UN 10164, Medicine Bow Peak (12,013), Sugarloaf Mtn (11,420), & Centennial Ridge (9,860) by Brian Schultz Friday July 19, 2019
UN 10164:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.65 miles roundtrip
Elevation gain: 125'
Start to finish: 22 minutes
Before climbing Medicine Bow Peak I wanted to claim seldom climbed peak UN 10164, which isn't very far out of the way. I turned off Hwy 130 onto the Sand Lake Road (road 101) and then turned right on Fallen Pines Road (road 329). The forest road that I turned onto next was in good condition, other than a fallen tree that I was just barely able to drive around. A GPS is very handy to find this forest road which goes close to the summit. I parked at the end of the road and began at 8:15 AM. There was lots of deadfall to step over but nothing difficult and I arrived on the summit in about ten minutes. Satisfied that I covered the high points, I departed and was back at the truck at 8:37. Very easy peak and well worth the short drive.
Medicine Bow Peak & Sugarloaf Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 6.60 miles roundtrip
Elevation gain:
1,755'
Start to finish: 5 hours 20 minutes
I continued on Highway 130 to Lewis Lake and unwittingly drove past the turn-off. Too much scenery to gawk at I guess. When I saw the sign for Carbon County I turned around, only to find the road to Lewis Lake was gated at the highway because so much snow remained on the road. I parked on the shoulder of the highway, which added an extra mile each way.
I started at 9:30 AM under sunny skies, trudged over the snow blocked road, and reached the lake in short order. Immediately, the trail was also snowed over and I had to bypass several sections. When I got higher on the slopes, I had to work around even more snow on the trail. Several hikers told me they turned around when they saw the remaining boulder climb to the summit, intimidated because they hadn't had any experience with hiking over boulders. But the boulders were snow free and easy to scamper up and over to the summit. I reached the top (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4) at 11:45 and wasn't on top for long when three others came up from the south ridge. Moments later a guy and his granddaughter also summited. The weather was beautiful and I stayed a while chatting with the fellow and his granddaughter.
When I departed at 12:10, the large snow patch on the summit ridge that I'd avoided on the way up didn't appear steep or dangerous, so I hiked down it to save some time. When I arrived at the Medicine Bow/Sugarloaf saddle at 12:50, a large group of youngsters was milling about. I said hello and continued up to Sugarloaf. This was an easy peak to summit and I got to the top at 1:20. Views (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3) were nice from the top and I got a clear look at Brown's Peak, which I originally planned on climbing but decided to skip it. It would've been possible to maneuver around the snow on its approach but I just didn't feel like adding it on.
I departed Sugarloaf at 1:35 and the descent back to Lewis Lake went without incident. There were about two dozen hikers total on the trail today but only a fraction of them were climbing Medicine Bow Peak and no one else climbed Sugarloaf that I know of. I got back to my truck at 2:55 and had plenty of time to drive the long road to Centennial Peak.
Centennial Peak:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.7 miles roundtrip
Elevation gain: 100'
Start to finish: 33 minutes
It took more time to drive the road to Centennial Peak than to hike up to the summit. From my parking area on Hwy 130 for Medicine Bow Peak, I drove east on Hwy 130 to Ehling Road (Forest Road 338) and turned right (south). Then a left turn on Forest Road 307 to begin a long winding drive to the end of the road. A short walk to the summit and just like that, another peak claimed. It was a great day to grab four peaks.