Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Pyramid Peak
Beautiful day-long adventure to this fairly remote area of our favorite Park!
Nancy Lloyd
- Sun, Aug 13, 2023
- Alpine Scramble - Pyramid Peak
- Copper Mountain, Iron Mountain & Pyramid Peak
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The Kautz Creek trail is in very good condition with only a couple of down trees easy to step over. The Mirror Lakes trail is somewhat overgrown in places and could use some tlc. The boot path to Pyramid is pretty easy to follow. It gets obscure up the peak though, with traces of human wanderings all over the place. It boils down to just picking what looks safe and doable.
Some hungry flies and a few mosquitoes, but very few compared to prior years at this time. Some flowers were still blooming such as paintbrush, lupine, cliff penstemon, western pasque seedhead, columbine, pearly everlasting. Conditions are very dry, however water is available in a couple of streams along the Mirror Lakes trail. The lakes are low with mud along the edges and a small one was completely dry. It was very hot in the late morning/midday sun, so we made many efforts to drink plenty of water and take in electrolytes.
A group of Wonderland hikers passed us just beyond Indian Henry's and told us about a bear they saw. Sure enough, as I was leading the pack I was greeted at a turn in the trail by this gorgeous animal within 20 feet of me - the closest I've ever seen a bear in the wild! We all stopped and quietly took photos. He looked at us with zero interest, and within minutes he skipped across the trail and continued munching on the other side. He was not large, but was probably the equivalent of a young teenager. This was definitely a highlight of the day!
I didn't take many photos, I was too absorbed in my surroundings and just enjoying the experience and my companions. Back at the cars we chatted and had some much needed cold refreshments before driving home. A great day out for 12.5 hours, 16 miles rt, and 4,900' gain.
