I did not know at the time that almost 7 years would have to pass before I would see the West Fork Buttermilk trail again, but when my wife told me earlier this year that she booked a 4 day camping trip to Alta Lake I knew I had to give Star Peak another try. I felt suddenly like I had to pay an old debt that had accumulated mountains of interest.
Unlike in my prior attempt I woke up at 5:45AM with an already ferocious June sun above head. I packed up, drove to the trailhead and I was in my boots and ready to go before 9AM. Not an alpine start by any measure, but it took my best reserves of motivation nonetheless.
The forest trail was just as long and boring as I remembered it. It gently rises about 3500 feet in over 7 miles. There was one difference though - while in my prior attempt I had to cross over dozens of blow-down trees, this time I barely counted 6 or 7, all in the last mile before Fish Creek pass; this made the hike more pleasant and less frustrating. Clearly some dedicated people had been doing work on that trail, as some of the wood cuts looked pretty recent, there were fresh-looking wood shavings on the ground.
Snow patches appeared on the trail around 6000 feet but they did not become large until 7000 feet, where I had to do some route finding to guess where I should go next. Luckily after 7000 feet it becomes obvious where Fish Creek pass is; if you head in that general direction you end up hitting the trail again.
I made it to Fish Creek Pass by 12:40PM; I wasn’t going to give up now! I had a quick lunch and descended to the still-frozen Star Lake where I stashed a bottle of Gatorade for my return. I continued to the far end of the boulder field above the lake where a faint scree “trail” was visible from Fish Creek pass. That path brought me to the low point in the southwest ridge of the mountain at 1:40PM. From there the actual summit became visible; the boot path continued almost entirely snow-free around the other side of the mountain; it’s faint but not hard to navigate. There was only a little bit of class 3 scramble on the last couple of hundred feet, with very little danger of rock fall. I didn’t even bother to put on my helmet. I reached the summit at 2:40PM, exactly two hours after reaching the pass. The views were amazing, not only from the summit but throughout the whole trek from the pass and over the ridge.
I left the summit at 3:07PM, got back to the bottom of the ridge at 3:55, reached the lake at 4:10 where I chugged my cold Gatorade and refilled on water, then finally made it back to Fish Creek pass at 4:30. This concluded the fun part of the trip. For the remaining three hours and fifteen minutes I dragged my tired, burning feet through the forest, checking my GPS often in an “are we there yet” whiny mood. I must have walked 20 miles, probably the most walking I ever did in one day. I was back at the car at 7:45PM.
There were several crossings of swollen creeks but all were manageable without much effort. The first crossing is a bit awkward as the best natural bridge is a sloped fallen tree with one end on the creek bank and the other resting in the water. Since it seemed harder to walk downwards on a log I sat on it and did a butt-shuffle on my way in (picture in my flickr set, link below); however on the way back I was able to jump and walk up on it easily.
I decided to use my heavier mountaineering boots rather than my hiking boots, expecting lots of steep snow but there was very little of it; in retrospect I am pretty sure the hiking boots would have been fine. I even carried the ice axe and helmet with me but they ended up being training weight.
I did not see another soul all day. There was only one other car parked at the trailhead when I arrived; the same car was there when I left. You want to avoid crowds? This is the place for you!
Climb on!
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