Bald Mountain

What do you do when you return from a week long trip to Barcelona? But of course, you climb a mountain. Well, I at least I did anyway. I've been meaning to hike to the top of Bald Mountain since mid July when we had a picnic up at Mirror Lake. For one reason or another I kept coming up with excuses not to go (despite hiking lots of other places). I finally decided that this morning was going to be the morning that I conquered the mountain.

The trailhead is about 90 miles from Spanish Fork. The ride was a little chilly on the bike at 10 in the morning. The ride got progressively cooler as I ascended into the mountains. Mine was the only Harley at the trailhead. Apparently the idea of riding a Harley to go hiking was so foreign to the ranger that he let me through without paying an entry fee.

Although the trail ascended quickly, it wasn't the steepness of the trail that was killing me. I was struggling to find oxygen in the air that I was breathing. I'm not sure if my lungs had just grown accustomed to the Mediterranean air in the past week or if the fact that the trailhead started above 10,000 ft had something to do with it. The hike was about 4 miles roundtrip and ended at Bald Mountain Peak with spectactular views of the lakes below.