Trip Report
Mount Peale has been on my list a LONG time. The peak is one of the 57 peaks in the lower 48 with over 5000 feet prominence. In addition to that, the peak is the highpoint of the La Sal range and San Juan county in Utah.
We were heading to the San Juan mountains in Colorado for a week of peak bagging and sight seeing. Since Mount Peale was in the general area, I thought we would start with that peak. After a long drive, we stayed at a Moab hotel the night before our hike.
I hadn't really paid much attention to the directions, other than that the hike started from La Sal Pass. I punched "La Sal Pass" into my Google Maps app and we started following the directions. Once we got on the La Sal Pass Road, it got really really rough quickly! I knew this couldn't be right, so after some swearing, we retraced our steps back to the highway and cell reception. I found a trip report that said "Don't come up to the pass from the west, it is extremely rugged". So we found directions to the correct road and made our way to the town of La Sal. The road coming in from the south is much nicer!
Despite my error, it was still fairly early and cool. We starting hiking up the trail. After 10 or so minutes, we hit a road, which led to a higher trailhead. Man, my research on this peak (and the guidebook I was using) were lacking!
The basic premise of this route is that you get into the major gully west of Mount Peale. This gully starts around "x10243" on the Mount Peale quad. There is an obvious use trail, even when the terrain turns rocky.
Around 11,700', the use trail leaves the gully and starts heading east towards Mount Peale. The initial gain is quite steep on some loose dirt. This is about the time Carrie started complaining she wasn't feeling that great. We had a break, hydrated, and ate... she plugged on, but still wasn't feeling great. Luckily the terrain from this point wasn't as steep and the climber's trail was in good shape.
We eventually got on top and enjoyed the views provided by a peak with 6000' of prominence. However, Carrie was light-headed and nauseous. We headed down to get her some thicker oxygen.
Mount Peale turned out to be a really nice hike with great views. After finishing, we pointed the truck east toward Colorado... where we would spend the next 7 days!
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