alta tour

Realizing that it had been a couple of months since we'd been up to Alta, H and I decided to hike up there on Sunday.  We got up there a little before 9 a.m., parking in the nearly-deserted Wildcat parking lot.  It was a gorgeous morning - sunny and cool and as clear skies as we've seen in weeks.  We met local rescue dog Luna (and her person) as we walked along the transfer tow, waved to the harmonica-playing lifty at the Sunnyside and passed a total of four hikers as we went up the main hiking trail through Albion basin.  Other than that, we had the place to ourselves.

Starting to look like fall in Albion Basin

At the signpost, we turned onto the Germania Pass trail (access road), which goes under the Sugarloaf lift and switchbacks up lower East Greeley.  This road is a grind, no doubt about it. We saw MTB tracks but I wouldn't like to attempt it, as loose and steep as it is.

Access road under Glitch and Glatch

We had lots of opportunity to stop and catch our breath, however, because the local fauna was out in force for us to watch.  We saw four deer, all bucks, and one of them was the biggest mule deer we've ever seen.  There were quite a few marmots and pikas scurrying around the rockfalls, whistling and cheeping at us.  We warned the pikas to be careful, though, as there were many, many hawks in the area, wheeling overhead, sharp eyes seeking out small and furry creatures.  We saw one hawk dive to the earth and come up with a tiny critter struggling in its talons; as we watched, the hawk dropped its prey and then caught it again, mid-air, before flying to a dead tree for breakfast.

These bucks were very wary of us

We came around the basin below Keyhole and continued up the EBT, more hawks circling overhead and one moose cow unconcernedly gazing at us from her shady spot in the trees.  A trail runner passed us coming off Sugarloaf just as we started up.  It's been a couple of years since we've summited Sugarloaf and, in the meantime, I'd forgotten how sketchy the trail is in spots: it's quite steep and the footing is loose and slippery.

Keep on walking, humans

Going up isn't too bad - and when we got to the top, the views were fantastic, as they always are - but coming back down, I did a lot of side-stepping, hoping to keep upright on my feet.  It seemed like it took forever to get down but it was only seventeen minutes, three minutes longer than the ascent - which tells you how steep it is.

Sugarloaf summit with Snowbird in the background

Once down, we walked across the saddle and started climbing Baldy.  After the short scramble (loose in spots), we made the ridge and hoofed it to the summit.  Even after all the hiking we've been doing, I still find myself breathing heavy up above 10,500 feet. 

Scramble on up

We went down the other side, Baldy shoulder, which we had done for the first time about a year ago.  And again, I had completely forgotten how steep and loose the trail was down off the top.  My quads would pay for it the next day but every step was down and we were at the top of the Wildcat lift sooner than I would have expected.

View of Collins Gulch access road from Baldy

After that, there was nothing to do but follow the access road down through Collins Gulch and back to Wildcat base.  There were a few more cars there - and we saw Charles Keller and his wife returning from their own Alta hike - but it was still pretty quiet.  So we watched the hawks, waved to Alta employees, drank some beers and just enjoyed the afternoon.

Hike stats:  7.75 miles (one of the shortest all summer!); 3:12 and 2.4 m.p.h. (pretty slow on the steep downhills) / 4:31 and 1.7 m.p.h (and lots of looking around at critters); 2,850' climbing