9061, and enjoyed views to the east of Ogden Valley.
I've maxed out my images it looks like, continued in part 2 below!
Still pretty cool to encounter that much snow on July 4th!
