Jacob’s Ladder Trail goes to the summit of Lone Peak. My wife and I have attempted this hike several times. The first time was just to get a feel for the punishment we’d be in for. That was about four years before this hike and it was 95 degrees out. We ran out of drinking water before we got far up the chute that used to be the start of the steep part of the trail. The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance reconstructed the trail to eliminate the steep chute that used to exist and built zig-zags or switchbacks. This makes the trail safer to climb (’cause the chute was pretty wicked).
We attempted this trail the last time on August 26th. So about a month earlier. It was 85 degrees and unusually humid for Utah. I struggled to get to the new zig-zag section. We only went up a few of the switchbacks before throwing in the towel. That was a little more than 7,000 feet altitude.
Yesterday, we decided that it was a good day to shoot for 8,000 feet. It was in the 60’s and dry outside. We got our start around 2 p.m. at the rest area near the base of the Peakview trail.
Here’s the start of the trail. We used Hoof n’ Boot to get to Peakview to avoid bicycle traffic.
Peakview is pretty spectacular. Though it’s a steep climb just to get to that hilltop. To make things worse, it’s all gravelly, making the climb slippery and a bit hazardous. You can see Utah Lake in the right photo below and the zoom-in one at the bottom.
The problem with Peakview is that you have to go up, then down, then up again. It’s just there to wear out your legs before you get to the fun stuff.
We made good time getting to Lone Rock, which is our usual resting and eating place before attempting the steeper climb. This is the view from Lone Rock, which sits at an altitude near 7,000 feet.
After we consumed an energy bar and rested a bit, we trekked up to the start of the zig-zag.
We still had not reached the section where he had turned around on the previous hike, but we had a lot of energy. Which was a lot better than the last time when we reached this point and I was about ready to die. The zig-zag is mostly packed black dirt, which is a good grip on the shoes.
By this time we had passed the point where we had turned around last time. This was all new trail for us.
As you can see, it’s late September and some of the trees are turning a bright orange color. I would have liked to go when all the trees turned, but I suspect there’ll be snow at the 8,000-foot line by the time that occurs (Which is in a couple of weeks).
Some of the trail consists of minor rock scrambles. Sort of like steps along the way. The engineers did a nice job with this trail. Some parts are still a bit steep, but manageable.
Once you get up over 7,700 feet, it opens up a bit and you can see forever.
Up, up, up.
That next rock scramble was where we stopped. It was almost 5 p.m. by then and we decided to end it right here instead of climbing up the rocks, then back down. We’ll use that as our marker for the next attempt, which will probably be next year when we try for 9,000 feet.
Below: “Do you want to do the rock scramble?”
“I’m good. Let’s call it.”
Yeah, that was an epic hike. Some day we’re going to make it to the scree field. A lot of younger kids camp out near that area, then they do the summit the next day. I’m not really fond of camping up there. There are some restrictions after passing the start of the zig-zag. One thing that you have to do is pack your own poop and carry it back (usually using a wag-bag). That doesn’t sound like much fun.
A group of young kids (probably college-age) passed us. They were planning to camp, and then do the summit the next day. I know for a fact that it was going to dip into the 40’s that night. So I wish them luck. I saw that they had bed rolls, but I’m not sure they had a tent. Maybe they had one tent and carried the pieces in all of their packs, but they were not carrying larger packs than we were (not that mine was full). If they were just sleeping in the open… Yikes.
Here’s a link to the SLCC website if you’re interested in Jacob’s ladder trail (it’s a cool site): Salt Lake Climbers Association.