To my knowledge, there are 7 routes to summit Lone Peak from a valley floor, starting from the north: Bells Canyon, Big Willow, Trail of the Eagle, Cherry Canyon, Draper Ridge, Jacob's Ladder, and The Hamongogs. There are likely 70 routes total depending on how creative you are and how willing you are to bushwhack, but these are the routes I know of based on my reading of the maps.
Over the years on that mountain, I have either ascended or descended Lone Peak summit via 5 of these 7 routes. The missing trails for me had always been Big Willow and Jacobs Ladder. Both of these trails have been on my mind for some time now. As I have spoken in prior blogs, I have always enjoyed the concept of a peak looper. I love seeing new terrain on the "down" compared to what you see on the "up." I also enjoy having to run back to the car when you really don't want to run anymore, which usually happens at the end of each and every peak looper. The essence of endurance running is going when your body doesn't want to go any more. It becomes less of a physical challenge and more of a mental challenge at that point. What mental tools do you have at your disposal when you reach this point? That is a personal question with only personal answers...
Throughout this long and hot summer, I had been visualizing a Lone Peak Looper that would allow me to pick off the final 2 trails I still needed to pick off. The plan was to ascend Big Willow, descend Jacob's Ladder, and then run back to the Big Willow trailhead along good old Bonneville Shoreline.
I have been doing recon up Big Willow this summer. I love how remote this canyon is. I can count on one hand how many people I've seen up there from a few different beta runs. The rail is sparse, the vegetation is thick, and getting over into the cirque is the trickiest part of all.
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| The Spires in Lower Big Willow. |
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| A smokey morning due to California's wildfires. |
In the past, I had missed the Big Willow Cirque and just went out to the top of the ridge line. This time however, I forced myself south at the 2/3 mark up the canyon and finally found myself in the boulder-strewn cirque.
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| One of the prettiest dawns I've had in a while! |
I have often looked up at the Big Willow Cirque from the valley floor in the Sandy area. It was amazing to imagine what it looks like no longer and see it "up close and personal." I kept thinking how amazing this area would be especially in the winter with a base of 12' of snow and 2' of fresh powder on top (assuming you could get to that area after a long slog with your skis from the valley floor). Needless to say, I saw a lot of skiable terrain up here. My main target was of course The Notch. Based on the research I had done, if I could get into this natural chute, it would provide a natural ramp to the ridge line. Once along the ridge line, one could easily walk up toward the Lone Peak shoulder, which then leads to the summit. This chute and surrounding granite cliffs became larger and larger, steeper and steeper, prettier and prettier, for me as I zeroed in on it. I became enamored with this natural feature...
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| Close... |
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| Closer... |
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| From the top of The Notch, looking back down across the boulder junkyard. |
Once on the ridge and re-fueled, I took the ridge directly south. There were a couple of moves that were somewhat exposed, but nothing too scary, just enough to really wake you up. I couldn't believe how flat the northern shoulder turned out to be once on top of that short, but intense, ridge scramble.
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| On to Lone Peak |
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| Flat enough to build a house on up at this elevation - incredible. |
I wondered then and wonder now why the WURL requires the home-stretch descent to go through Big Willow. I can't imagine how tricky that ridge down to the Notch would be with major leg muscle fatigue and sleep deprivation, and at night (most likely). Why not take a safer route down from Lone Peak, like Cherry Canyon? Is that not as "hard core" as a descent through the faint trails of Big Willow? Is it not pure enough to play it safe at this point in the WURL? Who are the WURL route police anyways?
But I digress...
I was relieved to find the traditional trail on the shoulder again, even though it meant immediately running into more people on the trail. It was nice being all alone in Big Willow for so long. And I could tell a few of the people were wondering which way I came from and why I looked much more sweaty than they did. :)
The Lone Peak Summit never disappoints. Unique. Sheer. Vast. Exposed. Gorgeous. Although on this particular day it actually wasn't that gorgeous because of wildfire smoke. Thank you, California. I switched photos with a couple of shirtless and nameless teenage punks up there. I never tire of this summit. It's views are different every time.
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| My shirtless teenage friends, with the summit marker in the foreground. |
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| Misty mountains in all directions. |
And now for the descent, after one final view of the top.
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| The Granite Cathedral that is The Lone Peak Cirque. |
I had been down Cherry Canyon many times before, but I had never taken the Jacobs Ladder trail, nor did I know where that cut-off exactly was. I was following some cairns that were leading me due southwest. Although going downhill felt nice on the legs, I soon realized that I was off the trail and nowhere near the cut-off to Jacobs Ladder. So I forced myself out of some gully I was in and back into the valley where I re-encountered the Cherry Canyon trail. What relief. Soon afterwards, I ran into the Jacobs Ladder cut-off.
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| Absent any sign, I assume left is Jacobs Ladder and right is Cherry Canyon. |
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| Luckily, I assumed correctly. |
Jacobs Ladder should be called Jacobs Luge Run. It is so steep, direct, and loose that many stretches of the run down that trail were a controlled, but chaotic, downhill run-fall. The main words to describe this section are: dust, horseflies, and hot. The speed of elevation change from the high plateau to the lower parking lot via Jacobs Luge is actually pretty amazing. It reminds me a bit of the Mount Olympus Trail, which also has no switchbacks and is a very direct route.
I eventually came to a fork in the trail called Peakview Trail. I assumed it would lead out to the Jacob's Ladder parking lot. That harmless assumption was very off and had some tough consequences. I wandered further south into new trails I had never heard of before, called Hoof and Boot and Porcupine. I ultimately added a few miles of hot and dusty trail through this stretch that I really hadn't planned on that really slowed me down. This was the toughest stretch of the day emotionally and mentally for me for sure. I suppose this is an inevitable part of the experience of doing a new looper alone, and with no map. I do appreciate the mountain biker who eventually told me how to get back to the Jacobs Ladder parking area.
Once I came to the new Jacobs Ladder parking lot and trailhead area, what incredible relief! Now I was back in familiar terrain, which is always a nice confidence-builder. I shuffled my way down the road to Orson Smith Trailhead where I re-watered myself. Then I shuffled on down some familiar sites along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and back to the car at the Big Willow Parking Lot. It was a hot, smokey, and challenging run. Certainly there are bigger loopers around and through Lone Peak, but none as diverse and pretty as what I'm calling My Lone Peak Mega-Looper. No two stretches of trail were the same here.
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| Ralph's Loop and Bridge |
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| I've always wondered why they made this sign so fancy. |
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| And these stairs. |
I then
