Twin Lake Pass via Gizzly Gulch, Sunday, June 14, 2020

 Yeah, I've made a career of making fun of the crowds skiing Grizzly Gulch, but I have my reasons. Grizzly Gulch is ground-zero for Wasatch Backcountry skiing. It has a ridiculously short and easy approach, it's safe avalanche-wise (Alta bombs it regularly), and it's a quick, easy, safe skinner/ski outing when one is short on time. For me, I prefer less crowded terrain. Plus I'd argue it's not real backcountry skiing when Alta puts a groomer through its heart. No lifts, but groomers yes, and it's just a matter of time before Alta installs a lift.

So, why am I hiking here in the summer? Compared to the winter, Grizzly Gulch in the summer is a  lonely place, and compared to Albion Basin, which is just over the Patsy ridge-line, it's a ghost town. Today we hiked to Twin Lakes Pass from the upper Alta parking lot. We had chronic cabin fever and had to get out of the house, we had to get out of Bountiful, so we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon thinking we'd go ride the Peruvian Chair at Snowbird. We wanted a relaxed, chill day in the mountains, no grueling hike, and we reasoned that a chairlift ride is much better for social distancing than the enclosed Tram, but the chairlift wasn't running so we kept driving. On the way up to Snowbird we noticed that every trailhead in Little Cottonwood Canyon was packed, like Time Square on New Year's Eve, cars parked on the highway for half-mile up and down the canyon from the trailheads (Gate Buttress, Great White Icicle/Pentapitch, Lisa Falls, Tanners Flat, White Pine, etc), so we kept driving until we dead-ended at Alta. Surprisingly, there were few people here and most of them were hiking to Albion Basin. We hiked up the Albion basin road a short distance but took a left at the first junction leading into Grizzly Gulch, and from there we hiked the short distance to Twin Lakes Pass (2 miles one-way with about 1,200 feet vertical rise). We saw only four other hikers during our little walk in the woods. A beautiful day, with cool temps and a refreshing breeze to reset the sole.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. I didn't bring a real camera and the iPhone has a terrible camera.   

Albion Basin. Devils Castle (l) 10,776 feet, Sugarloaf Mt (middle) 11,051 feet, and Powder Ridge/East Greeley area of Alta Ski Lifts (r). Gunsight (ski Run) is the notch on the right.

Not sure what these are, but I think it is Dasiphora Fruticosa, also known as Shrubby Cinquefoil or Shrubby Five-Finger or Golden Hardhack.  (www.uswildflowers.com)

"And the Women all were beautiful
And the Men stood straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on."
 - - Neil Young, Cortez the Killer 

Mt. Superior, 11,050 feet, Cardiac Bowl (the snowy bowl in upper Cardiff Fork) viewed from Michigan City in Grizzly Gulch. 

Patsy Marly.

Kara at the old Michigan City townsite, with Mt. Superior and Cardiac Bowl (the snowy bowl in upper Cardiff Fork) seen on the right.

Twin Lakes from Twin Lakes Pass (10,000 feet). The dam was built long ago backing up the water to form one lake out of the two original and natural Twin Lakes.

Mt Millicent (l) 10,452 feet, and Mt. Wolverine (r) 10,795 feet.

Mt. Wolverine (l) 10,795 feet, and Patsy Marly (r) 10,538 feet.

Mt. Superior, 11,050 feet, from Twin Lakes Pass

Right to left in middle of photo: Coalpit Headwall, the sun-lit, fingers of snow descending rightward, then Coalpit Gulch blocked from view by the Y-Couloir Ridgeline; Thunder Mountain - North Peak (high point, middle-right) at 11,150 feet, and Thunder Mountain - South Peak (high point,  middle-left) at 11,154 feet.