Ben Lomond Peak

 In a post below about Chilly Peak I mentioned my desire to make it all the way to Ben Lomond Peak.  Well on Saturday September 4th my brother, Mike and I went for it.  We met at my house at 5:00 AM and were at the parking lot trail (See the Chilly Peak post for trail head information) at 5:30 AM.  After an hour of hiking we made it up to the top of the switchbacks.  We had a beautiful view of the sunrise:
























After a short break we continued on with our hike.  The weather was perfect.  It was a little cool but as long as we kept moving it felt perfect.  We had a couple of motorcycles pass us and one really crazy runner.  Here we are 3 1/2 hours later after covering just over 8 miles and gaining over 3,600 feet:

You can see the Great Salt Lake in the distance.  It was a little hazy which was too bad for taking pictures but even with that we could still see pretty far out being at 9,712 feet according to my map.

It was very windy up on top. 

This picture is looking North West towards Willard Peak.  It is about 50 feet higher and the highest peak in this area.  You can actually drive up fairly close to Willard Peak.

We also saw some mountain goats below us.  I tried to get some pictures of them but none of them turned out very well.


We went back down below the peak and once you got about 20 feet below the peak the wind stopped completely.  We took some more time to eat an early lunch and take some more pictures.  Below is a small campground just below the peak.  it would be cool to camp here.  Since it is just below the ridge but close to the mountainside there wasn't any wind but great views.  You can see Pineview Dam in the distance.

Here is a picture at this small camping spot looking North.

We headed back down and this is a picture looking South near the trail split that can take you to North Fork Park or where we camp from, the North Ogden Divide Trail head.

Click Here for a map:

You can see where the Blue and Yellow colored trails meet there is a designation on the map for a spring.  We spent about 10 minutes looking for it.  I never found it exactly but did find a little water:

It was pretty nasty looking.  I get the feeling that if you were to take some more time and head down the trail a little farther you would be able to find some better looking water.

7 1/2 hours and 8.2 miles later we made it back to the car.  That is a great hike I am sure I will do again soon.  I would highly recommend it to anyone.  Even though you gain quite a bit of altitude it is fairly easy due to the long length of the trail.  It is mostly uphill the whole way but gradual enough that it isn't too bad.