Tom called us on Wednesday and wanted to know if we'd like to meet him to do a couple of hikes west of Bryce Canyon on the Paunsaugunt Plateau. It didn't take long for us to decide to meet him at his camp on Saturday morning. Boy, are we glad we did! It's crazy how we've explored all around this area but have missed these hikes because the peaks weren't "high enough" or "distinct enough" to give them a chance. Thanks to Tom and his unique way of finding hikes that are unexpected gems, we have now totally fallen in love with the area and are planning other adventures later this summer!
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| We are on our way to Black Butte to locate Black Benchmark |
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Tom asked if we wanted to do a longer hike or a shorter one . . . We were undecided until we came to the Grandview Trail . . . This looked like an interesting option, and once we knew it would lead us to the base of Black Butte we chose this slightly longer route . . . It was a great choice!
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The trail follows along the western rim of the plateau
and provided amazing views of Bryce like formations
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| This blaze on a Bristlecone Pine was one of many trail markers, along the way |
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| Black Butte is off in the distance |
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Tom and Kent are dwarfed by this old Bristlecone Pine . . .
It's astounding how these "weather beaten" trees hang on to life so tenaciously! |
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| The Grandview Trail definitely gave us nice views of the Sunset Cliffs |
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This horned toad blended right in with its surroundings . . . You do see him, right?
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| The only tracks besides ours were that of a mountain bike and several deer |
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The trail goes does not summit Black Butte . . . Instead it continues around it's western base . . .
So, we left it and did a short bushwhack to reach the top . . .
Black Benchmark was placed here in 1964 . . . we also located one Reference Mark |
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| Views to the west . . . Looking towards Long Valley Junction on HWY 89 |
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| After finding the benchmark, we continued on to the high point of Black Butte |
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It was fun to find a register left by well known Peakbaggers, Gordon MacLeod & Barbara Lilley
(Barbara Lilley is 95 years old and last summitted a peak in 2022 at age 93)
The correct elevation of Black Butte is 9557 ft |
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| Rather than take the trail back, we opted to head straight down for the road in order to make a loop |
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| Next time we'll take the trail . . . it was more scenic and much shorter! |
If you don't have this short hike (2.8 miles r/t) on your list of peaks to do, make sure you add it! With only 570 ft of elevation gain (of which half comes in the last short push to the top), you can't afford to miss out on the beauty this trail provides as you stroll along a bristlecone and ponderosa studded ridge. If you'd like a topo map and GPS tracks, along with a short YouTube video, you can click
here for a link to Tom's Peakbagger.com post.
This was our morning hike. If you'd like a link to our afternoon hike of Peak 9304, you can click
here.
