Lone Peak is the peak that is just south of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Most of the time people hike it from the south, from Corner Canyon going up the Jacobs Ladder route. This is the route I came most familiar with considering it is the shortest. The first time I made my way up here ever was on a 2 night backpacking trip with my family (slow and not the best hiking experience). The second time was with my brother where we roleplayed a story on our way up. (Read about that trip here and watch the video)
June Attempt
Coming into the summer months I had my sights at the peak waiting for the snow to melt away. We had a wet spring in 2019 which gave us a lot of great late-year skiing snow. This made it difficult for me when I made for the summit on my birthday in June. There was still a good 2 to 3 feet in areas near the top. I had some difficulty traversing the ice sheets and decided to turn around before making it to the main bowl at the top. I was ok with this attempt because I wanted to gauge the trail and familiarize myself with some of the routes.
Lone peak birthday run. Didn't get to peak.😞
July Attempt
My July Attempt got me all the way to the top in a well deserved time. 2:03:15 roughly. One of the reasons I set out to make a Personal Record for myself was that I was looking through strava I saw that I was the 7th fastest Strava user on one of the segments to the top of Lone Peak. This Attempt in July got me the most familiar with the route. I increased my overall speed and was able to make my way farther along the PR leaderboards. [In researching online to write this blog up I can't find the records but I have been learning more about the segment builder. In the future I plan on trying to get in the leaderboards for some of the segments. I also created a segment for the whole trail all the way to the summit.]
Lone peak PR.
August Attempt
My August attempt felt the best overall. I didn't get that overall leg and calf burn till I was almost all the way to the summit. This time reaching the top I also went the lightest opting to not have my regular pack and instead relying on as little gear as I needed.
Another Lone Journey. PR.
September Backroute via Bells Canyon
I made an attempt to the Sumit with an unconventional route in September via bells canyon. I went this way last year and almost made it up, but ran out of light. This time it was late in the year with windy and colder conditions. I wasn't feeling up to going all the way. Bells Canyon route is a much more difficult trail with more rocks and its farther with a part that is off-trail. It makes me appreciate that the Jacobs Ladder trail is relatively easy-going, despite the elevation gain.
Bells Canyon to Upper Reservoir
Final Thoughts
Overall I really liked going up to Lone Peak these 3 times during the Summer. I believe I accomplished my goals in going to the peak. I have become much more familiar with the trail and I set some good personal bests. I am not new to running trails but running back country areas like this is new to me. I look forward to exploring some new places as I look for new trails and ways to be challenged in the future.
