Hiking Roberts Horn (2025)

Let me begin by saying that this was not my best hike, and it could have been better. Et, ut solitum est, mea culpa erat. Which is Latin for “I did not carefully check my ridge route before ascending.”

What that meant practically I’ll tell you later. First, the good part of the hike, which was like 95% of it. I started around 7:40 a.m., the sun still below the ridge to the east (Roberts Ridge). The trail was covered with a few inches of fine, dry dust.

Roberts Horn is somewhere on that highest ridge above the trail

Roberts Ridge on the left divides Aspen Grove basin from Timpooneke/Timpanogos basin

A view of Little Cottonwood ridge from the Giant Staircase

There was still water running late in this dry summer:

Given how dry this summer has been, I was surprised to see these lower springs still running

The trail through the lower Giant Staircase was shady most of the morning. The sun came up on the trail around mile 3.

This deceptively gentle rise leads to Pika Cirque

Looking back along the trail. The three-mile mark is somewhere along the lower part of that straight section

At mile 4 I was back in the shade again, before the last “step” of the Giant Staircase that leads into Timpanogos Basin.

A rocky section of the trail; most of the Timpooneke trail is not too rocky, especially compared with Aspen Grove

A view of the lower staircase, and Little Cottonwood ridge in the background

Upper Timpanogos Basin; you can barely make out the trail traversing the scree

Looking east toward Timp Divide (south end of Roberts Ridge)

I love the views of Timpanogos Ridge in the lower section of Timpanogos Basin.

Looking north/northwest toward North Timpanogos Ridge and the limestone hoodoos

The upper part of the basin has its charms.

I am happy to say I found some snow in August and made a (wee) snowball. Hey Mark.

At this point I’m standing on Timp Divide, between Timpanogos Basin and Aspen Grove Basin. This is the southern end of Roberts Ridge.

On Timp Divide looking north: Timpanogos Basin on the left, Aspen Grove on the right, Roberts Ridge down the middle, with Roberts Horn at the high point.

Roberts Ridge on the Timpanogos Basin side is a bit steep

The Timp Glacier and Emerald Lake below; South Timpanogos (not visible) to the top and left of the snowfield

Looking west/northwest into Timpanogos Basin and some limestone hoodoos

Here is where things went a little pear-shaped. Before I left, I sort of sketched my route (which you can see in the map at the bottom of this post) along what I thought was a nice smooth contour line, and then a final steep push of a few hundred feet near the peak. I should have done more research because there is an actual route that many people take which is perfectly good and easy to navigate. I think I panicked a little when I looked up the ridge and saw some of the alpine fir bramble… I have bad memories of scratching and clawing my way through this sort of thicket such that I will always opt for an open route, even when it’s worse. Which is what happened here.

A scree slope. I did not check my route carefully and incorrectly believed this way would be better than the actual ridgeline

A rare sighting of Terrence the Alligator.

Terrence is an albino alligator and native to the area

I did finally make it up. If you’ve ever tried to climb up scree, you’ll know it’s a lot of one step up, 3/4 of a step back (or more). It was a lot of effort for so little—and it could have been completely avoided had I stayed as close to the ridgeline as possible.

The view from Roberts Horn: