Big Cottonwood Superloop

Elevation profile of the "Superloop." According to TOPO!, we gained well over 8000 feet of vertical!

Date: September 25, 2010
Distance: ~20.5 miles
Vertical: ~8600 feet
Time: 11.5 hours
Peaks: Desolation Peak (9,990 ft), Silver Benchmark (10,006 ft), PT 10,009, Scott Hill (10,116 ft), Tri-County Peak (10,026 ft), PT 10,420, Clayton Peak (10,721 ft), Preston Peak (10,315 ft), Pioneer Peak (10,460 ft), Sunset Peak (10,648 ft), Mt Tuscarora (10,660 ft), Mt Wolverine (10,795 ft), Davenport Hill (10,140 ft)
Route: Start at Spruces Campground, Mill D trail to Park City Ridge just below 9990', follow ridge all the way to Davenport Hill, return to car via Days Fork.

We've had this hike on our calendar for about 2 months. Bradley Yates of the Wasatch Mountain Club organized this group outing and came up with the idea for this fantastic loop. We met 7 other club members at 6am on Saturday morning, and we're heading up the Mill D trail before 6:30am. The loop was essentially just a really long hike (nothing technical) with LOTS of ups and down. We picked up the ridge near Desolation Peak, and followed it all the way South, past Brighton, past Alta, and then headed back West before dropping down the Days Fork trail. Overall we topped out on 13 peaks (I think... it got hard to keep track after a while!), and according to my TOPO! software, climbed over 8500 feet of vertical. It was a pretty long day and a nice workout. You always feel good after a big vertical day. The fall foliage is about at peak in the Wasatch, so the timing for this loop was perfect.


Overview of the route relative to SLC


The entire route


The full moon still hanging out in the morning


Aspens starting to turn yellow


On the PC ridge


Looking towards Solitude


The group on the ridge


Aspens


Hiking along...


Andrea on one of the peaks... I can't even remember which one at this point


Sunset and Tuscarora


Sunset Peak and Lake Catherine


Twin Lakes Reservoir