White Baldy Elev 11,321' via Red Pine Lake

I was really excited to give White Baldy a try. A week ago, I hiked Pfeiferorn with Liz Kapcsos and while I was hiking, I made sure to scope out the route to White Baldy, as those two mountains share a ridge line. From the looks of it, White Baldy seemed like it would be quite a bit shorter and easier than Pfeiferhorn...boy was I in for a surprise!

The first 4 miles of the White Baldy hike uses the same trail as Pfeiferhorn, the Red Pine Lake trail. To get there, drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon until you come to a sign marking the White Pine Trail head on the right side of the road, about .7 miles before the Snowbird Ski Resort, and about 5.2 miles up canyon.

I parked in the parking lot at 8:59 am, got my gear together, and hit the trail at 9:03. The trail starts past the restrooms on a paved trail that looses elevation (don't worry, you'll gain it right back) for the first 100 yards or so until it crosses the stream on a nicely built bridge. Once across the bridge turn right and start up an old jeep road for a mile or so until you come to the trail junction sign, marking the Red Pine Lake and White Pine Lake split off.

You can actually get to White Baldy using either approach, but I chose the Red Pine Lake approach since that's the route I scoped out the week before, and because Red Pine Lake is the most beautiful lake I've ever come across. The Red Pine Lake trail leaves the jeep road and starts up a single track that crosses the river on another steady bridge.

The trail heads west from here and in about a half mile more, you are rewarded with amazing views down Little Cottonwood Canyon and into the Salt Lake Valley. Up to this point the trail has been on a nice grade, but now get ready for heavy breathing and throbbing muscles as the grade steepens. It was on this next portion of the trail that I saw 2 moose on the way down from Pfeiferhorn the week before. After a mile of steep hiking, the junction with the Maybird Gulch trail joins on the right and crosses a small stream on a footbridge. Continue straight.

The grade eases for a while as the trail meanders through meadows, and pines, before steepening again. After 3.5 miles from the trail head, the spectacular Red Pine Lake comes into view at about 9500 feet. I could write a whole post just on this lake, and maybe I will, but as this is about White Baldy, a short description will do. Red Pine Lake is a pretty emerald color but yet it is so crystal clear that it is easy to spot trout swimming up to 30 feet away in the lake and a few feet under water. The lake is dotted by pine trees on the north,west, and south sides, a rock slide on the southwest, and a steep meadow sloping down towards the lake, which the trail goes through, on the east.

Once at the lake, stop and take a moment to look at the mountains and ridges in the background. White Baldy is visible off to the left (east) side of the lake high above and the ridge you must climb to get there is right behind the lake on the other side. It is good to get your bearings at this point as the trail going up the ridge line is sporadic at best. Sometimes there are a few different trails that all seem to go in different directions, but they all end up in the same spot. But knowing where you need to end up makes it easier on the psyche.

I took the trail around the Lake on the east and peered down into the clear lake and spotted many fish swimming nearby. I noticed 3 hikers just up ahead of me and wondered where they were off to. As I came to the south side of the lake, Neil, one of the hikers, asked if I knew how to get to upper Red Pine Lake. I told him that I was headed in that direction and that they were welcome to come along. As it turns out, Bryce, another hiker, and I had a friend in common from my Thanksgiving Point days. The third hiker was a lady named Whitney. Our conversation had led me to mention that I had seen 2 moose last week on this trail, and they then informed me that they had just had an encounter with 2 moose not long before Red Pine Lake. We hiked up the steep trail, which crosses the small stream feeding into Red Pine Lake, for about a half mile and then I pointed them off to the left to reach the Upper Lake while I continued on the trail to get to the top of the ridge.

Once to the top of the ridge, I was greeted by a meadow which just a week earlier was filled with streams and rivers but which now was all but dried up. I could believe the difference a week made. I was also greeted by the daunting sight of White Baldy to the left and the summit ridge I would have to climb. Truthfully, it looked like a piece of cake from the spot I was at. I picked the low spot on the summit ridge relatively straight ahead and a little left and started crossing the meadow to reach the start of the boulders. (The route to Pfeiferhorn turns right on the ridge and continues ascending that ridge to the Pfeiferhorn summit ridge).

From here, it's a boulder hop for a while, stepping from boulder to boulder until finally, the grade steepens and using hands becomes a necessity. I should mention that once you start crossing the meadow, there is no trail from that point on and it becomes a route finding mission, which is pretty straight forward considering the goal is in sight. The final 30 or so feet is steep and I was beginning to wish I had stashed my trekking poles earlier so I could have both hands free for climbing.

As it turned out, I made the summit ridge at about 10,500', stashed my poles, turned left and started the class 3 climb. It really isn't that far of a climb and it doesn't seem that it should be that hard, but it seemed to take forever. I stayed on the ridge for the most part, bypassing any obstacles on the south side. A couple of times I had to back track as I had led my self into a class 4-5 situation. And while I'm always up for an adventure, I'm in no hurry to die. As I was climbing on the ridge I noticed movement in the cirque to the south. I looked and noticed that I had spooked a red fox and it was hurring down the rocks until it felt that it was safely out of danger.

I reached the false west summit first. From this point to the base of the White Baldy is more of a gentle class 3 or hard class 2 hike. Once to the base of the summit, class 3 climbing begins once again for just about 40 feet to get to the summit.

Once on the summit I signed the register which was nicely contained in a awesome mailbox. The last person who had summited White Baldy had done so 3 days prior and only about 30 people had summited all year; one of whom was Randy Winters - the Author of "Wasatch Eleveners," the book I read to research all my hikes. He had summited on July 14th.

I took pictures with my phone as I realized that I had forgotten to charge the battery in my camera so it wouldn't even turn on...Then I ate a couple of granola bars and pretzels and just took a while to enjoy the views of Red Pine and White Pine Lakes and all the surrounding peaks and valleys. I spent a half hour on the summit and headed down about 12:45.

On the way down the summit ridge, I once again noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and looked down and spotted a bighorn sheep just about 60 feet below me, looking back up at me. I watched him for a good amount of time and his hooves clicked on the boulders and he made his way over to a remaining patch of snow where he ate a little of it then scratched his head with one of his hooves just as a dog would. It was amusing, but I decided I better get a move on.

Again I stayed on the ridge proper for the most part occasionally dropping down on the south/west side. The problem was I got too low off the ridge and had to climb steeply up loose dirt to get back up to the ridge. Once I had done so, I realized that I had overshot the spot where I had stashed my poles so I climbed back on the ridge top to find them. I located them and started down.

Down climbing the loose rocks and talus was treacherous in spots and I fell on my back side on a few occasions. But I finally made it back to the meadow, then Red Pine Lake. I spotted a fisherman on the north side of the lake and stopped for a second to talk with him. It turned out that he normally catches rainbow trout at Red Pine but has heard that there are also some cutthroat in there too. He hadn't caught anything yet today though.

I finished talking and descended the remaining 3.5 miles without incident. Overall, it took me 6 hours and 25 minutes and it was about 10.5 miles round trip.

Below: White Baldy as seen from Pfeiferhorn...

Below: Red Pine Lake from the ridge...