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Month: October 2017

Up and Over the Cascade Saddle

Up and Over the Cascade Saddle

I live under the shadow of Cascade Mountain and one of my goals this year was to summit it. It is a long haul though – with a 5-7 mile approach to the saddle and then 3 miles up a trail-less ridgeline to the summit. That means a minimum of 16 miles roundtrip. With little water access, I was leaving this for the fall when the temps dropped. It looks like I waited too long though – or didn’t time it right.

Another history professor joined me for our morning start at Big Springs. About a mile up the Big Spring Hollow Trail we hit snow but it wasn’t bad – 2 inches max in the shady spots. We made it up the 7 miles to the saddle and the views were great. Unfortunately, the 1-2 inches of snow on the ridgeline made it pretty slick. All of the rocks that might turn ankles were slippery. Moreover, the main ridgeline was up in the clouds. We opted to call it a day with the saddle. Instead of going back down the east side, we dropped down into Rock Canyon. Gorgeous, but such a rough crummy trail in parts. It would be fine for hiking but annoying to run on.

Looking up towards the saddle from the Big Springs side.
At the Saddle with Stewart
Looking south towards Provo Peak
Fall Leaves on the Little Baldy Ridgeline

Fall Leaves on the Little Baldy Ridgeline

I have been wanting to summit the modest bump of Little Baldy (just south of Big Baldy in Utah County) for a while and have been eyeing the west ridge for the approach. Tim joined on this ill-advised adventure, but the fall leaves promised good views. Indeed, the colors were popping. We went up from Dry Canyon, the wound our way up to the bottom of the West ridge. It was mostly clear – a trail faded in and out but there wasn’t too much schwhack required…until we got to the first summit (there seem to be 2). There was a cairn on the western-most summit, but I think the true summit is just northeast of there. Unfortunately, everything between the two summits was a schwhack! After the taller NE summit, we found a trail, then lost it, and schwhacked over to the Great Western Trail, which I knew was close. From there bombed down to Trail 051, but missed an important turn in the twilight and had to do a bit of guesswork to work our way down to the BST and then back to Dry Canyon. In all, it was a great evening, even if our scratched up bloody legs stung something fierce in the shower!

Looking SW from just below Little Baldy
Cascade Mtn. from near Little Baldy