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I haven't written a trip report before, but I thought it would be helpful to make one about Mt. Guyot's Northwest Ridge in the summer because it seems like this route is more popular in the winter. I see Mt. Guyot just about everyday, so it was only necessary to summit it.
We started hiking a little after 6am. The first two miles of the hike were very easy in the woods. You could see Guyot looming in the distance. It was crazy to thing that I'd be on top of it in a couple hours.
Once reaching Little French Gulch, we got a little confused on which way to go. With a log in the middle of the trail to the right, it looked like going left was the correct way to go. However, we realized we were heading the wrong direction on that trail, so we decided to go back to the fork and take a right.
It didn't take long for that trail to end, and the hiking suddenly got a lot steeper. We knew we had to catch the northwest ridge, so we pretty much went straight up from where the trail ended. Catching the ridge from here is doable, but it is very steep and there is some loose rock. On the way back we decided to go down closer to the trees. It is still quite steep, but I would recommend going up this way as well so you can avoid the loose rock.
Excuse my hand drawn arrows. (only general direction)
After walking on the ridge for a little bit, we came across our first false summit. There was a cairn at the base of it that helped us find a faint trail that guided you to the top of the false summit.
From there, we could see the final stretch. The summit looked so close, but it was slow moving due to navigating through the largeish rocks. We found no trail despite some brief segments. However, it was very self explanatory to summit. There were only about three cairns on this last part. It was as if their only purpose was to assure the hiker that someone has been there before you have
Once we were high enough, the views opened up. We only had to walk the narrowish summit ridge. For a less experienced hiker like me, this part looked a little scary from afar, but once I started walking I thought it was fine. And the views were absolutely beautiful. Before we knew it we were standing on top of Mt. Guyot. I loved looking at Guyot's neighbor, Bald from here. I might just have to hike that one next!
All in all, I really liked this hike. There was more scrambling than I anticipated, but the views and having the summit all to ourselves made it all worth it. I hope this report helps someone who has considered hiking this route in the summer and wanted a little more of a visual/information. Our watch suggested that this hike was 7.4 miles roundtrip. You also gain most of the 3,100ft in the last mile and a half. We were back at the car by 12:30 (we obviously moved pretty slow). Other than my group, I didn't see a single other person on this hike.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Just did the exact same hike today, was curious if anyone else had any of the same observations and, voila, you had them all, even down to the tree in the trail that sent me down to "skull" creek and back up again. A lot of loose scrambling for someone who can lose any trail at any time. Got to the point where I seriously just laughed when I ran into a cairn. As good a view from the top as there is and, if it was 14+, would've had 100 people with me on a Sunday for sure (saw 3 from afar). Great report.
Just did the exact same hike today, was curious if anyone else had any of the same observations and, voila, you had them all, even down to the tree in the trail that sent me down to "skull" creek and back up again. A lot of loose scrambling for someone who can lose any trail at any time. Got to the point where I seriously just laughed when I ran into a cairn. As good a view from the top as there is and, if it was 14+, would've had 100 people with me on a Sunday for sure (saw 3 from afar). Great report.
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