Trip Report: *Do the Book* - Stairs Gulch Day Hike
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*Do the Book* - Stairs Gulch Day Hike By Ray Daurelle |
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| HIKE | 09/05/2026 | MSD |
| Stairs Gulch has no trail, except in the bottom, where people go check it out. Then when it quickly gets steep and intimidating, they turn around and head right back out. Ten of us showed up for a day in Stairs. Knowing a good route up it made it challenging for some, yet continuously reasonable. It has a variety of spiciness available, along with a good line of fairly calm and consistent scrambling. With just a few tricky moves. Think of the scramble on the main south trail of Mount Olympus, extended for several hours. We quickly split into 2 groups, with a faster set of 6 heading all the way up to the Broads Fork Twin Peaks, then back down through the Robison Route. The more casual group did lunch on a shoulder of the ridge between Stairs Gulch and Broads Fork, then down through Broads Fork. Because Stairs Gulch is north facing and consistently so very steep, it kept us in the shade until nearly the top of our route. But by then the air is much cooler than down below. The speedsters were Brandon Callahan, Michael Marine, Jimmy Sharma, Katie Felt, Thomas Fu and Erik Nielson, who got in 5500 feet of vertical gain and loss. The casual group had Ray Daurelle, Keith Markley, Brennan Apilungo and Lise Crawford, who got in 4200 feet of gain and loss. We didn't get in nearly as much unexpected adventure and intrigue as the story indicates in Deb Frank's recently released book, but it was a great day in a beautiful, shaded place with lots of good company. I'd repeat it at the drop of a hat. |
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