Utah Fishing ReportsSometimes I question the intelligence of some people.
High above the sleepy little town in which I live are three peaks that extend skyward and offer a spectacular view of the Wasatch Front mountains. And in my opinion the view is the prettiest along the front.
Mountain Above Willard
The three highest points are called different things by different people, some call them the three sisters, but I call them North Peak, Middle Peak and South Peak. Middle Peak has a flag pole on it and the flag waves beautifully in the breezes. High winds up there have been known to topple the flag pole and rip the flag to tiny pieces. What I’m saying is, even with all its beauty, it can be perilous to journey up there. Even in good weather like we had yesterday.
The South Peak was yesterdays focus of an attempt to rescue two stranded hikers. Why they were out on the edge of that peak is a mystery to me as there is no trail down off the face of it and only if you were a daring rock climber dude should you venture out to the edge as it is as close to vertical as rock edges can get without being vertical.
This is the view of a portion of that peak from above.
Just the edge showing of the South Peak
It looks from here to be an easy decent down to it and a quick look over the edge to get that breathtaking view of the town and land below. Let’s go Joe, it’ll only take an hour.
After just 30 minutes of hiking we are almost to the peak.
South Peak
Isn’t that a pretty view of the peak Joe?
A mountain goat running down the backside of the peak
WOW! Look Joe, a mountain goat is running down the backside of the peak. Let’s go get a closer look!
Sure enough Joe and his buddy continue toward the backside of that peak and then climb up the edge you see in this picture. Once on top the view is quite a bit like this one off the Middle Peak.
Middle Peak with the flag flying!
View from Middle Peak
Now, for those of you reading this and thinking it would not be so scary to be up there you might want to think again. The South Peak is higher than Middle Peak, and in my mind it’s steeper. And looking at this view down toward Willard, it is almost vertical. South Peak is even more vertical.
This is a picture of the North side of South Peak and it looks like you could traverse that edge pretty easily, but again, one slip and you are going down!
North side of South Peak
No, that’s not Joe in the picture, that is my son Mitch, but you are looking at the North side of South Peak in the background. The South side is almost a mirror image of this side, trust me.
Well Joe and his buddy did in fact climb up to the top of that peak yesterday and then Joe slipped and fell breaking both of his legs! Now what? Oh heck that’s an easy one, call 911 and everything will be better soon.
And that is what they did. They were in a very ugly position high up on that mountain and Joe is down with two broken legs and his buddy needs to take care of him. And in came life flight to the rescue.
Trying to find a landing place but unable
Several passes around the peak, Life Flight finally decided (wisely I might add) that is was not safe to land anywhere up there. And so they dropped off water and other supplies to help the two spend the night. Give Joe some morphine and tie him down so he won’t fall off the cliff and we will see you in the morning.
Leaving the scene
And so, it is now up to the Search and Rescue people to risk their lives to go and get Joe and his buddy off of a cliff they had no business being on the first place. I feel a bit sorry that Joe broke his legs, I hate to see anyone in pain, but I also think it’s absolutely stupid for someone to put not only their own lives in a perilous spot, but to drag others into it as well.
I herald the bravery and dedication of the Search and Rescue people, the Life Flight pilots and crew, the volunteer fire departments and the police. What a wonderful bunch of dedicated people we have at our finger tips. We can be as stupid as we want and when we get in trouble, we can always count on them to save us.
Joe and Buddy…I’ll bet you will not do this stupid thing again….Please leave these mountain peaks to these guys!
Goat can be seen in Cabelas Store in Lehi!
Bears Butt
Sept. 9, 2012
I totally agree with your assessment these mountains have claimed several hikers lives over the years. These were 2 very experienced hikers.
These 2 actually parked in the Buckskin subdivision and hiked all the way up to where they were, they had some rocks fall from above and injure the one. They were very prepared and had equipment to spend the night.
It is just too bad that what someone deems a great time, puts so many at risk when things go bad. I guess I can look at it as job security
I did not have any history on these two guys and I assumed they came down from Inspiration Point, that is why I wrote this the way I did. Experience is great and I’m glad they were prepared to make that climb, but nobody is exempt from an accident and in this case there were many more at risk before it was over. You do have job security!
Great article Butt. Some just seem to love life on the edge. Literally!