I woke up early this morning to climb West Mountain, which is the prominent peak south of Utah Lake, West of Payson. I took my one year old dog and this would be her first summit.
We started just after 6:00 and we went straight up the Southeast Ridge on a ATV trail. There was only one switchback up to the ridge and it was very steep! There is just about 2,000 feet of elevation gain on this hike, and most of it is trying to gain the ridge. We took a break to watch the sunrise and snap a few pictures.
Once on the ridge we ran into a herd of sheep and my dog was very interested, so I had to keep a tight leash on her. The final push was steep again, and we finally reached the top in 1:15. We had a quick snack, and then I spent the next 5 minutes trying to time a peak jump. I got a few good pictures and we headed down.
The descent was much quicker, we ran the whole ridge and it was a lot of fun, and we made it back to the car for a total time of two hours. This was a really fun hike and I made it home in time to have breakfast with the family. A great way to start my day. |