For some reason in my head I thought this was going to be a quick little jaunt, instead it was a four hour ordeal. It however was gorgeous! The ridge climb up to Thurston definitely was a good workout, and was happy when the summit was reached! The views were incredible, I have to admit I quite liked it. Also hit peak 9491 along the way and Francis. Triple peak day!
AjaxHiker - Jun 24, 2014 5:35 pm Date Climbed: Jun 20, 2014
From Francis Peak
This was a fun little hike, although a little harder than I expected due to some lingering snow and missing the final ascent to the peak. Not paying attention & thinking I hadn't gone far enough yet, skirted around Thurston to the west on a game trail & thereby got to hike some of the ridgeline north. Found the summit on my way back.
Apexrock - May 19, 2014 5:05 pm Date Climbed: May 19, 2014
via Fernwood
Headed up to Layton Peak via the Great Western Trail and then ridge hopped our way over to the Thurston Peak. Great views!
Took the Adams Canyon north ridge route. The morning was nice... breezy, partly cloudy, cool. There was no snow to deal with until the trail turned towards the cabin. I postholed up to the spur ridge where I could see the summit/summit ridge. To get to the ridge is a miserable bushwack through scrub oak. Once on the ridge the snow was quite deep but most of it was consolidated fairly well. I walked the ridge all the way to the summit.
This is a fun route but I could do without the scrub oak. I hate that stuff!
ZeeJay - Oct 26, 2013 7:37 pm Date Climbed: Oct 26, 2013
Community Trail
Started at the Fernwood TH and took the community trail to Layton Peak and then followed the ridge to Thurston. On the way back, took a side trip to the "Layton Nipple"
09/20/13 Started Biking from where the road split to go to either Bountiful or Francis Peak. Hit Francis first and biked all the way to Thurston and then back to my car. RT Time was 4hr 15 mins.... Could have been faster but my dog Nebo came and ran the whole way.
9/1/2013 From Francis followed the ridge, up and over all the highpoints along the way to Thurston. Easy gentle ridge with great views.
Fleshj27 - Jun 15, 2013 9:07 pm Date Climbed: Jun 15, 2013
No Tomato Can
Failed from the North. Failed from the west. Decided to brute force this one and drove up to Francis Peak. Even with the elevation bonus, it is still an 8.5 mile out and back. Made many bad choices (which turned out interesting) and turned a relatively easy hike into a 7 hour epic. Gotta do it again!
Moogie737 - Sep 16, 2012 10:14 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2004
Various routes
First time via the Francis Peak route. 1+12 in spite of getting off the trail several times. Windy. Farmington Canyon sucks. #2 9-15-12 via Kay's Creek trail. This is a long trail on which one becomes adept at following switchbacks and then enduring lengthy stretches of contouring. Plan a full day if using this route. :) #3 9-29-12 Solo. Explored some new nuances to the route. Once on the west "summit" ridge, the better way is to head directly up the ridge to the summit. A small amount of bushwhacking will be necessary. 3+45 up, 2+35 down. Gorgeous fall colors in the maples. Found a full grown Golden Eagle drinking at the spring!
Tracy - Aug 1, 2012 12:16 am Date Climbed: Jul 30, 2012
from the end of the 4WD ridgeline road
I started this hike at 6:05 am after sleeping by my jeep at the trailhead. I was back by 8:30 including a summit of Pk 9491. This enabled me to bag Weber & Box Elder Co. highpoints and still drive to McCall, Idaho later in the day.
stokel - Jun 15, 2012 6:09 pm Date Climbed: May 13, 2012
Steep!
Completed in approximately 4:40. Incredibly steep, hurting just as much going down as going up. Took the Kays Creek trail. Requires bushwhacking for the last 0.25-0.5 mile to the summit (depending on where you jump off the Great Western Trail).
bsstumpy - Oct 29, 2011 12:23 pm Date Climbed: Oct 28, 2011
Thurston Peak via Kays Creek
My wife and I decided to climb Thurston from the west side using the Kays Creek Great Western Trail from Fernwood picnic area. The Farmington Canyon access road to Francis has been closed all year and who knows when it will be reopened. The trail up was very long and quite steep in places. Below Layton Peak and Chin Scraper there was lots of hard icy snow. Being without our crampons and ice axes we elected to bushwack up to the ridge north of Layton Peak. Very time consuming and tough. From Layton Peak we traversed south losing as little vertical as possible. Eventually we bushwacked again, working around some icy snow patches, up to Thurston Peak. Found the mailbox buried in dirt near the monument. Put it under some nearby boulders. After a small break we followed our ascent route backwards including all the bushwacks getting back to our car minutes before darkness. Counting all breaks and visiting a few hikers down low it took us 10 hours round trip. This ups our Utah County highpoint total to 17. Climbing Utah's county highpoints has been a new challenge and adventure for us since completing 49 state highpoints in 2010. Great Fall colors on a perfect weather day made this hike very rewarding.
voxnihili - Jul 5, 2011 1:36 pm Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2009
Ridge Traverse
After work, drove to Francis and hiked across. Beautiful sunset.
Summited via long west ridge from Adams trailhead. Overnighted at Adams Cabin. Friend and I had it to ourselves. Stocked with good food so we left supplies for karma. Good consolidated snow last two thirds of ridge. Didn't need snowshoes until descent. Snowed most of the day. Hardcore bushwacking to be done for about 45 minutes after one passes the cabin to regain the ridge. Still no trail past cabin. Stayed on the rock to do some scrambling although not necassary. No view from summit because of storm.
brekgrover - Oct 17, 2010 11:17 pm Date Climbed: Oct 17, 2010
Community Trail
My wife, and my son and I made an attempt on Thurston on July 4th 2010 via the Great Western Trail. We managed to summit Layton Peak that day, but turned back due to heavy winds and cold temperatures we were not prepared for. My son and I took a crack at Thurston today and this time opted to try the Community Trail Route from the same Fernwood parking lot. This trail is steep, but gains elevation quickly. After two hours of hiking we were just below Chinscraper and Layton Peak. We traversed across the big drainage between Layton Peak and Thurston to the saddle just below and west of Thurston. From there it was a steep bushwhack to gain the summit as we could find no discernable trail. It took us 4 hours exactly to summit. We stayed on the summit for 30 minutes as temperatures were cold, but the wind was moderate. We ate lunch in the saddle and were back to the car in under 8 hours. The fall colors were magnificent, and I enjoyed a day in the mountains with my boy, and finally topping out Thurston!
GO UTES!!!
Pfeiffer75 - Jul 21, 2010 1:54 pm Date Climbed: Jun 14, 2010
Solo ridge run
Did the ridge run from Francis. Tried to hit all of the sub peaks on the ridge. Still some significant snow fields on the east side. Nice day in the mountains
Dropped the truck off just before the radar towers and made the trek. I should have consulted a map or paid more attention to Kadee's instructions as we covered more ground than we needed to, but we had a great time.
We ended up hiking up and over the Francis summit, and then up and over 9491. Coming off that we saw/heard a rattlesnake, which seemed odd at that elevation and for as relatively "chilly" as it was that day.
We met two guys at the top of 9491 who were ready to take a photo with a sign saying they were on Thurston. We corrected this and then the larger group made our way to Thurston. Again, I should have checked a map as I missed the easy path to the peak and had to scramble up from the west side.
Still some snow to walk through on the trail. Great views! Great day.
My iPhone GPS app showed that our return distance was 4.2 miles.
utclimber - Jan 17, 2010 7:03 pm Date Climbed: Jan 17, 2010
Adams Canyon
Hiked up Thurston on snowshoes today, a warm but windy January day. Not too much snow down low, but up higher I was postholing even in snowshoes in unconsolidated snow and a breakable crust. Not that much snow up high either, but the base was near the ground.
shphilby - Sep 8, 2009 11:29 am Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2008
Fast
Had to grab this one cuz kirt was one peak up on me. lol
utahguy058 - Jul 27, 2014 12:29 pm Date Climbed: Jul 26, 2014
Thurston For LessFor some reason in my head I thought this was going to be a quick little jaunt, instead it was a four hour ordeal. It however was gorgeous! The ridge climb up to Thurston definitely was a good workout, and was happy when the summit was reached! The views were incredible, I have to admit I quite liked it. Also hit peak 9491 along the way and Francis. Triple peak day!
AjaxHiker - Jun 24, 2014 5:35 pm Date Climbed: Jun 20, 2014
From Francis PeakThis was a fun little hike, although a little harder than I expected due to some lingering snow and missing the final ascent to the peak. Not paying attention & thinking I hadn't gone far enough yet, skirted around Thurston to the west on a game trail & thereby got to hike some of the ridgeline north. Found the summit on my way back.
Apexrock - May 19, 2014 5:05 pm Date Climbed: May 19, 2014
via FernwoodHeaded up to Layton Peak via the Great Western Trail and then ridge hopped our way over to the Thurston Peak. Great views!
sharpa - Apr 20, 2014 5:58 pm Date Climbed: Apr 20, 2014
Scrub oak!Took the Adams Canyon north ridge route. The morning was nice... breezy, partly cloudy, cool. There was no snow to deal with until the trail turned towards the cabin. I postholed up to the spur ridge where I could see the summit/summit ridge. To get to the ridge is a miserable bushwack through scrub oak. Once on the ridge the snow was quite deep but most of it was consolidated fairly well. I walked the ridge all the way to the summit.
This is a fun route but I could do without the scrub oak. I hate that stuff!
ZeeJay - Oct 26, 2013 7:37 pm Date Climbed: Oct 26, 2013
Community TrailStarted at the Fernwood TH and took the community trail to Layton Peak and then followed the ridge to Thurston. On the way back, took a side trip to the "Layton Nipple"
Mooner - Sep 20, 2013 9:26 pm
Up I Go09/20/13 Started Biking from where the road split to go to either Bountiful or Francis Peak. Hit Francis first and biked all the way to Thurston and then back to my car. RT Time was 4hr 15 mins.... Could have been faster but my dog Nebo came and ran the whole way.
yadahzoemtn - Sep 14, 2013 8:35 pm Date Climbed: Sep 15, 2012
Via Kays CreekLong day.
scgrant - Sep 1, 2013 5:57 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2013
Via Francis9/1/2013 From Francis followed the ridge, up and over all the highpoints along the way to Thurston. Easy gentle ridge with great views.
Fleshj27 - Jun 15, 2013 9:07 pm Date Climbed: Jun 15, 2013
No Tomato CanFailed from the North. Failed from the west. Decided to brute force this one and drove up to Francis Peak. Even with the elevation bonus, it is still an 8.5 mile out and back. Made many bad choices (which turned out interesting) and turned a relatively easy hike into a 7 hour epic. Gotta do it again!
Moogie737 - Sep 16, 2012 10:14 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2004
Various routesFirst time via the Francis Peak route. 1+12 in spite of getting off the trail several times. Windy. Farmington Canyon sucks. #2 9-15-12 via Kay's Creek trail. This is a long trail on which one becomes adept at following switchbacks and then enduring lengthy stretches of contouring. Plan a full day if using this route. :) #3 9-29-12 Solo. Explored some new nuances to the route. Once on the west "summit" ridge, the better way is to head directly up the ridge to the summit. A small amount of bushwhacking will be necessary. 3+45 up, 2+35 down. Gorgeous fall colors in the maples. Found a full grown Golden Eagle drinking at the spring!
Tracy - Aug 1, 2012 12:16 am Date Climbed: Jul 30, 2012
from the end of the 4WD ridgeline roadI started this hike at 6:05 am after sleeping by my jeep at the trailhead. I was back by 8:30 including a summit of Pk 9491. This enabled me to bag Weber & Box Elder Co. highpoints and still drive to McCall, Idaho later in the day.
stokel - Jun 15, 2012 6:09 pm Date Climbed: May 13, 2012
Steep!Completed in approximately 4:40. Incredibly steep, hurting just as much going down as going up. Took the Kays Creek trail. Requires bushwhacking for the last 0.25-0.5 mile to the summit (depending on where you jump off the Great Western Trail).
bsstumpy - Oct 29, 2011 12:23 pm Date Climbed: Oct 28, 2011
Thurston Peak via Kays CreekMy wife and I decided to climb Thurston from the west side using the Kays Creek Great Western Trail from Fernwood picnic area. The Farmington Canyon access road to Francis has been closed all year and who knows when it will be reopened. The trail up was very long and quite steep in places. Below Layton Peak and Chin Scraper there was lots of hard icy snow. Being without our crampons and ice axes we elected to bushwack up to the ridge north of Layton Peak. Very time consuming and tough. From Layton Peak we traversed south losing as little vertical as possible. Eventually we bushwacked again, working around some icy snow patches, up to Thurston Peak. Found the mailbox buried in dirt near the monument. Put it under some nearby boulders. After a small break we followed our ascent route backwards including all the bushwacks getting back to our car minutes before darkness. Counting all breaks and visiting a few hikers down low it took us 10 hours round trip. This ups our Utah County highpoint total to 17. Climbing Utah's county highpoints has been a new challenge and adventure for us since completing 49 state highpoints in 2010. Great Fall colors on a perfect weather day made this hike very rewarding.
voxnihili - Jul 5, 2011 1:36 pm Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2009
Ridge TraverseAfter work, drove to Francis and hiked across. Beautiful sunset.
americanswiss - Feb 24, 2011 2:53 am
ThurstonSummited via long west ridge from Adams trailhead. Overnighted at Adams Cabin. Friend and I had it to ourselves. Stocked with good food so we left supplies for karma. Good consolidated snow last two thirds of ridge. Didn't need snowshoes until descent. Snowed most of the day. Hardcore bushwacking to be done for about 45 minutes after one passes the cabin to regain the ridge. Still no trail past cabin. Stayed on the rock to do some scrambling although not necassary. No view from summit because of storm.
brekgrover - Oct 17, 2010 11:17 pm Date Climbed: Oct 17, 2010
Community TrailMy wife, and my son and I made an attempt on Thurston on July 4th 2010 via the Great Western Trail. We managed to summit Layton Peak that day, but turned back due to heavy winds and cold temperatures we were not prepared for. My son and I took a crack at Thurston today and this time opted to try the Community Trail Route from the same Fernwood parking lot. This trail is steep, but gains elevation quickly. After two hours of hiking we were just below Chinscraper and Layton Peak. We traversed across the big drainage between Layton Peak and Thurston to the saddle just below and west of Thurston. From there it was a steep bushwhack to gain the summit as we could find no discernable trail. It took us 4 hours exactly to summit. We stayed on the summit for 30 minutes as temperatures were cold, but the wind was moderate. We ate lunch in the saddle and were back to the car in under 8 hours. The fall colors were magnificent, and I enjoyed a day in the mountains with my boy, and finally topping out Thurston!
GO UTES!!!
Pfeiffer75 - Jul 21, 2010 1:54 pm Date Climbed: Jun 14, 2010
Solo ridge runDid the ridge run from Francis. Tried to hit all of the sub peaks on the ridge. Still some significant snow fields on the east side. Nice day in the mountains
Bun84067 - Jul 7, 2010 11:52 pm Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2010
Francis to ThurstonDropped the truck off just before the radar towers and made the trek. I should have consulted a map or paid more attention to Kadee's instructions as we covered more ground than we needed to, but we had a great time.
We ended up hiking up and over the Francis summit, and then up and over 9491. Coming off that we saw/heard a rattlesnake, which seemed odd at that elevation and for as relatively "chilly" as it was that day.
We met two guys at the top of 9491 who were ready to take a photo with a sign saying they were on Thurston. We corrected this and then the larger group made our way to Thurston. Again, I should have checked a map as I missed the easy path to the peak and had to scramble up from the west side.
Still some snow to walk through on the trail. Great views! Great day.
My iPhone GPS app showed that our return distance was 4.2 miles.
utclimber - Jan 17, 2010 7:03 pm Date Climbed: Jan 17, 2010
Adams CanyonHiked up Thurston on snowshoes today, a warm but windy January day. Not too much snow down low, but up higher I was postholing even in snowshoes in unconsolidated snow and a breakable crust. Not that much snow up high either, but the base was near the ground.
shphilby - Sep 8, 2009 11:29 am Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2008
FastHad to grab this one cuz kirt was one peak up on me. lol