Trip Report: Hike Do The Book: The Bullion Divide.
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Hike Do The Book: The Bullion Divide. By Brad* Yates |
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| HIKE | 08/09/2026 | MSD |
| Chasing Youth on the Bullion Divide, from the "Do the Book" series. Organized and reported by Brad Yates. It had been a while since I had done the Bullion Divide hike and even longer since I had organized it, my first time was on an outing led by Tom Walsh summer of 1994. Here is Tom's original posting: Aug 14 Sun HIKE: BULLION DIVIDE Starting at White Pine Lake, this 11 mile hike goes to Albion Basin on a Little Cottonwood Canyon ridge run over 8 peaks more than 11,000' high (actually, one peak is a mere 10,992'). This is the only hike in the Wasatch with coin-op vending machines available at midpoint. Comes with scrambling, exposure and total altitude gain of 6,300'. Call Tom Walsh (969-5842) to register. Rating is estimated at 10.9. I was a mere 30 at the time and damn fast and undisciplined likely bolting well ahead of the group, some would say I have not slowed much, to the contrary I have lost many a step. This year's version we started out with five, two young guns and the other three, including myself over 60, it would turn out to be a balancing act of keeping the youngsters in check and the elders in sight. The weather forecast that day called for a chance of afternoon thunderstorms, a similar forecast for the start of the 1994 outing. We started out with a few sprinkles then clearing skies, the summer flowers were still out in splendor though just starting to fade. We hiked the trail to the base of Red Baldy a half a mile short of White Pine Lake, from there we would climb directly up the slope to the east summit of Red Baldy, the scree and boulders were laced with outstanding wildflowers mixing with the views of the Pfeifferhorn, North Thunder and Lake Peak. It soon became apparent that the group would be moving at two distinct paces. Young Andrew and Luke would sprint ahead with myself chasing while keeping an eye on Eve and Mark's progress. The front group reached the top of Red Baldy well ahead the others, I sent Andrew and Luke to the west slightly lower summit to burn off some energy while I waited for the others. Soon we were back all together on the main east summit ready to begin the treacherous descent to East Pass, this being one of the two cruxes of the day, the ridge is loose with class 3 scrambling and requires careful route finding and proper group dynamics, rockfall is common and spacing essential. We regrouped at East Pass at the base of Red Top Peak, upon discussion we agreed the speedsters would go ahead to the top of the American Fork Twins and then bag the sub peak to the south that I named the Bastard Son decades ago. Those of us in the front group where quickly atop Red Top, not having the others in sight I slacked my pace and let the boys go ahead aiming for the Twins, when the other two came in sight I decided to chase the youngsters to the Bastard Son and wait for the others on the East Twin. By the time Luke, Andrew and I got back from the side excursion Mark and Eve had reached the east summit. Skies were beginning to look a bit threatening, but no action nearby, yet in had only been a few weeks since someone had died of a lightning strike near our position, so attention needed to be placed. We descended towards Snowbird and Hidden Peak over the next crux section, a loose downhill followed by a fun though a bit tedious scramble, Andrew flew across this section getting well ahead of Luke and I, while the other two progressed slowly. We regrouped at the top of the Snowbird tram for lunch and to wait for the others. I figured I might as well enjoy the luxuries at hand, clean bathrooms, and a giant hot pretzel and a cold brew for Lunch! Pricy though. Eve and Mark joined us as we were wrapping up our lunch and decided to take the tram down. With two more peaks to go skies were starting to look a bit more intimidating at this point but no storms were close or eminent. Luke, Andrew and I decided to take it one peak at a time since there were available escape routes. Up Baldy, looking good, down to the top of the Supreme and Baldy lifts we went. When we arrived at this location in 1994 the skies where very threatening, yet two female members of the group where determined to climb Sugarloaf to complete the planned itinerary, no testosterone laden male member of the group was about to back down due to this, so off we went, the skies grew more threatening as we climbed, within a minute of my crossing over summit lightning struck the ridgeline splitting our group asunder, those who had yet to summit fled west, those who had summited east, a few including Mike Budig and Kiara Montrose down a nasty chute. Back to 2026, Skies were not quite as threatening though build up was occurring to the west, we decided to make a go of it though I was a bit apprehensive and tired, up and over the summit we went to the Devil's Castle divide, down to the hoards at Cecret Lake. Just after we descended past Alf's at Alta we would hear the rumble of thunder, relieved that we had dodged the bolts. The cast, Eve Kovacs, Mark Maier, Andrew Stiff, Luke Holder and myself Brad Yates. |
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