First Summit

My First Big Summit

While living in Logan, Utah for the summer, I decided to go for my first big peak, Box Elder Peak. On a warm, bright Saturday I drove down to the Rattlesnake Trailhead and started hiking just before noon. With the clear skies and apparent high pressure system in place, I wasn't too worried about afternoon thunderstorms on this particular day.
DON'T MISS THE TRAIL when it diverges from the Jeep road, like I did. This is just over half a mile in, where the road curves right and heads south/southeast.
The trail was a little muddy but not bad. It was shady enough to be fairly cool. Farther up, when the trail comes out of the trees, the wind was blowing, so it was still pleasant. Up around 8000 ft. (?), the bushes grow out across the trail for a fairly long stretch. Some people might like to have on long pants there, as they scratch at the legs. I wore shorts and did fine nonetheless. There was very little snow left. At the very top I did have to cross over a big mound of snow to get to the actual summit. The wind was blowing and it was pleasantly cool.
The view was terrific, all of Great Salt Lake, the High Uintas far down to the southeast and who knows how far up into Idaho. I was happy to see no snakes on the Rattlesnake Trail. The only wildlife I saw was a sage hen up near the top. According to my GPS, it was right at 4 miles up with 3950 ft. of elevation gain. The trip up took me about 3 hours, and 2+ coming down. This was a fun little climb.