Hiking Big Baldy 2021

After a long-anticipated downpour on Thursday, I figured Friday morning would be nice and cool. It was technically cool, but for Utah the humidity was high and I felt that I was swimming in my clothing almost from the start of the trailhead.

I took the same route as last year.

Looking west toward Lindon/Orem about 3/4 mile from the trailhead.

Looking west through the gap on the Dry Canyon Trail #049 at about 3/4 mile from the trailhead.

View of Big Baldy (left); ridgeline is the ascent route.

View of the gap near the trailhead from the southern shoulder of Big Baldy.

Looking south. View of lower Dry Canyon, lower Provo Canyon and Provo City.

Skeletons of mountain mahogany trees. These all appear to have been burned—most of the gambel oak in this area were young.

About halfway up the ridge an occasional light breeze would give a little relief from the humidity, but it was also bringing in some clouds.

A moody view of Timpanogos from the southwest ridge of Big Baldy.

Looking south from just below Big Baldy summit.

Looking north toward Lone Peak, Bighorn, and North Timpanogos (center). Summit of Big Baldy visible just past the pines on the ridge at the far right of the image.

The clouds rolled in just as I was getting to the summit:

The temperature dropped enough to feel good, even with the humidity.

Looking south-southeast from the east ridge of Big Baldy into Dry Canyon. Burned sections of conifers visible on the right from a large fire last summer.

Forest Service trail markers in upper Dry Canyon.

I’m not sure why there are three parallel trails in this section. The one on the right is quite deep, the middle one has a lot of small stones, and the one on the left is soft.

View of the southern wall of the gap near the trailhead of Dry Canyon.

My route:

My GPX track (view on Footpath).

Last modified on 2021-06-28