Backpacking/Camping in Hogum Fork

ADDENDUM: Here's one view from the Spot tracker of my route:


I decided to take Friday off and do a little backpacking and camping in some of my favorite haunts of the Wasatch Front. I started at the White Pine trailhead around 11am and after 30 minutes up the trail, I got this nice view of Little Cottonwood valley, looking towards Salt Lake. The higher ridge you see is what divides Maybird Gulch from Hogum fork.

Around 12:15 I got to this spot where the trail splits off to go over to Maybird Gulch and its lovely lakes.

A nice field of yellow wildflowers along the way to the lakes.

The lower of the two Maybird lakes. The rugged rock fields you see surrounding it would be the dominant feature of the terrain I'd hike over for the next 3 hours. "Boulder hopping" is what I've heard other people call it.

Looking back across the upper lake, with the red tops of the Twin peaks in the background.

Traversing along the ridge towards the little Matterhorn, looking for the low point to cross over into Hogum Fork.

Atop the ridge, looking at the little Matterhorn.

Beginning of a panorama of Hogum fork, beginning from the south and going west.


During the "Beatout" hike, I hiked along most of this ridge from the summit of the little Matterhorn to Chipman's peak.

Looking back from whence I came, and a view of the more eastern peaks that divide the Big and Little Cottonwood canyons.

How's this for a bed? I found a large, flat boulder in the middle of a boulder stream I was coming down and the idea slowly grew on me that it might be an ideal spot to camp. I originally planned to find a spot in the more forested areas, but this spot had a two distinct advantages:
1. Completely flat and no rocks or clumps of grass to bother me while trying to sleep.
2. Not easily accessible to coyotes or bears.
So I set down my gear in the rocks, fished out my smaller backpack, and headed off in search of water from the stream that I knew was further west.

This is the view looking down from my campsite rock, to some impressive granite cliffs that separate me from Coalpit gulch.

On my hike to find some water. I was ultimately unsuccessful, hitting my turnaround time when I was still a good ways from the stream--which I could hear down below, but seemed quite a ways and down a steep slope that could take a while to get back up. I decided I'd try to make do with the .8 L I had left, and get some more from the Maybird lakes the next morning.

I got back to my camp and set up my tent and unloaded most of the things I packed. It was a beautiful evening; I enjoyed the solitude. This canyon is rarely visited, and likely even less camped in, so I had the entire area to myself.

Zooming out to get a better feel of my surroundings.

Looking the other direction to the ridge that separates me from Maybird Gulch, as the sun sets.

After getting all settled in, I headed down the boulder field about 200 ft. and began set up a fire ring and used some wood I'd gathered earlier to start a fire. Luckily, I had a second lighter, since the first one broke, and I used a few pieces of paper from a notebook to get it started. I had some chicken and yams in foil, which I over-roasted in the hot fire, but was happy to find that lots of the yam was still good within its blackened shell, and small un-charred portions in the center of the chicken strips were edible as well. I had to supplement this lousy dinner with some larabars, dates, and nuts. And now my water was really getting low. I decided to leave the rainfly off and enjoyed a spectacular sky of stars as it got darker. I feel asleep to the sound of the wind in the trees, but woke up many times to the discomfort of a hip or shoulder or leg that had routinely been spoiled on a soft mattress for years past.

Sunrise in the canyon the next morning. I was up around 7:30, took some time to break camp and get some breakfast, and then headed out around 10:00 am.