Mt. Superior and Monte Cristo Hike

Yesterday we were lucky enough to celebrate "Pioneer Day" (a Utah holiday in remembrance of the Mormon's journey to Salt Lake City) with a day off from work. Our good buddy Pete was in town on business, so while Audrey raced in the Pioneer Day 10k with a couple friends, Pete and I decided to hike Mt. Superior from Alta.

This is a view of Mt. Superior from the Alta parking lot (elevation 8,530 ft), the arrow is where we're headed (elevation 11,132 ft). As you can see it was a pretty nice morning for a hike.


About an hour into our journey we came across a cave, this is me spelunking.


Our first major milestone was making it to Cardiff Pass, from the top we were able to look into Big Cottonwood Canyon.


After hiking the first part of the ridge (above Cardiff Pass) there was this cool outcropping of rock with the town of Alta far below in the background. This is me being dumb.



This is an attempt at artistic photography (it won't be the last), I think that's Alta in the background.


More art, this time with Snowbird in the background (remember you can click the pics to expand them).


As our climb continued it became less of a hike and more of a scramble.


More scrambling (we're getting close to the peak).


Even more scrambling.


Here's my crappy attempt at narrating a video.

We made it (in 2.5 hours no less)! The summit was extremely rocky.


This is me at the top of the world (not really).


More views from the summit.




The town of Alta below.


Views of Alta in the summer.


Another view of Alta (that's Devil's castle in the distance).


On the way down there were wildflowers surrounding the trail.


More wildflowers.


One last attempt at art.


That's it!