The Wasatch around Ogden Utah, where my parents are living, continues its role as my hiking adventure side quest outside of the SoCal home base.
Last week I continued my quest through Ogden Canyon by bushwhacking up the eastern end of its north rim, taking me above this exceptional Z-fold in the lime-y mudstone of the Humbug formation courtesy of the Sevier orogeny:
My father dropped me at a road cut, and I plunged into the Wasatch's signature gambel oaks, immediately scrambling up a 40º slope. I was ready for it though, and was doing a lot of pulling on the scrubby trees to gain elevation. I had to thread the needle a bit between cliffs, and the gain was unrelenting, but there were plenty of strong little oaks to grab on to, and the mudstone was solid, making it much less hairier than similar topography early in the Josephine west ridge route. viewtopic.php?t=9406
The more I explore the Wasatch, and the more I explore the San Gabriels, the more I appreciate how difficult the Gabes are. There is a lot more trying to kill you in the Gabes, be it poisonous plants, thorny everything, or the mountains themselves literally crumbling beneath your feet. The Wasatch is comparable in rugged topography and elevation rises, and actually has more cliffs, but is nonetheless on the whole more forgiving to explore. It can get thick, but what's thick is only leaves and scraggly branches, not thorny brush and razor blade plants and poisonous flowers. And you never have the rock crumbling to pieces, with holds being dependably solid in the Wasatch when things get steep.
And gosh, is it pretty. Upon gaining the ridge and emerging from the oaks above the reservoir, I was greeted with these views:
That photo shows the entirety of the route my father I took last Christmas eve, detailed here: viewtopic.php?t=9342
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Here is a POV of threading my needle between the cliffs, grabbing onto these scrubby little oaks to pull myself up:
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A look up the beautiful Wheeler Canyon. Here is a trip report of when I hiked the higher west rim of that: viewtopic.php?t=8851
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Now I was ascending along the rim of Ogden Canyon, with the rocky mountain Douglass Fir forest inhabiting the north slope until the more sun-resistant Gambel oaks take over along the rim itself. I'm finding this is a familiar pattern in the northern Wasatch.
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The ridge narrowed and exposure grew, at at one point large shadows began to move around me, and I looked up to discover a good 10-15 turkey vultures circling, checking to see if I was alive or not.
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I generally followed the rim, with a few occasional forays into the welcome shade of the Fir trees on the north slope, which I inevitably had to correct for with a "power-surge" directly up the slope.
The summit of 7044 presented this vista of the entirety of Ogden Canyon, from the city in the Salt Lake Basin across to Ogden Valley and the Pineview Reservoir. The highest peak in the center is Mt Ogden. (9570')
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Here I zoom in on the spectacular 'Gnomes Bridge' Dima and I traversed a year ago. I still can't believe no one goes there. Its an incredible route and you can start it in a suburban neighborhood. You can see a little snow still hanging on on the north drainages of Mt Ogden. viewtopic.php?t=9117
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The route down was less cliffy and rim-y, walking through mostly deciduous forest that had bits that took me right back to my roots in western Maine. A view like this took me right back to my formative childhood hiking.
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I was now off the cliff-forming Humbug mudstone and on top of the melange of 600+ MYA slope-forming sedimentary rocks known as the Perry Canyon formation, forming a rich soil that the oaks take full advantage of to grow much taller.
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The slope down into Goodale canyon was quite thick with big leafy brush. I basically slowly fell through it making my way down, and it would have been a real pain to come up. This was a north-facing slope, but it had few firs and mostly just a lot of this stuff that was pretty slow going. Kind of reminded me of disturbed (ie logged) Maine woods.
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Reaching Goodale creek, I was thankful there was a little water running as I was low and thus filtered a couple liters worth. So satisfying to come upon a pretty little creek when you need one. You really feel immersed in your surrounds when they are fueling you.
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Making my way down the canyon was somewhat rugged, but it wasn't long before I intersected the Old South Skyline trail, which was in much better condition than I expected, or the Alltrails reviews described. I think my definition of an overgrown trail is a little different than the average Alltrails user...
And with that I was home free, following that over the now subterranean Goodale creek back to my waiting car.
4.6 miles, 2500' of gain.
along Ogden Canyon rim to point 7044
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Nate U
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Matthew
- Supercaff
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Mannn that country looks much more navigable than the gabes. Were there any signs of anyone else doing the hike in the past?
stoke is high