I hiked with my brothers Josh and Patrick, and our friend Matt. We took the south route, driving in on Smoothing Iron Rd. We decided to park about half a mile from the end of the road, which was rough. You need 4WD and high clearance to get all the way, and the road down lower was still rough in places and would be worse if it was pretty wet. We made our way down into the canyon and found the trail, which headed straight west up the canyon to a saddle and fence line. From there, we continued on the trail, which switchbacked up the main east ridge of Maple while heading east. Once we crested the ridge, the trail turned west again and followed a fence. Once this joined with another fence on a saddle, the trail headed north, and ran east of the peak. Then it was a little off trail section to the summit. Most of the hike was snow covered, especially in the canyon and on the ridge. After the last saddle before the peak, the snow was around mid shin, but less as we ascended. We took our time up there and enjoyed the views. This may have been the largest crowd ever on the summit of Maple.

Route to summit

Wild Bunch trailhead.

Obstacles

no info yet

Key gear

no info yet