I need to offset my substantial website costs somehow! You can download a hike/drive GPX to assist you here. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is otherwise a free resource.
GPX track added to your cart.
Aug 26, 2022 — Old Tom Mountain is a high-prominence peak in the Bannock Range. It's got ATV roads all over, taking away from the tundra beauty to a pretty high degree, but it's still a nice summit worth visiting. Most seem to approach this mountain from the west via what sounds like a somewhat decent road, but I was more excited to check out the Mormon Canyon Trail #195 from the east, starting at the Goodenough Campground. Any car can make it here.
Unfortunately, it turns out the Mormon Canyon Trail is a graded ATV route. Regardless, it was nice to walk through the forest and enjoy the sounds from the little creek crossings. After waking up absurdly late, I was happy that the first half of this hike was mostly forested, protecting me from this outing that's certainly too low in altitude for the summer heat. I gained a bunch of elevation through the trees, crossing the trickling Mormon Creek multiple times. The trail emerged from the forest a few times, offering nice views north toward Scout Mountain and the countryside below.
The Mormon Canyon Trail reached the ridgeline and headed south on a much steeper ATV road. I was enjoying the views enough that the ugly road didn't bother me, and a passing ATVer even stopped to prevent kicked-up dirt from choking me, so that was nice. The road undulated a bit along the ridgeline, and a social trail allowed me to cut off one of these additional lumps. At about 8400' the ATV road ended and I continued on a social trail to a false summit. From here there was a bit of light Class 2 leading to the summit of Old Tom Mountain to the south. The route-finding was trivial, but it was a little rocky and there were a coupe of small cliff bands to avoid.
After reaching the summit, I peered north toward Scout Mountain, this large lump tempting me into hiking to it and I certainly would have if it was actually a trail and not just an ugly ATV road. Instead I called it a day and returned the way I came.
Please consider helping me out if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all site fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing these trip reports is unpaid. You can also hire me as a web developer. I really appreciate it!
If you find my site helpful, please help me replace my many broken cameras, fund my website fees (hosting, APIs, security), or just support my countless hours of work. I pay for all expenses myself, and all trip reports I post are unpaid and unsponsored, so any support is really appreciated!
If using PayPal, please select their option for "Sending to a friend" so they don't take out fees, thank you.
