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Rocko1 Posts: 601
2/7/2022
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Last weekend myself, my wife and Brian went up to Whale Peak for an quick overnight trip. We left from Little Blair Valley and went up the canyon to the north of Smugglers Canyon. I prefer this route over Smugglers-it has less obstacles and more flat sandy sections which make for nice resting spots. It opens up to wide semi-flat canyon with Pinyons lining the south side and you can connect to the standard route that starts off of Pinyon Mtn Road.
Unlucky deer.
The section including the canyon up until it reaches the standard trail has more animal tracks and scat than anywhere I have been in the park, apart from the Cottonwoods and trail to the nearby spring there. Cat scat what seemed like almost every 5’. This has to the super highway to/fro Little Blair Valley.
Was low 70s going up the canyon but got to high 50s as we reached the peak.
View from the Peak https://i.imgur.com/O3qLE5t.mp4
Old Friends
Was windy on the ridges above our camp but I felt lucky with the amount of wind hitting our tent. Got to about 39f for the low.
Accommodations-
The Sea just before sunrise
Made it back to the cars around 10:30am. Was great trip. I really enjoy that mountain, especially at elevations above 4,500ft. One could spend many hours exploring hills and valleys in the area.
TOTAL
distance: 11.57 mi
min/max elev.: 3024'/5349'
elev. gain/loss: 2869'/-2855'
edited by Rocko1 on 2/7/2022
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Brian Posts: 231
2/7/2022
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Thanks for organizing this trip, Rocko1. My legs are still feeling it today. Good workout and a fun trip.
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
2/7/2022
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Brian wrote:
Thanks for organizing this trip, Rocko1. My legs are still feeling it today. Good workout and a fun trip.
Mine as well. Some pretty decent gains on this route. I would love to explore alternate routes to Whale. Maybe from June Wash or Fish Creek Wash.
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rockhopper Posts: 668
2/9/2022
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Neat trip. Nice pics. We climbed the north route with snow on a January day. Maybe I can find an old print photo. I've also considered doing the southern route also. Cheers.
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ziphius Posts: 911
2/9/2022
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Nice trip. Did same route to summit a couple years ago and descended Smuggler's. Watching the shadow of Whale Peak stretch eastward towards sunset is pretty amazing.
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
2/10/2022
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ziphius wrote:
Nice trip. Did same route to summit a couple years ago and descended Smuggler's. Watching the shadow of Whale Peak stretch eastward towards sunset is pretty amazing.
Nice. I much prefer the canyon to the north of Smugglers-much less choked and more pleasant in my opinion. Regardless of route, views from up there are really great.
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tekewin Posts: 371
2/12/2022
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Great trip. Whale looks like one of the more pleasant places to camp. 39F is pretty darn cold for camping.
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
2/16/2022
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Nice trip and pics. Looks like the metal sign is holding up better than the previous wooden one. A route up Whale I kinda enjoyed started at Pinyon Wash, crossed Harper Flat and ascended a drainage out of Pinyon Canyon to the top. The only overnight I've ever done was up Smuggler and then at the top of the canyon making a turn south and following the 4600-4800 contours to a couple small meadows and then around to the summit.
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
2/17/2022
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tommy750 wrote:
Nice trip and pics. Looks like the metal sign is holding up better than the previous wooden one. A route up Whale I kinda enjoyed started at Pinyon Wash, crossed Harper Flat and ascended a drainage out of Pinyon Canyon to the top. The only overnight I've ever done was up Smuggler and then at the top of the canyon making a turn south and following the 4600-4800 contours to a couple small meadows and then around to the summit.
I would love to try the route from Pinyon wash-going to have to add that to my list.
Funny you mention those meadows. I have been eyeballing those on GE from before my first trip up there in 2016. I always wanted to explore them.
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