Trip Report
I was doing my usual thing, emailing my wife early in the week to seed the idea of a weekend trip. Instead of a simple yes or no, I got 20 questions back. "What day? Who with? Where you going? Any lakes on the way?" I asked why all the questions, to which she replied "I'm interested in going, find a peak with a lake at the base of it where I can fish while you climb". Awesome, I thought! No offense guys, but my wife is my favorite hiking partner :-)
So I pieced together about 4 ideas for our outing. I favored the one that happened to be the longest drive, hardest hike, and tallest peak. I figured she'd go for the easy one, but she picked the same trip I favored. So we were off for Bellas Lake in the Pioneers on Saturday morning.
The drive over was great. I pointed out each and every peak. At one point Carrie commented "You don't expect me to remember any of this right? But keep telling me". Once we passed the Corral Creek turn-off along Trail Creek Road, she was in new territory. She really enjoyed seeing the Trail Creek and Copper Basin areas for the first time.
From the trailhead, we had a 1600' gain over 3 miles to get to the lake. I don't know if I am out-of-shape, was carrying too much weight (I volunteered to carry all my wife's gear too), it was hot out, or what; but I was exhausted when we reached the lake after 1 hour and 25 minutes of hiking. After making sure Carrie had everything she needed out of the pack, I drank and ate lunch, then quickly jumped up and started heading toward Pyramid Peak.
Pyramid Peak sits at 11,628 feet. It is located on a high ridge of the Pioneer range that sits above Copper Basin. The peak lies between 11,825 foot high Altair Peak and Big Black Dome. Pyramid Peak is rated class 2 in Tom's book, but I believe it is closer to class 3 near the finish.
I climbed the peak by heading from Bellas Lake #1 to the large, unnamed lake at 9,880', just below Point 10,511. Instead of heading directly for the peak, I headed west a bit and got on the ridge containing Point 10,511. Once on that point, I dropped about 40 feet, then started up some loose scree slopes on Pyramid's southeast ridge. The slopes here are a mixture of small pines, loose scree, and small boulders. This section is the worst part of the climb of Pyramid. The loose rock and steepness was taking its toll on my body and I struggled up the initial 300 feet (remember, I was already tired at the lake). Finally I topped out on firmer and less steep ground at around 10,800 feet. I could see the summit from here. After a short break, I re-energized and started making much better time en route to the summit.
The final summit block has some large boulders and I felt was class 3 climbing. A very obvious register in a glass jar contained dozens of names. I particularly enjoyed a comment from the Howard brothers, stating "We climbed up the east face. Glad there was a register so we knew where we were."
I took in the views, which were great! There was some haze from a fire burning near Stanley, but the big Pioneer peaks popping up all over were a wonderful sight - haze or no haze. I signed the register, took some photos, and quickly headed down to re-join my wife. I was running 30 minutes late already!
The way down went slow, as I wasn't disciplined and stayed on less steep terrain that took me on a longer route. While longer, the route worked and I popped out at the lake right as my wife was starting to worry. While I was gone, she had successfully caught a nice cutthroat trout with her fly rod. She was ecstatic and so was I for her! She pumped some water, while I re-hydrated for the hike out. I was spent and the 3 miles out were not too fun. We eventually reached the trailhead and had the celebratory beers before heading off in great evening lighting. Carrie stayed awake until Hailey, then crashed hard, as this was a big day for her and something she isn't used to. We both agreed it was a perfect day in the mountains!
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