Kessler Peak (10,403 ft), Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, September 26, 2023

Kessler Peak is another favorite Wasatch hike, and the God’s Lawnmower Trail from the Doughnut Falls trailhead is my preferred route. It’s short and steep, perfect for after work hike. The trail is heavily wooded with aspens and Douglas Fir, so the hike is cool, green and shady, a nice escape on a hot summer afternoon. I feel some urgency to hike/ski Cardiff Fork because, as of September, the landowners in Cardiff Fork have not renewed the public access agreement with the USFS allowing public access through their land. It’s possible that public access might be denied in the near future. Today I saw signs saying as much - ’No Trespassing’ or ’Not a public Trail.’   

Stats - Kessler Peak Summit from Doughnut Falls TH, via God’s Lawnmower trail:
One-way distance:                               2.38 miles

Trailhead Elevation:                          7,479 feet

Kessler Peak Summit Elevation:     10,403 feet
Elevation gain:                                  2,982 feet
 

During the ascent, the trail traverses east to west across the top of the avalanche path/ski run called God’s Lawnmower. From the highway, seen way below, it looks steep and intimidating, but looking up a mountain from the base is often misleading, often looking steeper than it really is. God’s Lawnmower is a prime example. From this vantage point, near the top, it looks benign, it looks like an easy ski run. That said, the absence of mature timber down most of it’s length indicates that it slides big and catastrophically. A warning, ski it only when conditions are welded.  

View north-east from Kessler’s summit, the middle ridge line is the Park City divide, separating the Park City side of the Wasatch from the Big Cottonwood drainage.

View south from summit of Kessler. Top of the Snowbird tram on the left, in the middle are American Fork Twins (left - 11,433 ft and right 11,489 ft (hi pt of SL Cnty)). The nearer ridge is Mt Superior (11,040 ft) the high point on the right and Monte Cristo (11,132 ft) is the high point barely cut out frame on the far right. 

View east with the near steep/exposed face falling of the Reed and Benson Ridge.

Park City ridge-line, Guardsman Pass the low point on the right, where the conifers and the aspens meet. 

View directly north off the summit of Kessler.

View south, Mineral Fork of Big Cottonwood is the near drainage on the right.

Kessler East Couloir a popular ski run because it’s not very steep, about 36 degrees, so the riff-raff descend in hordes.  

 A vertical mine shaft just below (NW) Kessler’s summit. I’m not sure what mine it is, nothing is listed on my mine maps. The closest mine found is the Carbonate Mine, shown on. the face SE of Kessler’s summit. This could be another access for the miners because there’s a ruin of a miners cabin just down the hill.   

Deadfall blown over onto another tree and the live tree growing around the dead. 

Ruin of miners cabin near the summit of Kessler (NW about a quarter mile). 

On the descent, long shadows stretching over God’s Lawnmower.

I love the colors of fall.

Pfeiferhorn, Wasatch Mountains, September 12, 2023

The Pfeiferhorn is one of my favorite hikes in the Wasatch. Short enough for an after work pump, but steep and exposed just enough to keep it serious. This is the view looking west towards the Pfeiferhorn (11,326 ft) from the start of the knife-edge ridge. 

Stats, from the White Pine Trailhead:
    Distance:             10.4 round trip miles
    Elevation Gain:   4,239 feet (with ups/down);
                                3,652 feet straight line (trailhead to summit without ups/downs of terrain changes)    

As technical as it gets. This 'belly-roll' move is the crux of the route, maybe a 5.6 move to get around the bulging boulder. The very positive horizontal crack (my left hand) makes it and easy move, and just ten feet and its done. All the rest is a scramble, and, like most scrambles in the Wasatch, if you get gripped, look around and there's always an easier/safer way. I like this route on the south side of the knife-edge ridge, as opposed to the top side or the north side, it’s cleaner, more direct, no dead-ends. The north side is more exposed, bigger drops and fewer positive holds. Going over the is be less exposed than either side, but it requires a number of moves up and down over pits and and small faces. This move is easy enough that I can hold the edge with my left and hold the camera pole with a fractured right wrist (see below). 

But before the knife edge, Red Pine Lake is the reward for the 2.53 mile/2,000 foot gain approach from the White Pine Trailhead. The route to the Pfief is up the string of firs seen diagonaling rightward in the middle of the photo, then up the headwall to the top of the ridge.  

After the stout run up from the trail-head, I let my guard down on the flat trail around Red Pine Lake. Futzing with a camera as I jogged around the lake, I didn’t see a wash-out on the trail, stepped off into air-space and face-planted. It really hurt, but I was more concerned about camera damage. The camera was fine, but my wrist was fractured. Required six weeks in a soft-cast. It hurt but I never considered going back, still went tho the summit. These moments don’t come often anymore, age and family requirements ever expanding, they can’t be wasted. 

View of Red Pine Lake from the top of the headwall. 

Timpanogos from the approach ridge just above the Red Pine Lake head-wall.  

Summit of Pfeiferhorn, 11,326 feet. View SW towards Utah Valley and Utah Lake.

Red Pine Lake before starting down the Red Pine Headwall. The headwall is steep and loose but not dangerous with careful foot placement. 

Some rain on the descent. This time I watched the trail around Red Pine Lake.

Red Pine Lake (9,602 ft)

Engelman’s Aster or Eucephalus Engelmannii.

Aspen Fleabane, or Erigeron Speciosus, which in latin means good-looking, handsome or beautiful. 

Glacial scars, when rocks imbedded in the glacier are dragged over the bedrock with the movement of ice. I love seeing these geologic signatures, it gives a feeling of a much greater power, whether merely glacial ice or the power of a Deity, it’s humbling and awe-inspiring to realize how small and inconsequential we really are. Nature is much larger than any human creation, especially politics/religion. Talk to the trees, talk to rocks, talk to deserts and mountains, feel the power. 

Maybird bridge collapsed under last year's deep snowpack. In all fairness, that bridge has got to be over 40 years old, it was there when I was in high-school, the late 1970’s, and I’m not aware that it has ever been rebuilt. When I was about 15, in 1977, I was hiking here in the spring with my Dad and brother Mark, the snow was about 10 feet deep and there was a deep trench due to the rushing stream eroding the snowpack from below. There were two hikers on the opposite side trying to get across, but it was a dicy, scary situation. If they fell into the trench into the rushing water they’d never get out, they’d likely drown when the water pulled them under the snow. My Dad found a dead-fall Douglas Fir and broke off the narrow top 20 feet off the trunk. My Dad yelled over to the hikers to throw their packs and gear over, which they did, and Mark and I rushed to grab it before it fell back into the watery trench. Once all their gear was safely over my Dad extended the tree trunk for them to grab, to use as a hand rail as they jumped over the trench, then use as a hand-hold while they dug into snowbank for secure purchase. Once over they said they had been camping in Hogum Fork. Three days earlier on their ascent, there was no trench and no open water, they simply hiked right over stream, hearing the rushing water deep under the snow.  

Pohuehue-Warkworth, February 23-25, 2023

 Pohuehue-Warkworth

But first a few photos of the drive from Lake Taupo to Warkworth:

Kara’s uncle supposedly built the Hamilton NZ, LDS Temple in the early 1960s. . . 

 . . and he got a street named after him. Goodwin is K’s maiden name.

Kiwi's speak so descriptively, refreshingly, un-American. 

Another LDS temple, this one in Aukland. Looks so similar to all the others. Apparently they got a volume discount from the architect. 

Pohuehue-Warkworth, Dangelina Lodge (B&B), Puriri Downs Free-Range Egg Ranch

While we were on the south island a cyclone (aka hurricane in the northern hemisphere) hit the north island, causing much damage from wind and flooding, with washouts, road-collapses and basements filled with water. We lucked out with our timing, we missed the storm, it barely rained on the south island, but it rained almost constantly while we were in Warkworth, a full week after the cyclone. 

Room with a view. Beautiful, rolling sheep country, as seen from our room.

Kiwis, such creative communicators.

Puriri Downs Free Range Egg Ranch, right next to our lodgings at Dangelina B&B.

Egg farmers Pip and Mark were instant friends. So friendly showing us the egg operation and their art studio. 

The free-range chicken's favorite food is an egg. Sort of cannibalistic it seems. They went nuts when I threw out a broken egg from the conveyor.

View from our bed at the Dangelina Lodge.

Danagelina Lodge owned and operated by Dan and Angela. We literally lived in their house in one of their bedrooms, which was a bit awkward until we got to know them. So welcoming and friendly. We sat with them one night and watched and Aukland Rugby match on the tele. Felt like at home.