I put on my big boy shoes yesterday and headed to Mount Olympus to see if I could still make it to the top and back down again. I used to do Olympus two to four times a year, but as I've gotten older and my knees, feet and hips have begun to wear down, it has become more difficult for me. Even for the young of mind, body and soul Olympus is a tough hike.
It was forecast to reach 85 in the valley yesterday, so I got up early and took advantage of the shade of the mountain so that I wouldn't have to deal with the sun until I reached the saddle. So going up wasn't so bad, but the return trip back down was not only hot, but tough on the old knees too.
Once at the top, I took a lot of pictures and had an early lunch before heading back down. So buckle up, you're getting the full Monty on this one.
Review Image:
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Overview Map
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Information sign at the trailhead - I hit the trail at 5:42 am
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Pete's Rock. This rock used to be used by the Wasatch Mountain Club back in the day off Wasatch Boulevard for beginning climbers
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Rock to the south of Pete's. I'm not sure if it has a name or not.
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Wasatch beardtounge
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On the first few switchbacks, typical of the trail to Tolecats Canyon
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Thistle
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Balkan Toadflax
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Northern sweetvetch
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Broadsfork Twin Peaks peaking around the corner
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This is where the Mount Olympus Trail intersects with the Shoreline Trail that leads to Hueghs Canyon, or as I like to say,
"Hugh's Canyon"
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Sunrise on the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine ( I think they may call it Rio Tinto now)
Bingham Fight Song
Bingham sons and daughters
Like the mighty waters
Roll along to victory
Tides of Warriors greet us
With their teams to beat us
But we’ll fight for victory.
Onward, onward team against the foe
Forward, forward our honored banners go.
All our foes will tremble
As our teams assemble,
On, on, on to victory - Victory!
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Ragged mule-ears
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Sunrise on Lone Peak
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I never noticed this before - an arch near the trail
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A ladybug on some common yarrow
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Taper-tip onion
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Phacelia
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Rounding the ridge into Tolecats Canyon
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Selfie
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Millipede crossing the trail
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Blister Hill awaits
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Small pour off in Tolcats
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Miners lettuce by the stream in Tolecats
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The beginning of Blister Hill
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Ninebark blooming along the trail on Blister Hill
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On the switchbacks up Blister Hill
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View down in to Tolecats Canyon
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Can you see the chuckar?
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At the top of Blister Hill comes this
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And this
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Western wallflower
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Entering the unnamed canyon to the south of Tolecats
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What lies ahead, stair-stepping up between the west ridge of Olympus and the arete to the south
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Section of nice trail before the nastiness
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Woodland star
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Chokecherry
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Lorquin's Admiral
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Lord have mercy! Let the stair-stepping begin.
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Am I tired yet?
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Good view of the west ridge of Olympus with the aspens beginning to get their leaves
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My first two glacier lilies of the year, and the only two I saw on this hike
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One of two shark fins along the west ridge
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Caterpillars
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The trail begins to ease up right before the saddle
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Looking up at the first scramble section to get to the summit
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Viewed from the saddle, (L-R) Dromedary, Sunrise (O'Sullivan) and Broads Fork Twin Peaks to the south across Big Cottonwood Canyon
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North and South Thunder Mountains, and Lone Peak
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All together
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The workhorse on this hike was the Canon EOS 5D Mark III
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Let the scrambling begin
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Waiting for folks above me on the first scramble section
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Looking back towards the Salt Lake Valley at the top of the first scramble section.
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Lobeleaf groundsel
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Making my way between the two scramble sections
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Second scramble section
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For some reason, this dog did not like me. Maybe it was the kilt?
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Upper portions of the second scramble section
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The top is within reach!
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View of the north summit of Mount Olympus from the south summit
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Grandeur Peak, where I was last weekend
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Summit mailbox
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View to the west from the summit mailbox
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Olympic gold
@Rockskipper !
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Everybody was kung fu fighting!
Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact in was a little bit frightening
but they fought with expert timing
There were funky Scatman from funky Chinatown
He was chopping them up, he was chopping them down
It's an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part
From a feint into a slip and a kicking from the hip
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Busy up top while I took pictures and ate lunch
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My backup for this hike - the Canon PowerShot S60
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Lunch on Olympus consisted of carrots, broccoli, garlic wheat thins, plain almonds, pepperjack cheese and some Oreo minis. You
know, Kung Fu fighting makes you hungry.
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Fisheye time, from the northern end of the Oquirrhs to to Mount Aire and everything in between
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And Wildcat Ridge to Lone Peak
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A wide angle teaser for
@TractorDoc , Krakatoas buddy!
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These two ladies came and sat by me (poor girls) and one of them wanted to know if I was a professional photographer.
I
had to chuckle at that one.
Next up was the 70 - 300mm zoom lens
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Lone Peak
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North and South Thunder Mountains
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Summit of Grandeur - there are people on the summit
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Mount Superior, Monte Cristo and Sundial Peak (below the ridgeline)
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Can you make out the yurt on Church Fork Peak?
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Mount Aire
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Triangle Peak
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And summit. Supposedly the least visited summit in the Wasatch. Nobody is up there now.
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Perkins Peak, small bump towards the center on the Parleys ridgeline where I was a few weeks ago
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Looking down on Mount Wire (bald spot) to the north
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Th Avenues Twin Peaks (center of photo)
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And Ensign Peak (sunlit) at the northwest corner of the foothills
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For
@Ugly - The Pfeifferhorn and UPWOP (Unnamed Peak West of Pfiefferhorn)
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Broad Fork Twin Peaks
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The north summit of Mount Olympus
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A couple of small patches of snow down below on the saddle between the north and south summits of Olympus
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Heading back down
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Back at the first scramble section
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A quick break back at the saddle to get my hiking poles out of my pack
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Back on the stair-steps - my knees didn't like this one bit.
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Back at Tolecats Canyon
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Stopped for a snack back at the stream. This dog was thirsty.
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Looking back at Blister Hill
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The trail was radiating a lot of heat in the afternoon
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Trail is exposed the rest of the way
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Pete's rock below
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View of the trail from Pete's Rock
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Arriving at the parking lot
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The Jeep! I bet you were expecting the Subaru weren't you?
The Sube is in the shop getting the rack and pinion steering and
a tie rod worked on.
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I stopped by REI on my way home to get some Peak meals and a Tony Chocolonely. This is Mount Olympus from their parking lot,
zoomed in with the S60.
So today I'm trying to recover. My knees aren't bending too well and the rest of my body feels pretty stiff. It's supposed to get up to 88 degrees in the valley today, and since I don't have AC and my swamp cooler is not ready to go (that's next weekend's project), I'm cooling off with a big glass of ice tea.
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I'll be grilling burgers later on and having a refreshing Terminator Stout to wash my burger down. Hope everybody has a good Memorial Day.
The End.
