Now this is a peak!! Anyone wanting to feel truly High in Utah should do this peak. At 7 miles round trip, it is short but has all the features what one would expect from climbing to almost 12,000 feet. We camped at the trailhead (Monument Trailhead). I was advised to not follow the guidebook I had which said to climb up Andrew's Ridge - and I advise all others to not follow that ridge either. The Monument Trailhead is awesome!! Justin and Matt joined me on this one and we enjoyed food and cards the night before. After sleeping under the stars, we hit the trail at 7am. We passed a couple of groups that started earlier, even with Justin not feeling too well. I was very impressed at how he pushed himself up the mountain even though he was in pain. Way to go little brother!! What I loved most about this hike was the exposure on the last part of the climb. One photo tries to show a gully that dropped off for hundreds of feet. There is an established trail all the way to the top but it could be dicey for those who fear falling thousands to feet to their death. I don't fear death, I just don't want it to be today. I wouldn't want engraved on my headstone "Here lies a moron".(Summarized from Deep Survival). The top was cold but very little wind and the only clouds were over the Uintas. The views were amazing.
One way down, we passed many groups. Some would ask how much farther. One gal asked if it was as hard as it looked. I just said that it was quite the haul up the ridge. Very memorable hike and people need to remember that we aren't walking on the beach here, you are mountain climbing and it should be hard, otherwise, the rest of the valley down there would be up here, and we don't want that, do we?
