Lone Peak 7-3-2010

3:4o a.m., the alarm goes off.

Dean is so excited to hike Lone Peak. 11253 feet in elevation. 6500 foot elevation gain. Dean had done his homework, and had a plan. Get to the trailhead at 4:30 a.m., from the start of the Jacob's Ladder trail to the summit should take us 6 hours, and we had about an hour's hike to get to Jacob's Ladder. We packed our packs the night before, and were ready for the 14 hours of hiking we had ahead of us.

Lone Peak is the peak in the center of the photo above. Dean has a friend that has done this hike many times. We got his advice about which route to take. He suggested starting at the trail head right by the Draper Temple.

We actually got started at 4:45 a.m. Braden and Dean before the sun has come up, with the Draper temple in the background.

There is a picture that should go here, but at the time, it was a moment we really wanted to forget. We had been hiking for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and we came upon a parking lot full of cars! Apparently you can drive to the trail head of Jacob's ladder! Would have been nice to know. Basically what that meant is that we added 2 1/2 hours to an already really long hike, that wasn't really necessary. Oh well, as far as the marathon training schedule we are on, we were supposed to be doing a long run today, so adding a couple miles to our hike would just give us that much more exercise, right?

Continuing on, we saw lots of wild life. This sage grouse was demanding our attention, I'm sure trying to distract us from it's young. We also saw some sort of wolf or coyote, a deer, mountain goats, tons of birds, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, lizards, and a snake.

Dean and Ej, just before the sun came up.

This is a few hours into the hike. Starting to see some awesome views.


For some strange reason, Braden and Dean really got a kick out of my outfit. (Doesn't take much to entertain those two, especially as we got to higher altitude and the air got thinner!) I got a little chilled, so I put my long sleeved shirt on, not bothering to turn it right side out, or taking off my back pack and camera case. And the socks on my freezing cold hands just completed the look, don't ya think?

After the trail ends, these cairns are all the direction you have to the summit. Every once in a while we would find another one, but you really couldn't count on them.

This is one on of the few breaks "Sherpa Deaner" let us take. That is Utah Lake in the background. Been hiking about 5 hours at this point.

Sherpa Deaner with Lone Peak in the background. Braden throwing snowballs at me.

Sherpa Deaner.
I almost had to use my telephoto lens to catch a picture of him. He hikes a little faster than I do. I was just taking time to "smell the roses".

Sitting on a glacier, looking down on Utah County. So cool!

Braden, Dean and EJ, with our goal in the background. The peak on the far right of this photo is actually smaller than Lone Peak, but it's closer so it looks much larger. Of the two peaks in the center of the photo, Lone Peak is the one on the left.
(Apparently you have to wear tan shorts and a white shirt to go on this hike with us.)

This is the most comfortable rock I have ever tried to sleep on. Having only 3 hours sleep the night before, and having hiked for 5+ hours at this point, may have altered my perception of comfortable just a little, but I was really enjoying this moment!

A little more sunscreen for Braden.

The scenery up here was amazing, and it just kept getting better and better!

We are approaching the summit. If you look really close, there are people on the top. (or you can just take my word for it)

We made it!

Braden, Ej and Dean at the very top of Lone Peak! This picture was taken looking toward the east with Bells Canyon in the backgroud. Totally fake smile on Ej. We made it, but we had to go past two very dangerous areas to get there, and we still had to get past those spots (alive) on our way back.


This photo is looking off to the north at Twin Peaks. In the panoramic photo at the beginning of this blog, Twin Peaks in the mountain to the left of Lone Peak.

I hate this photo. Reminds me what a precarious position I was in! This is on the summit, just holding my camera over the edge to take this picture. Gives me butterflies just looking at it.

"Sherpa Deaner" at the summit of Lone Peak.

Braden taking it all in.

U.S. Geological marker on the top of Lone Peak.


Looking to the South. Timpanogos and Utah Lake in this photo.

Braden and Ej at 11253 ft. The top of Lone Peak.
Only took us 7 hours to get there.


Panoramic view of the Salt Lake Valley

Yeah, that's Braden on the top. Not a lot of wiggle room up there!

One happy Deaner!

Dean sending pictures to Mike, Manda and Caitlyn. "Wish you were here"!

Looking east to Bells canyon, and beyond.

I HATED this part! One slip and you're toast! There were two really dangerous overhangs to get to and from the summit. The other overhang was so terrifying that there was no safe place to stop and take a picture. All the rest of the hike was hard, but this was just plain dangerous.

This is another view of the summit, but from a little safer angle! Remember this photo? We are sitting on that little slanted rock in the photo above.

Braden and Dean trying to identify some of the surrounding peaks.

Finished with the dangerous, and awesome part of the hike, now to start the trek down. From all the reveiws of this hike, getting down is much harder than getting up. I'm going to have to agree with them!

Sliding down the glaciers on garbage bags accomplished 2 things. One, was a quick way of getting from point A to point B....sometimes.... sometimes we ended up at point C, but it was fun getting there. And two, it gave our feet a little bit of a break!

This would be one of the last times we could see Lone Peak until we had finished our hike. From our house we have a great view of it.....which in my opinion is a much more comfortable way to view it!

Continuing on down, no more snow. But now there was a new use for the garbage bag....Braden decided that he was Batman, and needed a cape!
That turned out to be a real blessing.
After 11 hours of hiking, my left knee decided that was enough. Pain struck! Along with the pain came a couple of falls, yep, all the way down. Not only was my knee hating it, so was my ego! I popped a few ibruprofen, and figured out that as long as I didn't bend my knee I could continue on. (I adopted Grandma Ellis style of going down stairs backwards to get down the really steep parts.) Braden, or should I say Batman, could see we had a problem, and decided he would RUN the rest of the way, get the car, and drive it up to the parking lot, thus saving me over an hour of hiking. After about an hour of painful hiking, and Dean giving me help on the really steep parts, my knee felt totally better, and I was able to continue on down pretty comfortably, well, as comfortable as can be expected after hiking for 14 hours!

Can I just tell you what a beautiful sight this was? Braden waiting for us at the parking lot, yes the one that we hated this morning, with an ice cold Dr. Pepper! I can't believe his legs let him run after all the hiking! Good job Braden!

This was one more awesome adventure that Dean had dragged us into!
Thanks Deaner