Chick valiantly honored his promise to give me a hike for Mother’s Day by accompanying me on a 15.3 mile climb to the top of Mt. Ogden and back via the Beus Canyon trail. And I do mean climb…. The hike, rated as difficult, has a 5,225 ft ascent and an 13% average grade. The maximum grade is 47% and a local website says the “climbing is relentless.” Yep. The website also said that seasoned hikers could do the roundtrip excursion in 4-5 hours, less seasoned hikers take 9 or more hours. We spent 9 hours and 15 minutes on the trail. Yep. By the time we got to the bottom my new knees and old legs were aching but I love, loved it despite the pain, maybe because of it. One cannot buy pain like that; it has to be earned.
We hiked through the lower, lush region, including a fern field, and then through more open terrain. We scrambled up a ravine, which probably took a mile off our ascent (but was very sketchy...we could have broken a leg or tumbled to a painful stop). Snowfields covered the trail in two places. A large rattlesnake was sunning on the trail in another. [Chick used a long pole to encourage it to find a different resting spot.] A cascading spring saved us from a dehydration-caused death...or at least from severe thirst. Oh how sweet the taste of spring water! And how sweet the view was…. At the top, we could see Pineview and Snow Basin on one side and Ogden on the other. Stunning!!!
I don’t know that I will ever feel compelled to hike to the top of Mt. Ogden again, at least not from the Beus Canyon trail, but I am so, SO glad I did it. For decades I have wanted to be able to say “I hiked to the top of Mt. Ogden.” Now, thanks to Chick, I can.
We hiked through the lower, lush region, including a fern field, and then through more open terrain. We scrambled up a ravine, which probably took a mile off our ascent (but was very sketchy...we could have broken a leg or tumbled to a painful stop). Snowfields covered the trail in two places. A large rattlesnake was sunning on the trail in another. [Chick used a long pole to encourage it to find a different resting spot.] A cascading spring saved us from a dehydration-caused death...or at least from severe thirst. Oh how sweet the taste of spring water! And how sweet the view was…. At the top, we could see Pineview and Snow Basin on one side and Ogden on the other. Stunning!!!
I don’t know that I will ever feel compelled to hike to the top of Mt. Ogden again, at least not from the Beus Canyon trail, but I am so, SO glad I did it. For decades I have wanted to be able to say “I hiked to the top of Mt. Ogden.” Now, thanks to Chick, I can.
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