Green Canyon to Mt. Elmer 21 September 2013

Home

Green Canyon to Mt. Elmer, September 21, 2013

Seven Cache hikers drove two high clearance vehicles about 4 miles up the Green Canyon jeep road to the Mt. Elmer trailhead. Denis, Caroline, Susan (trip leader), Jane, Terry, Dave W., and Dave P. began the hike a few minutes before 9 am. The temperature at the start was cool to cold (depending on your constitution!). Within two miles, at the Naomi Wilderness boundary, we were in the sun and temperatures in the 70s prevailed for the rest of the day. The day was sunny with bright blue skies. A stiff breeze was blowing, particularly as we climbed out of Green Canyon to the ridge and Mt. Elmer peak.

Brilliant orange Mountain Ash berries, dark purple Chokecherry berries (edible), dusky purple Elderberry berries (edible), brilliant red Rose hips (edible), and white Mountain snowberry berries were in abundance along the lower and mid-elevation parts of the trail.

We ate lunch at the saddle below Mt. Elmer peak. Spectacular views of Flat Top Mountain and the Cache Valley directly to the west competed with views of the Bear Range and the Bear Lake basin to the east. After lunch, we continued across a steep scree slope and scrambled up to Mt. Elmer peak. More amazing views awaited us. The Uinta Mountains could be seen far off to the south while stiff winds were kicking up dust from the west desert creating hazy conditions to the west.

Patches of Big-tooth maple and aspen were beginning to change to their fall colors of orange and yellow, respectively.

Trip summary:

Drove 2 vehicles 8.5 miles from Logan to the Green Canyon trailhead
Hiked 5.3 miles to the base of Mt. Elmer along the Mt. Naomi Peak National Recreation Trail (NRT)
Scrambled off-trail to the peak and took a short side-trip to the bottom of the cliffs when we returned to the trail
Total hike: 11.3 miles with 3600 feet of elevation gain and a 6:00 return to Logan

(Thanks to Susan for the trip narrative and Dave for the photos and GPS track..)

At the Wilderness boundary, 2 miles into our hike
Overlooking Cottonwood Canyon South Fork	Looking at Mt. Elmer from our ridge lunch spot - we traversed the talus slope under the cliffs, then up to the top
Climbing the slope up to Mt. Elmer, with our lunch spot, Mt. Jardine and Flattop Mountain in the background	On top of Mt.Elmer, with Cherry Peak and Mt. Naomi in the background
The changing colors of autumn
This is a topographic map showing our GPS track Click here to see a satellite view of the route (using Google Maps) Download a Google Earth file to see our route in 3-D