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Aug 25, 2017 — This long day tours some of the best scenery of the Tushar Mountains in central Utah. Mike and I followed a social trail up to Mount Belknap, which wraps around the south side of the mountain. I recommend avoiding going straight up the ridge, and attempt to follow the social trail as best as possible. We continued along Mount Belknap's west ridge to Mount Baldy (aka Baldy Peak or Beaver Baldy), which has some steep and scree-filled nonsense to work your way up (Class 2+). It wasn't a particularly fun peak, honestly. The scree and steep dirt makes it a bit more dangerous than we thought it would be. From the summit, we came back down and followed a gully and ridge combo off-trail to reach Blue Lake below.
After enjoying Blue Lake, we located the Skyline National Recreation Trail and followed it. We stayed on this gorgeous trail, choosing to take it all the way up to Mud Lake. Along the way we got excellent views back toward Mount Belknap and Mount Baldy. We chose to also include Shelly Baldy Peak, located south of the trail. We brefly left the Skyline NRT at a less steep section of slope to head southwest to Shelly Baldy Peak. We couldn't find any indicator of a trail, though once we reached the peak's ridgeline there was a semblance of a social trail. It's a pretty straightforward trek on open terrain to the peak and back, light Class 2 at points. Once back on the Skyline National Recreation Trail, we continued to Mud Lake, and then hiked for a few miles back on the gorgeous forest road. You could hitch a ride or set up a shuttle to cut off a few miles of road hiking.
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