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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.
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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!
