Quick Stats: 6.6 Miles & 1,280′ gain via NE Ridge from Sunset Peak Trail starting from Cow Canyon Saddle. HPS #72
After my last few adventures I’ve been in need of a palate cleanse. A lot of my adventures lately have involved a lot of loose rock, exposed scrambling, intense distances with insane elevation gains. I wanted a nice hike to some summit that I haven’t been to before, and with Sunset Peak I got just that. Frankie and I planned to spend the day together, and we decided to get an early start on a hike to leave room for more activities in our day– we’re all about efficiency when it comes to time together.
The sun was rising as we started out from Alyx at what I would learn is called “Cow Canyon Saddle.” The hike itself is on a maintained road with not much going on, except some nice views above the clouds on this particular morning:
Toward the top you can see a little use trail that ascends the “NE Ridge” of Sunset Peak rather than following some switchbacks toward the summit. It looked a little overgrown and I absolutely hate any amount of bushwhacking, but I left the decision to Frankie about which way we wanted to go. We typically opt for the hard way, especially since “Hardway” is the trail name I’ve been given, and today was no different. Taking this route actually shaves an entire mile off of the ascent– not that we were looking to shorten a 7.5 mile hike. . . it just looked like a bit of a challenge in an otherwise simple hike. (Not too much added challenge, though. Still a palate cleanse.)
There was a little bit of loose scree, but not enough for me this hike to leave the “palate cleanse” territory. We were also pleasantly surprised by the briefest of scrambling sections along the way though:
I would hesitate to call it 3rd class– maybe like heavy 2nd class? Either way, it was a fun little bonus that I didn’t know existed. There was a second spot just beyond that had what looked like a fun little scramble on a rock outcropping– getting to the base of it was legitimately overgrown, so I told Frankie I’d keep going. Palate cleanse– right? In a move that I didn’t see coming, Frankie opted to out hard way Hardway.
Turns out it really was legit overgrown however, and Frankie came up the same way I did instead of trying to bushwhack through some thick brush to do a chossy scramble. I admire her for attempting though!
Before long we were on the summit of Sunset Peak, which is Hundred Peaks Section #72 out of 280 for me. I still have a long way to go, but a lifetime in which to do it.
For our descent route we opted for the standard trail. We didn’t discuss this, but in my head I didn’t want to deal with those 8 feet of loose scree.
Not today. Palate Cleanse.