DESTINATION Davis and Morgan Counties - Thurston Peak 1 Photoset
2014-09-25 | |
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| Hiking | 8.90 Miles |
4,880 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.90 Miles | 6 Hrs 57 Mns | | 1.95 mph |
| 4,880 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 23 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Hit the trail around 11, I think. Took a wrong turn but eventually got back on track and headed up the consistently steep trail. A lot of the trail is in chaparral, AKA my least favorable life-zone. It wasn't bad near the beginning, but it's encroaching in on the trail near the top which was weird after hearing about the rattlesnakes in the area. The only upside is that it scratched the mosquito bites on my legs for me.
Around 8,600' the overgrown trail starts to fade into a sea of vegetation. On the way up I was convinced there wasn't a trail at all. There were yellow ribbons tied to the bushes, but they were few and far between and very difficult to find because of all of the yellow leaves. I appreciate the effort, but I'd suggest a different color next time. Trying to follow the GPS track didn't seem to yield any easier results so I finally gave up and just headed straight up the last hundred feet to the ridge where I found a solid trail. I followed it until there were rocks laying over it, as if to say it wasn't the right one (in retrospect, it was probably a cairn that had fallen over). My GPS trace agreed and I continued to follow the ridgeline. The ridgeline was similar to the stuff I just went through before finding the trail. Just more brush and contouring. Higher on the ridge, I could now see that the trail I chose to skip continued until it was just beneath Thurston. Alright, let's just get through this crap and get on the peak, shall we?
I finally made it, but not without having to empty my shoes and pull stuff out of my socks a couple times. It felt good to know there was essentially one small stretch of pumpkin left on the way down. The views up and down the spine of the Wasatch Front were off the hook. I could see Willard Peak to the north and Antelope Island to the west. I'd describe the other directions but I don't know the names of the peaks/ranges. I opened a bag of Ramen for a quick snack, drank a little water (a liter and a half left out of the 4 I started with), and began the trip down.
I dropped down directly west on Thurston's ridge so I could meet up with the trail I saw earlier. It was going well until I stepped on a plant that sent pieces of itself flying into the air. One flew into my eye and my first instinct was to rub the eye. I used some eye drops I've had in my first aid kit since I got it which was helpful. It was still burning so I took my signal mirror and tried to see if there was anything there, but there wasn't. It was at this time that I remembered I just had Ramen and that I had rubbed the seasoning directly into my eye. Good stuff.  With some blurry vision, I jumped on the trail and continued on.
At the end of the trail, I found a cairn and a much more defined route through all of the brush. The ribbons were lining up and finally close enough to be visible through the all of the leaves. Then I lost the trail again.  At least it was downhill this time. Had one last stop to empty the shoes and clear out the socks and then it was smooth sailing back to the car.
Time to buy some gaiters. |
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