Time to hike another state high point! I only live about 270 miles from Flagstaff, which is where Humphrey's peak is located, and it has been calling my name for sometime now! As I looked to see what the most direct route to get there was, I noticed there were 2 ways - either through Zion National Park and on through Kanab and Page, or the southern route through Colorado City, Fredonia, and Jacob's Lake. Although there is a little winding through the Jacob's Lake area where the speed limit is 40 miles per hour for a total of about 15 miles, it still seemed like it would be about as fast and much shorter than the northern more route.
I had 2 days off in a row and so I originally planned to go on Wednesday, my first day off in case I decided that I wanted to stay overnight because of weather or fatigue. But the weather looked bad for Wednesday and on Tuesday nights I play volleyball till midnight, so I wouldn't be able to get an early start on Wednesday which meant more possibility of running into a thunderstorm in the afternoon.
So Thursday it was! I woke up just before 5:00, ate breakfast, gathered my gear and was off at 5:30. I was familiar with the route to Jacob's Lake as I had been there a couple years ago when I visited the north rim of The Grand Canyon. I had no idea how beautiful the scenery would be past that though! What I saw caught me completely off guard and I stopped at one point at a look out to take a picture of the amazing contrast between the green valley floor and the red rock walls that jutted straight up hundreds of feet.
I
got to Flagstaff with no problem, drove through the town a ways, even touring "old town." At Humphrey's road, I took a right which lead me to hwy 180 north. I followed 180 for 7 miles to a sign on the right hand side of the street which indicated that the Snowbowl ski area was at the next right. I took a right immediately after the sign and followed that road another 7 miles to the Lower Snowbowl parking lot (elevation 9320) and easily found the trail head at the north end of the parking lot.
I arrived at the parking lot at 9:45 and started up the trail at 9:47. The well marked trail starts through a colorful high mountain meadow, under a ski lift as it heads to a forest made up of tall pine trees mixes with aspens.
The scenery soon changed from the openness of the meadow to the dark, shaded forest. No
thing fills up your senses more than a hike in the forest, especially after doing mostly canyon and desert hiking for the past couple of years. Every sound from the wind rustling through the tops of the trees 50 feet in the air, to the faint bird chirps, to the creaking of the trees about to fall, gets and holds your attention.
Through the forest, the trail was very unstable, walking over many roots and rocks. Not long after entering the forest was a trail register, which I signed. At about 10,100 feet, the trail makes a sharp switchback to the right. This was the only spot I lost the trail. The spot is marked with a cairn, so when I couldn't locate the trail a few yards up, I retreated to the cairn and found wher
e I had made my error.
As I reached the 11,000' elevation mark, the trees became more sparse and the surrounding area started opening up. I could see the top of a ski lift on the mountain opposite where I was across the canyon. There were also a couple of rock slides around the 11,400' elevation point which offered a new terrain to cross. Out of the forest, the wind became much stronger and I was forced to tie my hat to my backpack at about 11,600'.
I encountered a sign at about 12,100' informing hikers that there is no camping above the tree line. Soon after, I came to the Weatherford saddle between Agassiz and Humphrey's peaks. From here, the trail is a little less defined but there are posts that help mark the way, if need
ed. For the most part, the trail stays just below the ridge line most of the way up.
After passing a couple of false summits, I made it to the summit at 12:10. The summit was incredibly windy! In fact, a got blown around a bit on the final ascent to the top. There are 3 rock "forts" at the top to help shield the wind. They helped, but I still put on my thermal sleeves, snacked, took pictures, and talked with other hikers at the summit for about 50 minutes before heading down.
I could faintly see the north rim of the Grand Canyon. More distinct were the beautiful Vermillion Cliffs that I had passed on the way. I was ve
ry happy that the cloud cover had left the mountain top - driving in, there was a blanket of clouds over the summit and in talking to a hiker on the way up, he said that the clouds had been there for the past few days. The views were amazing, eventhough standing up for long periods of time was exhausting and cold, constantly battling the gusting wind.
I started down at 1:00, once again getting blown around by the wind. As I headed down, I was able to take in the views I missed as I was headed up the mountain. I made quick time, even jogging part of the way, and was back to the trail head at 2:37.
In total, the hike took 4 hours and 50 minutes, with 50 minutes of that resting on t
he summit. One more high point down!
I had 2 days off in a row and so I originally planned to go on Wednesday, my first day off in case I decided that I wanted to stay overnight because of weather or fatigue. But the weather looked bad for Wednesday and on Tuesday nights I play volleyball till midnight, so I wouldn't be able to get an early start on Wednesday which meant more possibility of running into a thunderstorm in the afternoon.
So Thursday it was! I woke up just before 5:00, ate breakfast, gathered my gear and was off at 5:30. I was familiar with the route to Jacob's Lake as I had been there a couple years ago when I visited the north rim of The Grand Canyon. I had no idea how beautiful the scenery would be past that though! What I saw caught me completely off guard and I stopped at one point at a look out to take a picture of the amazing contrast between the green valley floor and the red rock walls that jutted straight up hundreds of feet.
I
got to Flagstaff with no problem, drove through the town a ways, even touring "old town." At Humphrey's road, I took a right which lead me to hwy 180 north. I followed 180 for 7 miles to a sign on the right hand side of the street which indicated that the Snowbowl ski area was at the next right. I took a right immediately after the sign and followed that road another 7 miles to the Lower Snowbowl parking lot (elevation 9320) and easily found the trail head at the north end of the parking lot.I arrived at the parking lot at 9:45 and started up the trail at 9:47. The well marked trail starts through a colorful high mountain meadow, under a ski lift as it heads to a forest made up of tall pine trees mixes with aspens.
The scenery soon changed from the openness of the meadow to the dark, shaded forest. No
thing fills up your senses more than a hike in the forest, especially after doing mostly canyon and desert hiking for the past couple of years. Every sound from the wind rustling through the tops of the trees 50 feet in the air, to the faint bird chirps, to the creaking of the trees about to fall, gets and holds your attention.Through the forest, the trail was very unstable, walking over many roots and rocks. Not long after entering the forest was a trail register, which I signed. At about 10,100 feet, the trail makes a sharp switchback to the right. This was the only spot I lost the trail. The spot is marked with a cairn, so when I couldn't locate the trail a few yards up, I retreated to the cairn and found wher
e I had made my error.As I reached the 11,000' elevation mark, the trees became more sparse and the surrounding area started opening up. I could see the top of a ski lift on the mountain opposite where I was across the canyon. There were also a couple of rock slides around the 11,400' elevation point which offered a new terrain to cross. Out of the forest, the wind became much stronger and I was forced to tie my hat to my backpack at about 11,600'.
I encountered a sign at about 12,100' informing hikers that there is no camping above the tree line. Soon after, I came to the Weatherford saddle between Agassiz and Humphrey's peaks. From here, the trail is a little less defined but there are posts that help mark the way, if need
ed. For the most part, the trail stays just below the ridge line most of the way up.After passing a couple of false summits, I made it to the summit at 12:10. The summit was incredibly windy! In fact, a got blown around a bit on the final ascent to the top. There are 3 rock "forts" at the top to help shield the wind. They helped, but I still put on my thermal sleeves, snacked, took pictures, and talked with other hikers at the summit for about 50 minutes before heading down.
I could faintly see the north rim of the Grand Canyon. More distinct were the beautiful Vermillion Cliffs that I had passed on the way. I was ve
ry happy that the cloud cover had left the mountain top - driving in, there was a blanket of clouds over the summit and in talking to a hiker on the way up, he said that the clouds had been there for the past few days. The views were amazing, eventhough standing up for long periods of time was exhausting and cold, constantly battling the gusting wind.I started down at 1:00, once again getting blown around by the wind. As I headed down, I was able to take in the views I missed as I was headed up the mountain. I made quick time, even jogging part of the way, and was back to the trail head at 2:37.
In total, the hike took 4 hours and 50 minutes, with 50 minutes of that resting on t
he summit. One more high point down!
Very nice! Sure beats golf!
ReplyDeleteWhat an AWESOME post!! The pictures are amazing...Definatley want to add that hike to the "what I want to do before I die" list...It's Great to see you happy and enjoying what you love!! Keep on posting :)
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