Virga overhead
So that is how I happened to wake up an hour before I usually do on a weekday morning, all so we could be hiking at 6:20 a.m. We parked at Snowbird's Entry 2 and walked up the Little Cottonwood Canyon Road to Alta, continuing along the dirt Summer Road for a little bit (and encountering Alta rush hour: two cars and a squirrel, all within the space of one minute) before turning off to the Albion Meadow trail. We saw a mule deer and a coyote but no moose. We didn't see any people either, other than the two bow hunters headed back to their car after a morning's scouting.
H at Sunset Pass
We paused for a snack at the top of Catherine's Pass. After that, we were very good about our calorie intake, stopping approximately every hour for more food. I had brought Payday bars, granola bars, dark chocolate, dried fruit, peanuts and raisins, plus Sour Patch Kids and some energy shots/bars. We were desperate for something salty by the time it was all over but we were able to keep our energy level in a good place, despite shredding the inside of our mouths with those darn Sour Patches and dried pineapple.
Alta Dry Fork is scenic
After Catherine's Pass, it was a short climb to Sunset Pass (where we saw two other hikers, the only other people we would see for about ten miles) before the long descent. Seriously - we lost a LOT of elevation, going down the Great Western Trail through Alta Dry Fork, then continuing to go down through aspen groves towards American Fork. We descended for over an hour and a half before turning and starting the climb towards Mineral Basin. The American Fork River that we had been able to rock-hop last summer was noticeably higher this year, and rather than risk wet feet for the second half of the hike, we took off our boots and socks and waded across barefoot. That water, coming out of the mountain as it does, was very cold - like early spring Maine ocean cold, like ice cream headache for your feet cold. But, after we'd dried off and put our boots back on, our feet felt great, rejuvenated for about a mile. I highly recommend a cold soak midway through a long hike!
Cliffs and meadows (and me)
We followed the rough road (dry-ish river bed, really) up to the bottom of Mineral Basin, where Snowbird's Hidden Peak, our finish line, loomed above us. We paused for one more snack - and this time I downed a vanilla energy shot which would give me a quick 400 calorie boost - and charged ahead. The climb up Mineral Basin is completely exposed but it wasn't as hot as it could have been, with a decent breeze cooling things off. H soon outpaced me but I didn't care: I was slow, stopping occasionally to admire a marmot or a pika or the still-impressive wildflowers, but I was steady and I was not bonking. We started to meet tourists with about a quarter of the way to go, clean people who had ridden the tram to the top. I smiled and said hello to them, but kept my head down and kept grinding my way to the top. I joined H there just a few minutes before 1 p.m., just under seven hours after we started hiking.
Cold!
The Snowbird tram is free if you get on it at the top and we gladly availed ourselves of that option; after 14+ miles, my knees and back were grateful for not having to hike back down to the cold beer waiting for us at the car. Still, we were in better shape than we had been last summer: no blisters or hot spots, no afternoon naps, and enough energy that evening to walk to the local pizza place for veggie 'za and a toast to an anniversary well-celebrated.
Just gotta get up there
Hike stats: 14.58 miles walked (16.33 miles total, including the tram ride down); 5 hrs 21 minutes moving/3.1 m.p.h. (6 hours 48 minutes total/2.4 m.p.h. overall); 5,108' elevation gain.
Redemption!
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