Mount Raymond Hike - Wasatch Mountains - Utah

 

MOUNT RAYMOND – WASATCH MOUNTAINS, UTAH

“It is not the Mountain we conquer, but Ourselves”

Sir Edmund Hillary

I have traveled to all 50 States and many different countries but every time I return to Utah I thank God for the blessing and privilege I have to live in this amazing State. One of the main reasons my family and I will never leave is the incredible natural beauty that is found in every corner of Utah. Salt Lake City in particular is blessed with a fantastic, rugged, and exposed view of the Wasatch Mountains that rise abruptly from the valley floor to over 11,000 feet. Over the last 23 years my wife and I have hiked, snow shoed or skied in the Wasatch Mountains several times each month and even though we have hiked some trails a dozen times, each time we go, it is as wonderful, exciting and new as the first time.

Still some gold left of the Aspens near Circle All Peak - JDJ Photo

This last weekend was no different. Due to the first winter storm, we missed the peak fall colors in the Wasatch so we were feeling a sense of urgency to get up there, bag a peak and see what leaves were left on the Aspen, Gambel Oak, Rocky Mountain Maple and Cottonwoods. I wanted to do a challenging hike but due to the fresh snow on the higher peaks, we decided to play it safe and hike a peak with less exposure. Mount Raymond in Big Cottonwood Canyon is the peak we set our sights on. To hike Mount Raymond, the most popular route is to follow the Butler Fork Trail which is located 8.2 miles up the canyon. There is a small parking area on the north / left side of the road there.  There is a signboard there with a map of the area that shows trails and distances. The trail heads north from the parking area up a narrow, densely forested canyon that has a perennial stream in it. After a short distance you will cross this stream on some logs to the east side of the creek and then the trail gets down to business and climbs a very steep grade for about 500 meters and takes you high above the creek. The trail levels off from there and in a in the pines you will see a sign stating you are at the boundary of the Mount Olympus Wilderness area. Continuing past that sign, the trail crosses the creek on a footbridge and then meanders up the canyon to a trail junction in a stand of Aspen. If you follow the right-hand fork of this

10,241 foot Mount Raymond rises above a giant aspen stand in Mill A Basin - JDJ Photo

trail, it will take you to Dog Lake in about 2.5 miles. We turned left and followed the trail that pointed to Mill A Basin up the drainage to the base of the mountain and then the trail started a series of switch backs up through some large stands of aspen to the top of the ridge. The aspens in this area were covered with brilliant gold leaves and as the wind blew, swirls of fluttering leaves filled the air and covered the trail and it seemed for a few moments it was snowing gold. At the top of the ridge, a trail branches off to the south. This side spur takes you over to the top of Circle All peak which is a worthy destination in and of itself if you don’t have time to bag a higher peak because the climb up to this point was some serious work. We passed by the Circle All peak spur and headed north along the top of the ridge for several hundred meters over to the base of Gobbler’s Knob where the trail comes to a “T” where you must make a decision. If you turn right, you will reach the Dog Lake area in about 2.5 miles.  For Mount Raymond, you turn left and begin what I call the “Long Walk.” This portion of the trail skirts the base of 10,242-foot Gobbler’s Knob. It is relatively level and can’t be more than ¾ of a mile but it seems like it takes forever. The good thing about this part though is that you have the summit of Mount Raymond framed above Mill A Basin in the foreground so you can see your target all along the way. This is probably one of the best fall color views the State of Utah has to offer as when the colors are at their peak, the entire basin is ablaze with gold, orange and red leaves. Unfortunately, the storm from the last week took off a lot of the leaves but there was still some good color. Similarly, the views of the higher Wasatch Peaks to the south were superb along this stretch. 11,032-foot Monte Cristo Peak, The Sun Dial above Lake Blanche and the 11,330-foot Broads Fork Twin Peaks were all covered with a dusting of fresh snow. The sunlight coming in and out of the clouds made these peaks appear almost silver rising above the evergreens and multicolored fall trees. While trudging along this stretch I noticed

Sub Alpine Fir, Grandeur Peak on the right and Salt Lake City in distant Center from
Mount Raymond - JDJ Photo

a large avalanche path far below where mature aspen trees were broken off like match sticks. The power of the snow slide that came down off of Mount Raymond to flatten these trees must have been tremendous. At the end of the long walk you pass through a small stand of evergreen trees that seems so lonely in the ocean of Aspens and then you come to another trail junction. The left hand fork takes you through Mill A Basin and around the south face of Mount Raymond. We took the right fork and followed that trail up to 9,200 foot Baker Pass which is the saddle between Mount Raymond to the West and Gobbler’s Knob to the East. For a moment I thought about hiding my heavy pack in some bushes so it wouldn’t encumber me on the next gnarly part of the hike up to the summit of Raymond but like a stubborn mule I kept it on. It had been several years since we climbed Mount Raymond and I figured that since we were on a south facing slope heading up, the snow would be melted off. Turns out, much of the so called trail up from the pass is on the north facing side and it was covered in 2-4 inches of snow. We stood in the pass for a few minutes deciding if we should attempt the peak with some snow on it and then we agreed to head up so we pushed on. From Baker pass up to the peak you gain 1,000 feet in elevation in a short distance. Like a fool, I left our shoe spikes at the house because I didn’t think there would be snow. Without spikes, this ascent was treacherous to say the least. I did however have our hiking gloves and they turned out to be the saving grace. There were areas on this ascent where one wrong move or slip on the snow would send you tumbling to your demise hundreds of feet down into Millcreek Canyon. We made it up about 600 feet across some sketchy snow and then we came to what I

Hiker scaling what I call the "Shark Fin". Notice how vertical the large tree is on the left. 
JDJ Photo

call the Shark Fin. The trail disappears at the base of the Shark Fin which is a precariously slanted slab of rock that forms the top of the ridge and you have to climb right up and over it. Again at this point we were filled with self-doubt but I thought to myself – “We can do hard things” and so we agreed to continue on. We scaled the knife edge of the fin and descended the other side and then carefully inched our way up to the summit thanking our lucky stars that we made it ok. Not withstanding the wicked adrenaline rush we experienced caused by lack of snow spikes, the view from the top of the peak was outstanding. The wind was perfectly calm and the sun was out of the clouds and the splendor of the high Wasatch Mountains was on panoramic display. The top of Mount Raymond is a very small place but we found a few rocks to sit on, broke out our lunch and enjoyed the view. Before we headed down, we said a quick prayer for safe passage. On the way down we used extreme caution and thankfully there were

Avalanche Path below Mount Raymond has broken off the Aspen like match sticks. 
JDJ Photo

good hand holds on the rocks and thick evergreen branches here and there we used for stabilization. It took quite a while to get down to Baker Pass but once we made it to that point, we were home free. The round-trip distance for this hike was 7.5 miles and it should be considered difficult for most hikers as it is pretty long and there is some challenging scrambling up to the peak. If you are not interested scaling the shark fin and scrambling up Raymond, you can hike up to the summit of Gobblers Knob from Baker Pass. It is a steep ascent but it is more straight forward and simple compared to Raymond. Mount Raymond is a fantastic peak that is a worthy challenge for any hiker. If you plan on climbing it, make sure you check the weather. After my experience it is my high recommendation that you avoid this peak if there is any snow on it unless you have spikes and you are an experienced climber. Climbing something like Mount Raymond teaches you something about yourself. For me it was the fact that even though we are getting older, we still have some gas left in the tank. I also learned that I had better always have my snow spikes in my pack in October in Utah no matter how the mountains look from the valley.

11.330 foot Broads Fork Twin Peaks as seen from Mount Raymond Trail
JDJ Photo

Looking down into Mill A Basin from the Summit of Mount Raymond
JDJ Photo