Greetings from Draper (and an Olympus trail request)

[sartorius73]

I've only recently joined the board, but have been hiking in Utah for years. I try to do Olympus every year, and my wife and I did our second ascent up Timp last fall. Our first ascent was 16 years ago, the summer before we got married.

I now live at the base of Lone Peak, and climbed it for the first time last year. I'm planning an overnighter to Lone Peak this year.

I also hope to climb the north approach to Olympus this year. Does the trail start at the Neff's Canyon trailhead? If so, how do I know when I need to turn more southward to start up toward the north approach? I'm looking for more of a hike/scramble, rather than technical rock climbing. Any GPS waypoints or tracks would be nice, if available.

I've tried searching the forum, but haven't found a clear answer. Perhaps my search abilities are lacking.

Many thanks.

[stefan]

I've only recently joined the board, but have been hiking in Utah for years. I try to do Olympus every year, and my wife and I did our second ascent up Timp last fall. Our first ascent was 16 years ago, the summer before we got married.

I now live at the base of Lone Peak, and climbed it for the first time last year. I'm planning an overnighter to Lone Peak this year.

I also hope to climb the north approach to Olympus this year. Does the trail start at the Neff's Canyon trailhead? If so, how do I know when I need to turn more southward to start up toward the north approach? I'm looking for more of a hike/scramble, rather than technical rock climbing. Any GPS waypoints or tracks would be nice, if available.

I've tried searching the forum, but haven't found a clear answer. Perhaps my search abilities are lacking.

Many thanks.

hi, welcome to bogley.

olympus is a great one and my favorite place to watch the sunset.

hiking up the north face is great but i've not been up the north route in over a decade so i don't have current info for you. there is a photo depicting the route at the end of john vernath's book if you have it. also on this page there is a map (zoomable) which shows the classic north face trail (dashed line) leading to a red dotted line up to the west ridge to the top (scrambling). we used to start from near the water tanks on s. gilead way, however, last i heard there were access problems up there due to development. if that's the case you might be able to approach this route from elsewhere, e.g., neffs canyon or the west slabs trailhead as shown on this map from shane at climb-utah. perhaps someone with better info will pipe in.

[sartorius73]

Thanks for the response. I do have John Vernath's book, and have stared at that map a few times. I printed the zoomable map, and have been trying to match it up with Google Earth. I was sitting in the Neff's Canyon parking lot this morning, and it looks like there may be two trails there. One is the main Neff's Canyon trail, but there is another one that heads south to southwest. I'm wondering if it connects with the classic North Face Trail, since I think the classic trailhead is now blocked by a huge house and driveway.

I may give it a try on the 24th holiday, and then descend the more common west trail.

Do bogley forum members post or make available GPX track files? I haven't found much mention of them here, so I was curious.

[stefan]

One is the main Neff's Canyon trail, but there is another one that heads south to southwest. I'm wondering if it connects with the classic North Face Trail, since I think the classic trailhead is now blocked by a huge house and driveway.

i've not completed the route from neffs, but i should point out that the zoomable map has the route shown from neffs (dotted line) and that site has a brief description on that route here. with some bushwacking it certainly looks doable. the trail near the ascent gully/chute seems barely discernable on google.

Do bogley forum members post or make available GPX track files? I haven't found much mention of them here, so I was curious.

yes i've seen of them shared/posted and if i understand correctly you can also post them on google maps and display the map in your post. someone else in the know would have to give your more details on this but for posting google maps see the 'How To' in the red bar. (see this thread for an example.)

[Sombeech]

Welcome to bogley!