Crest Walking with Heidi

After an entire day of walking above treeline, we were ready for more! While we had been hiking yesterday Guardsmans Pass and the road over the mountains to Big Cottonwood Canyon had opened. Winter snowfall had been below normal and the road cleared a month ahead of the usual time and opened up access to even more great ridge walks. Scanning the maps and books we set our sights on the Wasatch Crest Trail.

Everything we read mentioned this trail as great for technical mountain bikers and for the views. We hadn't seen a single mountain biker all day yesterday, and with snow still on the peaks we doubted we would see any today. But the sky was clear and with the prospect for more awesome views we arrived at the trailhead at STHT (Standard Trailhead Time - 8:00am).

Less than a mile up the trail we hit the crest, and the view was stunning! A few more feet further, down the North side of the peak and we hit the snow, and the walking was postholing. Through the trees we could see clear ground, but getting to it was laborious, and painful. Stepping out, then down into thigh-deep snow is bad enough, doing it in shorts is painful. The truth is, snow hurts! Every one of those itty bitty little ice particles just slices into your skin.

But anyway, we got through that section and were soon back to smooth walking and gorgeous views, and a whole other batch of wildflowers. The Wasatch Crest runs at about 10,000 ft., 2000 ft higher then yesterday's hike. Looking South-east we could even look down on yesterday's trail. After roughly 7 miles, as we were back on the North side of another peak we came to another very deep, very steep snow section and decided it would be a good time to turn around for the day.

I'm not much of an out-and-back hiker perferring to hike loops whenever possible, but as SD reminded me, and is correct about, the views walking back are completely different, and just as gorgeous.  Or should I say awesome?

I've never been to the Alps, but as a kid, and with my kids I watched "Heidi" a lot. Much of the time on the Wasatch Ridge, hiking along among the peaks, the snow, and the fields of wildflowers I kept feeling like I'd run into Heidi, Clara, and Uncle Alm.