Copper Belt Peak

Our friend, Tom, often raves about Copper Belt Peak being his favorite scenic hike in the Tushars.  Each time we hike there, with him, it seems the conversation eventually circles back around to how much he enjoyed the ridgeline route he took to summit this peak.  With so much "fanfare" it was high time to get out of the Hurricane Valley heat and go find out what made this hike so special.  We, too, can now say that Copper Belt Peak should be high on your "to-do-list" when you visit this wonderful mountain range just east of Beaver - you won't find a much finer hike in all of southern Utah!

Although there is no "official" trail, the well worn foot path begins from
the Bullion Pasture Trailhead (11,000 ft) . . . 
From this picture you can see the ridgeline we will be hiking to Copper Belt Peak
which is a mile beyond the "pointy peak" on the left side of the picture 

The trail is fairly easy to follow . . .
However, it does fade in and out, but is never too hard to relocate 

Once on the ridgeline, we could see beautiful Bullion Pasture . . .
One of our favorite hikes uses this pasture as an access point to The Pocket

This picture was taken from the top of the "pointy peak" we mentioned earlier . . . 
It is simply known as Peak 11673

These unique & colorful seed pods caught our attention!
Astragalus whitneyi, known as balloon milkvetch  

The trail faded out past Peak 11673 . . .
We stayed on the ridgeline heading toward Copper Belt Peak

Off in the distance we spotted several mountain goats . . .
(If you click on the picture it will enlarge - the goats are on the ridge to the far right of the road)
In the center of the picture you can see an old mining road . . .
We followed this path to the base of the "nippily" Copper Belt Peak

Mountain goats are a treat to see . . . altogether, we counted 32!

So hard to identify, but this is a Fabaceae, a member of the pea family

We are on top of Copper Belt Peak and are looking back from where we have come . . .
This hike offers some of the best views in the Tushar Mountains . . .

Gold and Signal Peaks . . . we hiked both peaks one year ago today!

We rarely see anyone on our hikes . . . 
 However, when we began our hike we could see another hiker off in the distance . . .
 It was fun to meet up with Clint during our lunch break and trade some "war stories" . . .
That's Copper Belt Peak in the background

Creamy white mountain goat hair 

Another rare high elevation Fabaceae, so unusual and fun to see

Heading back on the old mining road . . .
That's Mt. Belknap (12,137 ft) off to the right

Kent decided we needed one more peak . . .
So at the saddle of Peak 11673, we hiked north and grabbed this minor unnamed peak

The grand finale from the top of the unnamed peak . . .
The white arrow points to the trailhead . . . 
7 miles RT with a gradual up & down ascent of about 2200 ft

Don't wait as long as we did to do this wonderful hike!  Tom completed this hike exactly two years ago to the day and has a topo map, along with GPS tracks, on his Peakbagger.com post.  Click here if you would like more information about this outstanding ridge hike in the beautiful Tushars.

Circleville Mtn Loop

After last weeks enjoyable hike to Birch Creek Mountain, we discussed going back and making a loop of areas we hadn’t explored on Circleville Mountain (one of our favorite peaks).  When completed, we would be able to say we had hiked most of the major peaks of the southern Tushar Range.  Early in the week, Tom came up with three options and we all decided #2 would be best for us and the dogs – and so off we went on our seven-mile adventure!

It was a great plan, but a couple of “hiccups” occurred early in the hike that ended up making it more difficult for Kent than he expected.  Namely, he found he was experiencing effects from a Covid shot he got the night before, and then there were the hornet stings, both he and Tom, suffered early in the hike – combined they caused him severe achiness and a “sinking feeling,” with each step, that he wouldn’t complete the hike.  Thankfully, with Tom and Allison’s assistance (and some very slow moving) he was able to make a slightly shortened version of the loop.

We started our hike on the Anderson Meadow Trail #167

Mushrooms started to appear!

This one resembles a pineapple

These almost look like flowers with their unique split petal caps 

Ouch! We had to do a little bushwhacking through some Wild Mountain Currant bushes 

Tom and his dogs, taking a break, and enjoying the views
 

Ezy standing on the ridge that will lead us to the mountain's plateau

The monsoon rains have sprouted varieties of mushrooms we have never seen before!  

Birch Creek Mountain (10,738) towers over Anderson Meadow Reservoir

 It was a nice surprise to come across Fireweed . . . it's something we don't see too often  

Even with a little smoke in the distance we still had great views

There's a lot of volcanic rock on Circleville Mountain . . .
But, oh my, the views are great all along the ridge that falls away to the east!

Pretty Columbine growing along the ridge

The Tushar Mountains are captivating . . . so much to see!

The high peaks of Mt. Baldy (12,122) & Belknap (12,137) could be seen to the north  

The top of Circleville looks flat (that's it in the distance),
but we had a steady incline to reach the summit
Tom made it to the top . . .
Allison waited with Kent, in a meadow, while he rested before we all headed back down

These flowers remind us that summer is waning

Time to head back down off the mountain . . . Kent was more than ready!

We chose the path of least resistance . . .  it was the shortest, but steepest, way down!

2021 will be remembered for mushrooms!

Fly Agaric or Amanita muscaria is probably the most recognizable mushroom

We could see Anderson Meadow Reservoir from the top of Circleville Mountain . . .
 now we have come full circle

Circleville Mountain is a very enjoyable and rewarding hike!  There is no trail, but there are various routes one can take to get to the top.  For the path we took on this hike you can see Tom's Peakbagger.com post by clicking here.  For another route (and certainly the easiest) you can click here and the link will take you to a previous hike he did two years ago.  Both will give you topo maps and GPS tracks.

Birch Creek Mountain

Hard to believe we didn’t do a post for July – it’s not that we weren’t busy – but our activities didn’t take us outdoors and into the mountains.  So, when Tom suggested we do Birch Creek Mountain, in the Tushars, we were more than ready!  Birch Creek Mountain is a hike that we have had on our lists and today seemed like a “golden” (as Tom likes to say) opportunity to go and get it done.

This turned out to be an enjoyable hike.  We followed an old logging road to a beautiful little meadow with a small spring.  Then it was up a short, but steep trail that took us to a saddle on the ridge.  From here we followed another less traveled trail to the top.  As you will see there were some good views, but the most remarkable thing was the assortment of mushrooms that sprouted up all along the forest floor!

We had never heard of the Big Twist before . . . it turned out to be a really nice trail!
(Big Twist, as we found out later, is actually a drainage on the west side of the mountain)

Within minutes we came across this cool mushroom!  

This one was huge, it's possibly a Bolete . . . although we are not fungi experts  

It was so refreshing to come across this lush green meadow

In the meadow were clusters of Austroboletus mushrooms 

Hard to miss this trail marker!

Amanita Muscaria are colorful & poisonous

Once we reached the top we had a nice view of Circleville Mountain

Mushrooms emerging from the soil

Clear skies provided a great view of the northern Tushars

So many cool mushrooms . . .  a UFO or Spaceship?

Kent spotted this spike elk antler 

Shaggy Mane or Lawyers Wig mushroom

Views looking south towards Parowan

This Shingled Hedgehog looks like it was under the broiler for too long!

We were surprised to find this Forest Service Survey Marker
(It was the first of it's kind that either Tom or us had seen)

This mushroom looks like a Pretzel Roll

The trail was not well-trodden, but it was easy to follow

These look like pancakes!

The dogs enjoyed a cool drink from a spring in the meadow
before we made our final push back to the trailhead

Birch Creek Mountain (10,738) provides a nice backdrop for Tushar Lakeside

Please click here for a topo map with GPS tracks from Tom's Peakbagger.com post.  Round trip was just under six miles with approximately 1,200 ft gain of elevation and took us about four hours to complete.