something new

We think that since we hike so much that we're running out of trails around here.  That is patently untrue.  We have barely scratched the surface out in the Uintas and even along the Wasatch Front/Back, there are a ton of trails we haven't gotten to yet.  Case in point: on Sunday, we started above Brighton, tromped around the top of Park City Mountain Resort and ended up walking up, over and down Guardsman Pass.  All new!

Old mines all over the place

There are a couple of big righthand switchbacks when you drive up to Guardsman Pass from the Big Cottonwood Canyon side.  The second one is a trailhead that we've never explored, despite there always being lots of cars (mostly trucks or vehicles with bike racks) lining the road.  This was where we started, parking down the road a ways where parking was easier.  There were at least eight trucks at that trailhead when we got there (8:30ish) but we didn't see any people as we headed up the evergreen-lined jeep road, only one big mule deer doe who bounded away at the sight of us, plus numerous squirrels scolding us from the trees.  The road climbed steadily, crossing stands of trees and mountain meadows, before topping out at a pass.  To our left, the jeep road continued on with trail signs indicating the way to the Wasatch Crest trail; to our right, the trail climbed steeply up a ridge in the direction of Guardsman Pass; straight ahead, a rougher jeep road descended into Park City Mountain Resort.  This was Jupiter Bowl spread out in front of us and we could see the Jupiter double chair off to our right.

That's Solitude behind me

At the Pinecone Ridge patrol shack

We didn't really have a plan, just to end up at Guardsman Pass so we could walk downhill back to the truck, so we went left, where the jeep road climbed steeply and steadily.  We met one trail runner, heading down, but otherwise had the place to ourselves.  Once we got to the ridgeline, we turned back (south-east-ish), following the ridge past a bunch of old mines.  We topped out above PCMR's Pinecone Ridge, then dropped down to the patrol shack there.  A faint road continued down the ridge on the Park City side and we kept on that, with Park City and PCMR spread out before us and Deer Valley further out to our right, and being scolded by jays who seemed to think we were invaded their territory.  Before descending too deeply into PCMR, the road doubled back and we headed back the way we came, but well below Pinecone Ridge.  The road passed through wildflower fields and aspen groves before beginning to climb, and eventually brought us back to the original pass.

Faint road down Pinecone Ridge

Now we really started up, climbing a steep and loose trail up the ridge above Scott's Bowl.  There were MTB tracks here but even H declared that he would never try to ride his bike on this trail.  This was the only place where it was really hot, and I struggled a little bit, definitely feeling some upper respiratory limitations with my lingering cold.  When we got to the top, we could see a bunch of MTBers below us, coming from Guardsman Pass.  The trail forked here: we could go the way the MTBers were coming from or we could take the path less-traveled and climb up to the top of the Jupiter chair.  We went up.

Jupiter chair

We paused for snacks and sunscreen reapplication at the patrol shack at the top of the Jupiter chair (10,026 feet), then continued out along the ridge to Jupiter Peak (9,998 feet).  There is a ton of skiable terrain out there but it's tough to get to: you have to hike from either the Jupiter chair or up from the McConkey chair; we haven't skied it yet - there wasn't enough snow the one time we skied PCMR - but it looks like it would be worth the effort.  There were a couple of guys setting up to go parasailing from Jupiter Peak.  We didn't get to see them launch but did see them later, from down below when we were having post-hike beers.  We did get to see a small hawk, perched on a ski boundary pole, who let us get pretty close before winging away.

Looking across at where we were

from Jupiter Peak

After retracing our steps to the ridge's low point, we turned left onto a trail that descended the hillside quickly, crossing through still-impressive wildflowers to come out onto the Guardsman Pass road.  From there, it was a quick climb up the road to Guardsman Pass, and then down the other side into Big Cottonwood Canyon.  We could see a trail in the drainage below us, following the power lines, but we weren't able to figure out how to get down to it and had to keep to the road instead.  We got back to the truck soon enough and made a beeline for Brighton where we camped out in the shade for beers, sandwiches, people-watching and hike recapping.   General consensus: that was a terrific hike - scenic and amazingly secluded - and it opened up a bunch more new trails for us to explore in upper PCMR.

Hike stats: 8.29 miles with 2,000 feet of climbing; 3:56 total time with 3:02 hiking time/2.7 moving average.