Last Sunday six hearty souls took off on a short journey to reach the high point of Box Elder County Utah – Bull Mountain. The weather forecast for the day was a 20% chance of snow with up to ½ inch accumulation. The plan was to tag the summit at roughly 9900 feet by following a route detailed on Summit Post. Together - Dylan, Dan, John, Margo, Steve, and I departed the trailhead a little before 9AM with our snow shoes attached to our packs in slowly falling snow. It was a great start to the day.
As we progressed up the trail the snow thickened but our spirits remained high.
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| Steve and Margo |
An hour into the journey the trail disappeared into a mass of jumbled deadfall. John, with his keen navigation skills, directed us through the thick jungle of fallen trees as the snow continued unabated. And John continued to direct us through the deadfall, and John continued to …
Eventually we wound our way out of the deadfall into a gully containing thick underbrush. We were all smiles as we continued onward and upward through the thick snow with the tangled alder grabbing at our feet.
When the snow became shin deep and the brush had lessened, we put on our snowshoes and continued upward – still smiling. It was hard no to – the snow was fantastic! The only way the snow could have been better is if we were on skis!
The Summit Post trip report mentions a creek crossing at 8000 feet and we had our eyes peeled and altimeters out trying to find the crossing. At certain times, when the snow wasn’t so heavy, our visibility was up to 50 feet, allowing us to feel confident that we were headed in the right direction.
At roughly 1:30, after 4 ½ hours of climbing and bushwacking we figured that we were in the wrong drainage. With no chance of making the summit, the decision was made to turn around and head down. We were still all smiles as we again negotiated the mass of deadfall, this time in snowshoes!
What an excellent day to be out enjoying some beautiful weather with great people!
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