Route Statistics:
Route Description: This is a mostly off-trail traverse of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area on the N-S axis of the range. The Cedars stretches about 40 miles North to South in the West Desert near Salt Lake City, just Northeast of the U.S Army Dugway Proving Grounds. Our route description is a South to North traverse, but North to South may be faster. The drive to get to both the Southern and Northern Terminus require some amount of high-clearance 4x4 driving. You can probably get away with a stock SUV/Crossover, but drive carefully. We began at 6:30 am with a 14 mile steady "road" climb (see elevation profile). The roads can be hard to follow in spots, so we diverged from the road on some cattle trails to remain in the wilderness area boundary. At approximately 10 miles, we saw our first herd of wild horses, perhaps 25 or more with a few foals in the mix. Shortly after this, we saw our first antelope. We staged our first drop at the mouth of Rydalch Canyon, approximately 11 miles and 90 min into the route. In this drop we had food for about 8 hrs, water for 4 hrs, trekking poles, and a few other odds and ends. After this drop, we headed up Rydalch Canyon to continue our steady road climb. After about 3 miles, we reached the pass in Rydalch Canyon and diverged off trail towards Tabby’s Peak. It’s possible there is an unestablished trail leaving from the campsite at the top of the canyon as we saw something coming in when we approached the Summit. Tabby’s is a standalone peak with about 700 ft of prominence. The top of the peak gets into a small class III section that is easily navigated, though many of the rocks will move on you. We reached the summit of Tabby’s (6921 ft) around 2h, 15m and 15mi into the run. From here, you drop down Tabby’s steep East face into what appears to be an old river bed, and begin working your way up to the main CMW ridge that you’ll be on for the next 15-20mi. This is a steep, variable climb. You’ll gain high points and then lose several hundred feet again before making your next climb. Most of this is off trail, however you will find an occasional unestablished trail (we believe these are wild horse trails). Around 20mi, you will reach 7500ft and run the rolling ridge to Cedar Benchmark (high point -7712ft). Shortly before the high point, you will come across two unnamed prominent features on the ridgeline. We chose to summit both of these due to their prominence and placement on the ridge. We stashed a gallon of water at Cedar Benchmark a few days prior to our attempt. You have to hike about 2500ft to get there, but it is VERY worth dropping water. We considered not doing it and definitely would have found ourselves in trouble had we not, just know that you will have to carry whatever you bring up (i.e. gallon jug, water bottles). We choose to cut up our 1-gallon jug into two halves using first aid scissors and run with the jug in our packs. Cedar Benchmark was a high point both geographically and emotionally for both of us. You have beautiful views of the valley and a clear picture for what lies ahead. We began running down the ridgeline and found ourselves on wild horse trails for the next 8-10mi. We followed several herds of wild horses (I expect we saw over 100) most of the way on this ridge. These are cruiser miles, take advantage of them because things slow down drastically once you leave the ridge. We were able to run most of this at 10 min/mi pace or faster. At about 31mi, we left the ridge to avoid what we thought might be private property. We never saw any fences but you will see this on the map. If I were to do it again, I’d call the BLM office and ask them if it’s okay to travel through there. It would save quite a bit of time. This drop off the ridgeline was slow, hot, and sandy. You’re bushwacking for the next 4mi or so, climbing over ridgelines and dropping into the next gulley. After several brutal, bushwacking miles, we dropped to the road that leads to Hastings Pass. We stashed food and water here as well. Plenty of food and a gallon of water, which probably was not enough for the two of us. We would recommend 1.5 gallons of water at least for two people. After re-hydrating and re-collecting our thoughts (we were pretty beat down after the bushwacking), we left the road and climbed straight out of the canyon. 5 minutes after leaving the drop, I heard the rattle of a rattlesnake, looked up, and was face-to-face with a very angry rattler. He was coiled up under a rock and ready to strike. A good reminder that we were playing in his wilderness, this should be something you look out for the entire route if doing it mid-spring or later. We climbed about 1000ft out of the canyon and scouted our route to Hastings Benchmark (6714ft). The route is really choose your own adventure, I would not say there is a “fastest” way to get there. We gained Hastings Benchmark relatively quickly, though we were moving very slow at this point, both of us were feeling sick from having too much caffeine at the prior drop. After gaining Hastings Benchmark, we dropped and subsequently climbed to the ridgeline we planned to take out of the wilderness area to our Jeep. This is a rolling ridgeline that is very rocky, but still runnable. The last drop to the Jeep was very steep and loose (wouldn’t have expected anything less at that point) but quick. We finished together at the Jeep in 11h, 37m, 33s. Both Travis and I, while incredibly hungry and tired, were riding a high as we drove around to pick up our drops and find a spot to camp for the night. This was the first time we’d set a route like this without any beta. This traverse is part of a larger project we are calling “West of the Wasatch” where we intend to traverse all of the ranges West of the Wasatch in Utah (and at least two in Nevada). This will probably be the focus for the Spring and Summer as we prepare for an attempt at the FKT for the Uinta Highline Trail. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about this route or our plans for the future. We can be reached at nccmountainrunners@gmail.com Supply Drops:
11mi | Rydalch Canyon
22mi | Cedar Benchmark
35mi | Bottom of Rydalch Canyon
Weather/Conditions:
We had beautiful weather, a high of mid-70s with partial clouds. The sun was under storm clouds until 2 pm and we had wind all along the ridge line to keep us cool. Once the sun came out, things got a bit warm and we had trouble staying hydrated. Plan for more water than you think you’ll need.
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