Tip Top

August 29, 2016

Right now is a great time for you to check out some remote hiking trails at some very high altitudes.  One in particular comes to mind because Paiute County just graded the Big John’s road (F.R. 123), the cool, wet weather keeps the dust down, and the first three miles of this hike (from the top down) were recently cleaned for horsemen and hikers.  I’m directing you to what’s known as “the Pipeline” trail, or Forest Trail number 050, and it begins near Mt. Belknap and descends down the East Fork of Fish Creek.  The drive to the Trailhead is one of the most amazing and heart-stopping dirt roads in our state,  then as you drop over the saddle between Flat Top peak and Gold Mountain, you travel back in time because you’re entering a gold mining mecca from the 1890’s.  The ghost town of Kimberly, Utah was nestled in a drainage called Mill Creek and is literally over the hill from Fish Creek and the northern end of this hike.  We know prospecters seeking the “Mother Lode” would stop at nothing to get the richest claim and they explored all over the Tushar Mountains.  Most of the roads and trails in the Kimberly area were pioneered by these early miners and the pipeline trail is one of these,  but they didn’t travel on it,  they generated electricity with this trail.  In 1902 forty men built a water flume from the head of Fish Creek out to Tip Top Hill to power a new hydroelectric plant.  There already was one hydro-plant in the bottom of Fish Creek, across from Serviceberry canyon, but the power demands at Kimberly had overwhelmed it by this time. We can thank these guys for all the earth and rocks they moved because this trail is so much fun.  If you start from the top,  the hike down to the two burned-down cabins is very steep and is a lung burner on the way back up, so the ideal way to do this hike is to park a second vehicle at Tip Top and hike the entire 5.5 miles northward to eliminate the uphill.  Immediately east of where these two cabins sat, flows a small stream and is also where the trail becomes level, leading me to believe the first of several water intakes  and the canal system started here.  I assume some of the bigger tributaries north of here, like Trapper’s Creek, all could be dammed and diverted into the power plant's canal.  There is an outhouse 100 feet north of the burnt cabins which is still intact, but is slowly succumbing to gravity and would probably be unsafe to squat in today.  Right in front of the outhouse the trail switchbacks to the right, dropping down to the first flowing water of the hike.  Between here and Tip Top, there are about 5 additional drainages to filter from, or water your horses,  and since there’s no road’s back in here, you can hear the sweet sound of babbling brooks around every corner to quench your thirst.  If you decide to park a car at Tip Top, it should probably be a high-clearance 4x4 type and you can come in from Sevier Canyon, or Mill Creek.  Also you’ll need a map because there’s a ton of private property and random roads from all the different mining claims on the Kimberly area.  

So, to start this hike you’ll drive 16.3 miles up Beaver Canyon turning left onto FR 123 toward’s Big John’s.  Pass Big John’s,  pass Mud Lake, go over the top to amazing views and reset your odometer at Bullion Pasture Trailhead.  1.7 miles north of Bullion T.H. a 3\4 mile spur road (FR 1048) climbs up to the saddle where you park your rig.  Not all cars should attempt this spur road,  so if you drive a Prius,  you get a 3\4 mile warm-up!   Now that school has started,  you’ll need to save this hike for a weekend, because it’ll take most of a day.   Get down into the East Fork of Fish Creek, take one look back at Mt. Belknap and you’ll totally get why these old time miners went for the gold “Into the Tushars”.