Reynolds Peak

Reynolds Peak sits in the shadows of Mount Raymond and Gobblers Knob on the north rim of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is nearly a thousand feet lower and makes for a scenic and not-too-difficult climb.

This climb starts by hiking the Mill D North Fork trail and following the well-marked and easy to follow trail to tiny Dog Lake. It is a little over two miles to Dog Lake. The hike up Mill D is very scenic. The trail starts by traversing east across a slope, then bending back to the north as it ascends up the canyon. Be sure to look back for the pretty view back across the canyon to peaks near the Solitude area. After climbing about 1,500 feet you'll arrive at tiny Dog Lake. The trail continues much further up the canyon, and offers a variety of options, including scenic Desolation Lake.

From Dog Lake, Reynolds Peak is not particularly obvious. The best route is to find a faint track on the south side of Dog Lake that ascends the north ridge to the peak. In 1995 I found no such track, but climbing up through the trees was easy and once you are on the obvious northern ridge, a fairly good track emerges that can be followed all the way to the summit of Reynolds Peak.

The summit offers a wonderful view for the minimal effort used to climb the peak. To the west you'll have a great view down Big Cottonwood Canyon, with Gobblers Knob and Mount Raymond clearly visible just north of that. To the south you'll have a good view of the high peaks in the Twin Peaks Wilderness Area. The only real notable things from my climb were that I didn't stay long as a cold front was moving in, and the zipper on my day pack got stuck and I had to hike back most of the way with the pack open afraid something was going to fall out of it.

Follow the same route back down. If the climb seemed too easy you could try to drop back to Dog Lake and ascend Little Water Peak across to the east (it's slightly higher). A round trip hike of Reynolds Peak should take from three to four hours, climbing a total of 2,200 feet in three miles.