Resolution Mountain (11,905), Ptarmigan Hill (12,143), & UN 9732 by Brian Schultz Sunday August 30, 2020

Resolution Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.45 miles
Elevation gain: ~480'
Start to finish: 1 hour
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

A beautiful morning awaited us as we drove north on Hwy 24 past Tennessee Pass to Camp Hale. We drove east from Camp Hale for a half mile to FR 714 and turned left, and then right on FR 702 (Resolution Road). Resolution Road is a good but bumpy road that goes to Ptarmigan Pass and we were somewhat surprised to catch up to a truck pulling a pop-up trailer. We would see them later at the pass but first we turned left at a road junction below the pass and followed Ptarmigan Road to a T junction (road on the right was gated) and parked.

We began at 8:45 AM by following the road left a short distance to the Fowler-Hilliard Hut. The Hut (photo 1, photo 2) is in a scenic setting just below the ridge leading up to Resolution Mountain. We didn't see anyone around while hiking by it. The ascent to the summit is pretty easy on mostly grassy slopes and it only took an hour total to get up and down.

The views (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3) were excellent of the surrounding peaks and despite some haze in the air, we didn't smell any smoke from the fires burning in the west. Back to the trucks at 9:45, we drove down Ptarmigan Road and up to Ptarmigan Pass.

Ptarmigan Hill:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.95 miles
Elevation gain: ~390'
Start to finish: 45 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

Not only was the pop-up trailer set up for camping at the pass but somebody else had pulled a good sized travel trailer up there too. Amazing what lengths people go to for camping comfort! Lots of ORV's were at the pass and two rangers as well. Tim and I parked and began hiking the grassy slopes to Ptarmigan Hill at 10:30 AM.

This is another very easy peak and only took 45 minutes round trip to complete. On top were two buildings, one apparently a weather station, the other one was empty. We stayed about ten minutes on top before descending.

UN 9732:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.2 miles
Elevation gain: 580'
Start to finish: 1 hour 55 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

The day was still early when we got back to Hwy 24 so we drove north a short distance to climb another peak. At first we turned onto a road that turned out to be somebody's driveway and was marked private property. We immediately turned around and headed north again on the highway but only had to drive a stone's throw to a pull-out on the left. That's where we parked and started at 12:25 PM. We knew we could skirt the private property to reach this peak and it worked out well.

Steep grassy slopes led to the summit and we arrived on top at 1:00. For a low elevation peak, the views were outstanding and the weather was so nice we stayed for an hour. But dark clouds were moving in quickly by the hour's end so we made a fast descent and reached our trucks at 2:20, only twenty minutes from leaving the summit, and just before it started raining. This is a great little peak!