Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Hidden Peak and Mt. Baldy July 24, 2011

Looking across the canyon; from up on the Gadfly trail






I made the decision to spend July 24th hiking at Snowbird for a number of reasons. First, after each of my hikes I drank a beer at the Tram Club while gazing at Mt. Baldy. Second, I have skied at Snowbird but have never hiked at the resort. Last, I wanted to climb both Hidden Peak and Mt. Baldy. Snowbird is world renowned for its powder (annually the resort gets over 600 inches of snow) and most years visitors can ski well into June. This year the resort stayed open until July 4th and snow has stayed in the upper elevations through late July. During the summer, the resort has concerts, hiking trails and the tram operates daily to the top of Hidden Peak. Throughout the summer Snowbird hosts a number of mountain bike races and a 50k running race.


Today, I seek to "bag" Hidden Peak and Mt. Baldy by hiking the Dick Bass Highway to the Gad Valley Trail. The hike will be five miles one way and over 3,000 feet of elevation gain. This hike offered great views as I gained elevation but, it can be monotonous to hike on ski runs. Snowbird has beautiful terrain and it was great to see it during the summer. I have included a number of photos from my hike.
The tram below Hidden Peak


One of the tram cars on its way up
The trail in between Mt. Baldy and Hidden Peak


Beautiful Wasatch scenery

Looking west towards Twin Peaks


Twin Peaks from the top of Hidden Peak
Side of Mt. Baldy


Below the tram at Snowbird


Twin Peaks on the way up the mountain





Pine tree with blue sky


























































































































































































































































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