Location: North 40:22.327, West 112:11.349 (GPS at the summit)
Utah, USA
Difficulty: YDS class 1 (if you stay on the trail!)
Climbed: June 30, 2008
Information:
How to get there:
From Salt Lake City, go west on Interstate I-80 (about 20 miles),
locate exit 99 and exit here onto Hwy. UT-36 going south.
Continue south until Hwy. UT-73 forks left (approximately 25 miles).
Go 4.6 miles on Hwy. 73, then make a left towards the small village
of Ophir (sign). Another 3.4 miles and you are in Ophir, at 4.4 miles
you cross a creek (4WD or high clearance recommended.) Drive along
a wooden fence on your right hand side and locate a 4WD road that
goes right. If you come to a new creek crossing, you have gone too
far. Park here, location N40:22.898, W112:14.279, elevation 2035 meter.
This (side) road was difficult to spot after dark, but the above GPS
coordinates should help.
From the Deseret Peak trailhead, one would go back down to the
turn-off (approx. 7 miles), then turn right and go 11.4 miles where
you turn left. Travel 2.5 miles and hit a railroad crossing as well
as Hwy. 36. Go north 1.6 miles to Hwy. 73, then follow the description
above.
A sturdy 4WD may consider going up this side road to the main saddle,
this would cut the hike by 2 hours. The road starts going fairly
steeply down to the creek, then across. If your vehicle is ok with this
beginning, the rest should go as well. The road is fairly nice most of the way.
Route description:
First, immediately cross the creek and hike along the side road that
forked off at the trailhead. Higher up at a clearing, this road forks,
follow the right fork as the route will take us to the main saddle where
one gets a view to the other side. This saddle is located at
N40:21.094, W112:13.173,elevation 2458 meter. Head left, following a small
road that only runs up the first hill.
A trail starts here, but it is
impossible to find if you do not know where to look. Go left, and look for
a very small cairn (that I left behind). The precise location
should be N40:21.151, W112:13.013, elevation 2500 meter.
A very faint trail can be identified, mostly covered by vegetation.
Follow this trail, it will get much better for most of the way.
The trail zig-zags up the first broad slope, sometimes a bit hard to see.
Higher uo it contours left and gains a pretty level area before the ridge
again climbs higher. The trail stays level and traverses to the right side.
Further on, the trail descends a little and crosses a dense section
of trees. You should note the trail
climbing on the slope on the other
side of the trees if you loose it among the dense vegetation. Continue up
on the other side and gain a broad ridge like feature. Go a bit up this
ridge (that is left) and locate the trail that now traverses left in order
to gain the main ridge above. (The trail is a bit ill-defined just here).
From this broad col on the main ridge continue uphill along the ridge, staying
left when convenient. This route takes you directly to the summit of
Lewiston Peak, location N40:21.606, W112:11.646, elevation 3173 meter.
You may bypass this peak by following a trail that descends slightly off
the ridge and to the saddle that separates Lewiston Peak from Flat Top Mountain.
Descend to the saddle and follow the gentle ridge in order to reach Flat Top
Mountain.
Comments:
After my evening hike on Deseret Peak, I decided to drive across
to the trailhead for Flat Top Mountain in order to get changed into
early morning starts. My two climbs so far had been rather late starts.
I drove to the small village of Ophir without problems. My description called
for locating a side road 1.2 miles after Ophir. Easier said than done, by now it
was dark and I drove at least 2 miles without seeing any road going right.
Somewhat worried that my description for this climb was rather brief, I returned to
Ophir and asked two different places. Neither man had ever heard about Flat Top Mountain
or Lewiston peak for that matter. Well, I drove back up the valley, located what looked
like a nice place to camp, parked and went to bed in the rear part of my truck. I assumed
that daylight might help solve my navigational problems.
I woke up by 0500, it was still semi-dark. Breakfast, then a slow drive down the road
with many stops to explore possible candidate side roads. Finally, I got to the trailhead.
There was little doubt, a clear dirt road headed up the valley to a col, this all matched
my idea of the climb pretty well.
I was on my way at 0605, met a few cows along the road and
arrived at the col at 0700.
A small road headed uphill
my way, however, it soon ended. There were no trails to
be seen and I started more or less straight uphill. The vegetation was not too bad.
I had just come to terms with the fact that this climb would be off-trail, when I came
across a very clear trail climbing from my left towards the right. What luck, I should
definitely find out where this trail starts upon my return.
The trail was obviously climbing this slope,
however, it would benefit from some
more use. A few places pretty hard to follow as nature is doing its best trying
to reclaim it. Soon, I arrived at a flat section with the main ridge going higher
a bit further ahead. The trail traversed out right and eventually climbed a small saddle
higher up. The going was easy and by 0835 I arrived
on Lewiston Peak. I rested 10 minutes,
signed the summit register and looked
ahead to Flat Top Mountain. The remaining hike
looked quite easy. Lewiston Peak has a prominence of 73 meter (I measured the two
possible saddles), thus qualifies as a sub-peak of Flat Top. I arrived on Flat Top at
0920 and decided to have a good rest on this very nice viewpoint.
A solar powered antenna
was located nearby. I signed the register and noted that few people climb
this peak. There had been a single climber (on both summits) only 3 days ago, otherwise
not many visitors this year. A group had skied up here back in March, reporting good
conditions.
I left at 0950 and bypassed Lewiston
on the right side. It was getting hot and I was
happy about my early start. I was back down at the car at 1205, thus making this a
six hour trip altogether.
To read about the other peaks climbed on this trip, see this summary.
Resources:
Images
Flat Top Mountain. Lewingston Peak is the subsidiary
peak on the right side.