Monday June 25th, 2018
We were set to drive back to Toronto today but since the weather was so crappy yesterday we decided to wake up super early and do Giant and RPR. We aimed to leave the campground at 5 but by the time we packed everything up (lazily shoved everything in the car) we didn’t get onto the trail until 7:30. Whoops!
We signed into the ridge trail and starting climbing up immediately. Right away you could tell it was going to be a steep hike. The boulders on this trail were huge so you really had to watch where you were going. There was an amazing lookout and then after about 40 minutes we reached the Giant’s Washbowl. It was so pretty and I loved the bridge going across. Even just hiking to this point would be worth it if you are pressed for time.
After the washbowl the trail flatted out for a tiny bit. We caught our breath and started ascending quickly to a series of rock slabs that you have to climb. These are nice because the views behind you are some of the best I’ve seen. This makes the steepness less obvious.
Since it was Monday morning the trail was pretty quiet and we seemed to be running into only one group on and off. We knew we were making a pretty decent pace so far today too!
I really need to write my trip reports right after the hikes because all I can really remember is: steep-nice view-near death experience-steep. Details are hard to remember after a few weeks!
We reached the junction to Rocky Peak Ridge but decided to continue on to Giant first. If I were to do this again I’d probably do RPR first since it was harder.
We continued on towards the summit and it was freezing up there! We sat down and took a nice break while some kids decided to pour the rest of their water off the summit. REALLY smart we thought! It was kind of entertaining to watch but at the same time a little worrisome… We took our summit photos but wasted no time as we planned to continue on to Rocky Peak Ridge.
We headed back down to the trail junction and turned left towards Rocky Peak Ridge. Immediately you drop down into the col and it is STEEP. Most of the trail is open rock slabs with little to nothing to hold onto. Knowing that you will have to climb back up this makes you wonder if this is really a good idea. Since a lot of this rock was wet from the day before I had to do a lot of butt sliding and my pants ripped!
Since this part of the trail was pretty brutal I didn’t take any pictures! We both had falls and were moving at the slowest possible pace. We strongly considered turning around but we had come so far. We did eventually make it to the summit though and it was an amazing view!
The summit of RPR has amazing 360 degree views and we had it to ourselves for some time. Too bad it was also freezing and windy but we forced ourselves to take break and eat. Although the views were amazing it was pretty demotivating to look at Giant and know we had to go back up that and then down the trail again.
After taking our summit photos we headed back down and then up towards Giant again.
Going back up Giant was not nearly as bad as going down, thankfully. After going up and making it to the sign for the turn off towards Giant we took another well deserved break and then basically booked it down the mountain since we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us!
The way down was pretty uneventful but there were time when we thought we would have to be airlifted off the mountain. We made it though!
Giant and RPR
8.9 Miles
Elevation Gain: 4350 ft
Hiking time: Approx 8 hours!
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