I have been told that the Pfeifferhorn, a peak next to Lone Peak in the Wasatch Mountain Range, was a more technical and more difficult version of the Timpanogas Hike. Well, they were wrong. It was more akin to my Everest. The hike was fun, but very hard. Of course, it may have been easier if I had actually slept at all, but I was hiking during the time I would normally have been sleeping.
The hike started off at a fairly level grade but soon steepened and became pretty steep in parts. It was also very long. Needless to say, I was slowing down before we were even a quarter of the way done. Once we got to the meadow/lakes below the peak, it was time for lunch and a rest. From the meadow on up, the hike consisted of climbing from rock to rock and boulder to boulder. Only it was also straight up. Once you climb to the saddle, everything gets a little easier for a moment, but by this time, I was too tired to even move.
(This is a shot from the Maybird Gulch side, but it gives you an idea of the terrain from the meadow on up.)
Moving on, you can finally see the Horn itself and you begin to feel quite daunted. I did not take these pics myself, they are web stock. I'll post ours later, but needless to say, the peak was, in the distance, a veritable peak of depression (one thing that made it seem less scary was the fact that it smelled like licorice up there... we could not figure out why...)
After climbing over refrigerator-sized boulders with sheer two-three hundred foot drops on either side, you finally come to the base of the peak. This is where I sat and attempted to tell myself I could do it. The final ascent to the peak was about a 70% grade with rocks and grass and loose dirt. It was not nearly as scary as it looked, but it was a whole lot scarier looking than anything I'd ever done. I was also, by this point, a little sick from the elevation and very, very tired. I would walk a few steps and rest for a few seconds... It took me a half hour to scale what should have taken 5-10 minutes. To make matters worse, we both ran out of water at the peak. Good stuff!
When we finally got down the mountain (two empty camelbacks filled with filtered streamwater later...) it was getting dark, and the last five minutes of the trail were in basic black. I missed my mission reunion due to lateness and mainly soreness, but worth it? You tell me.
10/8 - Anyway, it was a very intense, but very worth it hike. I then spent the weekend sick with a fever and sore throat and missed three days of work. Still worth it? You bet! It is the essence of Triumph!
Oh, and you may ask, "what's a cairn?" Well it's one of these things:
Hikers will construct these rock piles along a path where the trail is not clearly defined, so as to show the "easiest way"... supposedly...
:) yay
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