back to the 'bird

After our Round Valley ride on Saturday, we drove home, got cleaned up, threw some gear in a bag and headed back up to Snowbird.  We had booked a room at the Inn at Snowbird for one night, as a little mini-getaway.  Although we got up there early (around 1 p.m.), our room was ready for us: approximately 430 square feet with a Murphy bed, sitting area, kitchenette and good-sized bathroom, as well as a private balcony.  Since it was on the north side of the property, we had a view of the canyon road instead of the ski mountain, but even that "reduced" view gave us blue skies and cliffs far overhead.  The Inn does not have air-conditioning but since it was a private balcony, we just opened the slider wide and left it that way.

That's still a darn good view

Snowbird has Oktoberfest going on now (mid-August through mid-October, to take advantage of the lovely late summer/early fall weather).  We had remembered to bring our mugs this time so we spent the afternoon sipping overpriced beers - H actually got one for free when a drunk guy bought one for him after they bonded in line, talking about visiting the Guinness brewery and Jameson distillery in Dublin - listening to oompah music and people-watching.  And let me just say that there is world-class people-watching at Oktoberfest.

That's our little blue Subaru way down there

Water pouring out of the mountain through this crack

We hadn't had a lot to eat all day so after much traipsing through the Cliff Lodge, we finally found El Chanate (seriously, a couple more signs would be helpful).  We got seats on the deck, with a view of the tram going up and down, and munched on good chips and salsa while perusing the menu.  We each had margaritas, which were strong enough but not that flavorful; H had a veggie burrito; and I had the portobello fajitas.  The service was good and the food was fine although you can get much better Mexican down in the valley.  After dinner, we stopped by the Inn's swimming pool, floating around until it was invaded by other guests, and then called it a night.

That's where we're heading, knife edge (partial) on the left

Frickin' steep Gad Valley trail (I'm the dot in the middle)

After breakfast at the Forklift, we checked out, moved the car to the main parking lot and started our hike.  The plan was to go up the front face of the resort, then attempt bagging the summits of American Fork Twin Peaks.  We saw a couple of other people on the trails as we headed out on Dick Bass Highway, but once we crossed under the Wilbere Lift folks got scarce.  We turned onto the Gad Valley Trail, which is actually an access road, which just got steeper and looser the further up we went.  It was a slog, to be honest.  When we had hiked up Snowbird last October, we were on the Big Mountain trail, which is downhill MTB only in the summertime, and that was much more enjoyable.  Once we reached the upper bowl of Gad Valley, we got on the Regulator Johnson trail for the final push.

On the Regulator Johnson trail

We didn't linger at the top of Hidden Peak, instead going down the saddle past the top of the Little Cloud lift.  This is where you can pick up the unofficial "use" trail to American Fork Twin Peaks.  The research we did varied wildly, with the route being described as intermediate to not-for-the-faint-of-heart as you have to cross a narrow knife edge that drops off precipitously, do some scrambling and then make your way up a steep, exposed, loose-rock trail, with some light route-finding along the way.  Just before the knife edge began, we were able to stash our hiking poles under a tree, knowing we'd want both hands free.

A boulder portion of the knife edge

I'm just going to cut to the chase: we didn't make it.  My boots, which I've had since 2013, have no tread left.  They do okay on slick rock or dry boulders but are terrible on gravel.  Much of the first portion of the knife edge was boulder or slab but it also had a fair amount of sand and gravel on top of the rock and that made me very, very nervous.  For his part, H isn't a huge fan of heights and the drop-offs falling straight down on either side of the knife edge were intimidating.  The "trail" faded in and out but that wasn't a huge deal since the ridge was so very narrow that there wasn't much choice as to where we could even walk.  We got about halfway across before we decide to turn around, our unease overtaking our desire for the summit. (Here's a good description of the hike, although I do wish she'd talked a little about the descent with all that loose rock.)  We were a little disappointed that we hadn't finished what we'd set out to do - but we're already collecting alternate routes (from the Gad 2 chair here and here and from White Pine Lake here) and are determined to get those summits someday.  After I buy new boots.

That's the knife edge stretching across to the first Twin

Hike stats: 6.14 miles; 3 hours 11 minutes (2:04 moving); 3,000 feet of elevation