Category Archives: Getting High

Road Trip Campin’ I: Zedd’s Mountain

July 12-14, 2019–Part 1 of 4 of a nine-day camping trip through south-central Utah. We covered about 600 miles, camped in four different places, and were joined by friends at various points along the way.

On Friday after work, my wife and I set out on a nine day camping trip in south-central Utah. Our first two nights were spent just north of Thousand Lake Mountain in the same spot we spent my 40th birthday a few years earlier. Traci’s mom and our son Bradley joined us for both nights, as did my friend Chris. After arriving at camp we discovered that one of the roof vents on the trailer had broken, so Chris and I devised a way to get me on top to fix it with some duct tape.

Climbing onto the trailer for a field repair
Climbing onto the trailer for a field repair

Camp on Friday evening
Camp on Friday evening

On Saturday morning Chris and I hiked to the summit of Zedd’s Mountain, one of the nearest named peaks that I hadn’t yet hiked. It was a short hike of only 2.2 miles with 1,100′ elevation gain, but the terrain offered only heavy bushwhacking or boulder-hopping with almost nothing in between. The going was tough and it took us over three hours to complete the hike. The summit wasn’t marked on the USGS topo map so Chris and I had to guess where the high point was, and I suppose we guessed correctly because we found a summit register at the apparent high point.

Bushwhacking up Zedd’s Mountain
Bushwhacking up Zedd's Mountain

Boulder field
Boulder field

Steep bouldery slope
Steep bouldery slope

Johnson Valley Reservoir
Johnson Valley Reservoir

More steep boulder climbing
More steep boulder climbing

The apparent high point of Zedd’s Mountain
The apparent high point of Zedd's Mountain

Summit register
Summit register

Summit register log book
Summit register log book

Chris and Mount Marvine in the distance
Chris and Mount Marvine in the distance

Zedd’s Mountain from our parking spot
Zedd's Mountain from our parking spot

After the hike it began to rain. Chris and I went to the Lakeside Store at Fish Lake and then found a couple of geocaches on the way back to camp. It was stormy on-and-off all evening. After the sun went down we were entertained by some colorful clouds to the west and some mammatus clouds to the north.

Camp late Saturday afternoon
Camp late Saturday afternoon

Colorado Columbine near camp
Colorado Columbine near camp

Colorful clouds above Geyser Peak
Colorful clouds above Geyser Peak

Mammatus clouds to the north
Mammatus clouds to the north

South slope of Geyser Peak
South slope of Geyser Peak

Camp fire
Camp fire

On Sunday morning Traci’s mom, Bradley, and Chris headed home while Traci and I continued on toward Boulder Mountain.


Photo Gallery: Road Trip Campin’ I: Zedd’s Mountain
GPS Track (Google Earth KMZ)