- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 4,032
I'm going to be doing a route that @Bob dreamed up through parts of the Washakie and Teton Wildernesses starting on August 1st. We'll be heading up Deer Creek to Deer Creek Pass, then we will do a little off-trailing until we pick up the outfitter's trail down North Fork Butte Creek, following it down to Butte Creek and then on to Thorofare Creek. We will then follow the Hidden Creek drainage to the creek's headwaters, head up and over the ridge and drop down to the North Fork of the Yellowstone. After following the North Fork for a bit, we will once again climb above the drainage, contour around Thorofare Mountain and the headwaters of Thorofare Creek on our way towards Yellow Mountain. We will continue in the high country along the ridgeline before dropping down to some high mountain tarns. Eventually, we will drop down into Fall Creek Drainage and will follow the trail down to the South Fork of the Shoshone River where will will follow the river to our ending trailhead. It all seems pretty straight forward if the weather cooperates with us. So once spring warmed up enough for me to be on a trail and I received the doctor's okay after my bunion surgery to start hiking, I've been training for this one.
I've got all the minor peaks here in the Wasatch foothills under my belt and also the Grandeur Loop done, and a nice hike up Mount Aire last weekend. My son is in town for a week, visiting from Portland, and I asked if he would like to do a hike one day while he is here. He said sure and chose Mount Olympus for our hike. So yesterday (Friday), we hit the trail early at 6:30 am from the Mount Olympus Trailhead, which happened to be quite crowded with cars for that early I thought.
We made it all the way up to the saddle where we took a break so that I could eat a protein bar to refuel before attempting the scramble section to the summit. Once on the summit, while I was busy taking pictures, we started to hear this weird noise. Hugh II asked me what it was and I told him that I wasn't sure. It almost sounded like a human scream crossed with a bird chirping. About five minutes later a guy appeared at the summit and told us that he didn't want to alarm us, but there was a mountain lion below in the rocks. He said that he had heard the noises too, and that he was able to identify the cougar from an app on his phone. He then was able to locate the cat on the rocks just below the summit. So I thought that was pretty cool. The first time that I have heard a cougar in the wild. I'll take it. While on the summit, we also got to watch a hiker make his way from the north summit over to us on the south summit, which is quite a route. We then proceeded to finish our lunches before heading back down. We looked for the lion but never saw it. The hike out from Tolcats Canyon was hot and miserable like it always is this time of year. After finishing up, we headed to the Porcupine for some celebratory nachos and a beer.
Parking lot nearly full at 6:30 am
The Mount Olympus shadow.
Hike participants. I see the Forest Service still hasn't replace the wilderness sign.
Not a big wildflower hike, but these penstemons were nice - mostly wild roses, horsemint
and ninebark on this hike
A spotted towhee on Suicide Hill. We saw five California doves around 7600 feet in elevation along the trail. I have never seen
doves that high up before.
Ninebark
Diamond Clarkia
Hawksbeard?
Rocky trail
Horsemint
Chukar up on top of the ridge
Broads Fork Twin Peaks and Sunrise Peak, seen from the saddle
Chilin' at the saddle
Stonecrop
Wild roses
One of the scramble sections just off the saddle
Scrambling
Groundsel
Hugh II scrambling
Made it to the summit
Grandeur Peak
Summit shot
Hey, somebody is over on the north summit. We watched this guy descend off the north summit and make his way over to us on
the south summit. Gotta be some butt puckering coming off of the north summit in our direction.
Zoomed in on the north summit after the hiker descended
Making his way off the north summit
Last drop to the saddle
Making his @Bob move across a dead log
The Pfeifferhorn
More Broads Fork
This is the guy that crossed over from the north summit. We chatted with him for a few minutes. He said he was contemplating
finishing Wildcat Ridge all the way to Gobblers Knob. I told him that would be a hell of a day. He's texting Hugh II some shots he
took on his way over to the south summit.
That is Scatman himself on the south summit, just to the right of Broads Fork Twin Peaks
Butterfly on our way down
Sego Lilly
The workhorses for this hike - Canon EOS 7D, a Canon PowerShot SD450, and a Fujifilm XP waterproof camera.
Almost no cars left in the lot when ae arrived back at the trailhead
And on to the Porcupine. You can just make out the summit of Mount Olympus behind the sign in the second shot
Hungry?
You better believe it! Polygamy Porter in hand.
The Mount Olympus of nachos!
The End.
I've got all the minor peaks here in the Wasatch foothills under my belt and also the Grandeur Loop done, and a nice hike up Mount Aire last weekend. My son is in town for a week, visiting from Portland, and I asked if he would like to do a hike one day while he is here. He said sure and chose Mount Olympus for our hike. So yesterday (Friday), we hit the trail early at 6:30 am from the Mount Olympus Trailhead, which happened to be quite crowded with cars for that early I thought.
We made it all the way up to the saddle where we took a break so that I could eat a protein bar to refuel before attempting the scramble section to the summit. Once on the summit, while I was busy taking pictures, we started to hear this weird noise. Hugh II asked me what it was and I told him that I wasn't sure. It almost sounded like a human scream crossed with a bird chirping. About five minutes later a guy appeared at the summit and told us that he didn't want to alarm us, but there was a mountain lion below in the rocks. He said that he had heard the noises too, and that he was able to identify the cougar from an app on his phone. He then was able to locate the cat on the rocks just below the summit. So I thought that was pretty cool. The first time that I have heard a cougar in the wild. I'll take it. While on the summit, we also got to watch a hiker make his way from the north summit over to us on the south summit, which is quite a route. We then proceeded to finish our lunches before heading back down. We looked for the lion but never saw it. The hike out from Tolcats Canyon was hot and miserable like it always is this time of year. After finishing up, we headed to the Porcupine for some celebratory nachos and a beer.
Parking lot nearly full at 6:30 am
The Mount Olympus shadow.
Hike participants. I see the Forest Service still hasn't replace the wilderness sign.
Not a big wildflower hike, but these penstemons were nice - mostly wild roses, horsemint
and ninebark on this hike
A spotted towhee on Suicide Hill. We saw five California doves around 7600 feet in elevation along the trail. I have never seen
doves that high up before.
Ninebark
Diamond Clarkia
Hawksbeard?
Rocky trail
Horsemint
Chukar up on top of the ridge
Broads Fork Twin Peaks and Sunrise Peak, seen from the saddle
Chilin' at the saddle
Stonecrop
Wild roses
One of the scramble sections just off the saddle
Scrambling
Groundsel
Hugh II scrambling
Made it to the summit
Grandeur Peak
Summit shot
Hey, somebody is over on the north summit. We watched this guy descend off the north summit and make his way over to us on
the south summit. Gotta be some butt puckering coming off of the north summit in our direction.
Zoomed in on the north summit after the hiker descended
Making his way off the north summit
Last drop to the saddle
Making his @Bob move across a dead log
The Pfeifferhorn
More Broads Fork
This is the guy that crossed over from the north summit. We chatted with him for a few minutes. He said he was contemplating
finishing Wildcat Ridge all the way to Gobblers Knob. I told him that would be a hell of a day. He's texting Hugh II some shots he
took on his way over to the south summit.
That is Scatman himself on the south summit, just to the right of Broads Fork Twin Peaks
Butterfly on our way down
Sego Lilly
The workhorses for this hike - Canon EOS 7D, a Canon PowerShot SD450, and a Fujifilm XP waterproof camera.
Almost no cars left in the lot when ae arrived back at the trailhead
And on to the Porcupine. You can just make out the summit of Mount Olympus behind the sign in the second shot
Hungry?
You better believe it!
Polygamy Porter in hand.The Mount Olympus of nachos!
The End.
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