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| Hiking | 7.94 Miles |
3,567 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.94 Miles | 6 Hrs 34 Mns | | 1.41 mph |
| 3,567 ft AEG | 56 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | It was a little chilly at 10kft when we pulled up to set up camp a short distance from the trailhead, so we descended to about 8500 and found a nice spot in a grove of aspens. In the morning we made the quick trip back up the road and at the crack of 10 we hit the trail.
Always well prepared, I had no idea there was actually a trail to Tuk, which was a nice surprise. Technically the trail ends at the ridge about 600 feet below the summit, but I think most people who make the ascent probably also take on the steep talus to the summit.
While the trail starts out nice enough, you don't bag many peaks without knocking off some elevation gain and this one makes some solid work though a bunch of oxygen destroying switchbacks. When we reached the ridge, we saw another hiker making a descent that looked precarious at best. He had trouble keeping his footing and several times we heard small rockslides that he triggered. Suddenly I wasn't particularly excited about making this summit! After a break, the hiker reached us and we chatted a bit to realize he was a skier and much prefers this famous winter route over the comfort of snow cover.
We headed up and while there are some signs of regular use/routes, it is a freeforall of steepness. Eventually the grade moderates and the summit is large and flat. The views from here across the Gold Basin, the other peaks of the La Sals, and down across Moab and the red rock canyonlands of southeast Utah are as impressive as you can imagine.
Our plan was to drop off Tuk and traverse across the ridgeline to Peale, the highpoint of the range at 12,721. The low point between the two drops about 1000 feet and while the route looked mostly pleasant there's one crazy looking crux that I wasn't really sure there was a way through. As we approached it, I tried to find a route mostly straight up the ridge, but the climbing got a little sketchy and the exposure got to a point that I decided to descend again and took a traversing route that climbed up a loose chute back up to the ridge. This was a much better option!
From this spot the ridge swings around to the south where it meets the main drainage that makes the route we would descend. This is also where hikers who are only hiking Peale get to the ridge. From this point, there's a pretty good route cut through the talus as it swings around a false summit before making the final push to the true high point. Here we also passed the only other hikers on our day, a group that included a strong dog and a guy from Flagstaff.
We had fantastic weather with remarkably clear skies given the smoke across the west, and enjoyed a short break on the summit before making our way down. Perhaps aided by the elevation, amount of climbing, distance covered, and difficult terrain, I found the descent in the drainage to be absolute misery. Ascending via this route would also be awful in my opinion. It's just a miserable, steep, bouldery, and screeish mess until reaching the lower elevations where it moderates a bit and turns into pleasant alpine forest. But the top 2000 feet were not my favorite, and though a longer distance, I'd consider returning across the ridge to descend via the Tuk trail and switchbacks if I were to do this one again.
The La Sals are a range that I've always looked at while driving the 191 through eastern Utah (especially in winter!) so it was nice to finally make the trip to familiarize myself with it up close. |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
