Box Elder Peak

For the last couple of years as I have gotten stronger and more adventurous I wanted to run/hike Box Elder Peak (some would say "bag" Box Elder).  I have tried a few times going up Dry Creek only to be denied by either lack of time or bad conditions.  Take for example last summer I was running up Dry Creek only have to turn back by the biggest rainstorm in 100 years to hit the Alpine area (remember all of the floods)  I was up there a couple of weeks ago only to run into waist deep snow.

So Monday my son JJ had some free time and we decided to get it done.  To assure that we would get to the top I decided to start from the AF Canyon side and the Granite Flats trail head.  There are a couple of different ways you can summit Box Elder.  We decided to go counter-clockwise.  So that meant we started on trail 043 - Deer Creek/Dry Creek trail.

View from trail head - Granite Flats

Since I was with my son I wasn't expecting to set any records on the ascent.  Nevertheless, we kept a pretty good hiking pace and were making our way to the top.  The area up AF canyon is just beautiful.  You can see a number of other peaks as you climb.  We also crossed a pretty cool rock garden (or what ever you call tons of rocks in one area).

JJ overlooking American Fork Canyon

At the top of the ridge we cut across trail #188 (can't remember the name).  This takes you pretty close to the final ridge assent to the top.  Cosmo was having a great time climbing and running around.

Close to the top of Trail 043 - Deer Creek/Dry Creek

The final piece is a pretty decent climb up the ridge. Nothing technical just a little bit of snow and some scrambling.  The weather around us was quickly changing as the cold front set in.  To the south of us (Timp) and the north (Lone Peak) it was snowing pretty good.  We were lucky.

Climbing the final ridge to the summit

Just under 6 miles to get to the top.  It wasn't a beautiful day but I'll take cool weather over the hot sun any day.  My son was happy to get to the top.  It was a good challenge for him.  The peak sits about 11,101 ft (Timp is 11,749 and Lone Peak is 11,253 and Pfeifferhorn is 11,325).

So this is the Orange Trail Monkeys blog.  I thought it was fitting to give the monkey from my shoe a new home.  What a great hike.

Monkey's new home

Box Elder Peak - overlooking Northern Utah County

We backtracked down the summit the same way we came up and then caught trail #188 and traversed across the backside of Box Elder.  There were a number of snow slides that we had to cross which made the run across a bit interesting. If I was 20 years younger I wouldn't mind sliding 20, 30, 40 feet each time on every snow slide.  Trail #188 connects to the Box Elder trail #044 and we headed back to the car.  Final numbers: 10.9 miles and 5003 feet of climbing.  I can't wait to get back up there.