Overall it was a very nice light hike. The beautiful waterfall at the end was refreshing after a warm hike, and before the warm return. I suggest leaving in the morning for the benefit of fewer people and cooler temperatures.

We arrived at camp, and immediately started setting up some lines for the group (Utah Climbing Club), most of which would probably be arriving Saturday morning. After hopping on some routes I was super impressed with the rock type. I’ve never climbed on that type before, and it was pretty awesome. It’s a type of volcanic rock called Welded Tuff. It’s got tons of awesome pockets, edges and cracks. It was truly great fun.

That evening we all got camp set up, and had our respective dinners. I took some delicious Mountain House sodium meals…They were tasty, but I was plagued with weird dreams all night for the two days I had these meals.

We were camped at about 10k feet. Which is of course nice and cool for sleeping. There were ATVs throughout the night driving by, which was annoying, but compared to the group from SUU that came at midnight to climb it wasn’t as strange. The next morning brought more people from the group, and much more fun climbing for the day. I hopped on some more difficult routes and thoroughly enjoyed the day. We were met with a rainstorm around 1pm. It cleared out fairly quickly as seems to be the norm with that area.

That evening we sat around the campfire for a while enjoying the warmth and talking about the great day of climbing. It was good fun..The next day brought the cleanup effort. Cleaning routes, and breaking camp. When I left I opted to stop at Brian Head peak, and get it knocked out real quick. It’s only about a 100 foot walk to the top from the parking area so it wasn’t too strenuous. I spent a few minutes taking pictures then went back down. Passing some deer on the way.

The trip was very enjoyable and I highly recommend the area for climbing and hiking.

We departed fairly late in the morning as the hike was a relatively short 4 miles one way. By the time we got to Farmington, and later farmington canyon it was already 11:00AM. We followed a dirt road up the canyon for about 8 miles through increasingly greener scenery. The dirt road eventually ends at Francis peak. We got our gear together and left the vehicles by 12:00PM.

The Great Western Trail (GWT) follows the ridge line for another few miles before the actual summit of Thurston Peak. We opted instead to follow the snow fields on the eastern side of the ridge. Practicing our crampon and self arresting skills. The snow fields fed 3 or 4 beautiful mountain lakes. The views overlooking Morgan county were fantastic. After a long trek over some fairly strenuous terrain we arrived at the summit. From there we departed and followed the GWT on the western side of the ridge all the way back to our vehicles. The conditioning hike went well, and knocking another peak off my list made for a great day.

We got an early morning start, and mid day made it to the saddle, but due to some really ominous looking weather most of the day all decided to come back for another round rather than battle the cornices on the saddle. We turned back and camped in one of the meadows lower down. You can’t beat Big Springs’ views and I was happy with the how the trip turned out.