big john flat

Sunday morning started off clear, cool and sunny - and we were sure that any Crusher riders still in the area were shaking their heads and thinking, "Why couldn't we have had this weather for the race?"  We slept in (until 7:30!), packed up and headed down the canyon, just a little way to the Big John Flat Road (a/k/a FR123).  The tallest peak in the Tushar range - Delano Peak - is accessible from there and that was our goal.

Well, that's pretty

Starting out with a gentle bushwhack

We drove out on Big John Flat Road about 4.2 miles, a winding dirt road still in pretty good shape even after the weekend's deluges.  We got past the Big John Flat meadow campsites (and added them to our list for future stays) before we were confronted with some ruts and a small stream coming down the middle of the road.  Since we were in the car and not the truck, we opted to find a parking spot nearby and just walk the half mile to where the trail was supposed to start.

Old fence posts

That's as far as we got: summit-adjacent-ish

I should call it a "trail" because while there are several route options up Delano, there is no official trail.  We were planning on the Griffith Creek Route and the information we'd found instructed us to start from the creek and "bushwhack uphill [to] the grassy slopes," following the ridge up to the 12,169 foot summit.

Not convinced that we were friendly

The walking was pretty easy - mostly grass, a little rock and we even found a faint trail up on the ridge - but I was struggling mightily with the altitude.  I was very frustrated by this because I've gone higher before with no ill effects (Timpanogos is 11,752' and I've climbed that twice with no altitude issues).  In hindsight, I think I was dehydrated since I drank very little water during the day on Saturday.  As a result, I was very, very slow.  I'm sure I could have eventually made it but the clouds started building up around 11:30 a.m. and after the weather we had witnessed over the last couple of days, the last thing we wanted was to be out on a ridgeline in a storm.

He cleans up good post-hike

We retraced our steps and the descent went very quickly.  When we got back to the road, we spotted another trail that stayed protected in the woods so we walked it for a while, greeting the various range cows and calves who stared at us as we passed.  We got our mileage in, returned to the car for lunch and beers and then our Beaver weekend was over, with nothing left to do but head back to Salt Lake City.  I was (am) very disappointed with my hiking performance but will just have to let it go - until next time we volunteer for the Crusher and I can have another whack at bagging Delano Peak.

We'll be back!

Hike stats:  5.01 miles; 2:30 total time; 2.5 m.p.h. avg. hiking speed; 1,691' feet of climbing; 11,553' max. elevation