Hiking Utah’s peaks — Hiking adventures
I have enjoyed hiking during most of my adult life. My son, James, and my nephew, Greg Gillespie, also enjoy hiking. Years ago we set a goal to climb the tallest peak in each of Utah’s 29 counties. Of all the 50 United States, Utah has the highest average county-peak height. We knew it would be a daunting task, but we have been working at achieving the goal for many years. Three peaks are shared by two adjoining counties, so only 26 peaks need to be climbed. Following is a list of my progress on achieving the goal. I have also listed other peaks that I have climbed. I completed this quest on Saturday, October 24, 2020, as I summitted Mount Caldwell in Wasatch County!
Using the information from the hiking guide book that I used to achieve this hiking goal, I calculated that the vertical elevation gain of the 26 hikes combined equals 61,761 vertical feet, or 11.7 miles. That elevation gain is equivalent to climbing the Empire State Building 43 times! I should mention that James, my son, and I added many additional feet of gain by parking much lower down the roads to add more gain for the peaks that had little or no vertical gain. We did that on at least 10 of the 26 peaks, so I estimate that we climbed the Empire State Building distance close to 50 times!
I want to add one more interesting bit of information about my hiking. I have climbed to the block “Y” on the mountain east of the Brigham Young University campus hundreds of times, as a way to keep my hiking muscles in shape. I have tried to hike the “Y” at least once a week for many years, weather permitting. I always parked my truck down in the neighborhoods below the trailhead in order to add elevation gain to my hikes. The elevation at which I would park my truck was 4,630 feet above sea level. The elevation of the sign at the top of the block “Y” is 6,224 feet above sea level. Thus, the elevation gain of my weekly hike was 1,594 feet, or about 1,600 feet. The height of the Empire State Building, from sidewalk to the top floor, is 1,250 feet. Hence, my hike up the “Y” Mountain was equivaled to climbing the stairs of the Empire State Building once completely, and then doing another fourth of the stairs again.
Alphabetical listing of the county peaks:
Peak name County Date climbed Peak height in feet 01. American Fork Twin Peaks Salt Lake 09/2001 11,489 02. Andy Nelson Peak Kane 11/2017 10,027 03. Bluebell Knoll Wayne 09/2019 11,328 04. Brian Head Peak Iron 09/2011 11,307 05. Bridger Peak Rich 08/2020 9,255 06. Bull Mountain Box Elder 10/2020 9,934 07. Delano Peak Beaver, Piute 07/2010 12,169 08. Deseret Peak Tooele 10/2000 11,031 09. East Mountain Emery 09/2020 10,743 10. Eccentric Peak Daggett, Uintah 08/2012 12,276 11. Fish Lake Hightop Sevier 06/2002 11,633 12. Gilbert Peak Summit 08/2010 13,442 13. Ibapah Peak Juab 09/2002 12,087 14. Kings Peak Duchesne 08/1994 13,528 15. Mine Camp Peak Millard 08/2017 10,222 16. Monument Peak Carbon 09/2020 10,452 17. Mount Cardwell Wasatch 10/2020 10,743 18. Mount Ellen Garfield 09/2019 11,522 19. Mount Nebo Utah 07/1997 11,928 20. Mount Peale San Juan 07/2012 12,721 21. Mount Waas Grand 07/2012 12,331 22. Naomi Peak Cache 08/2020 9,979 23. Signal Peak Washington 06/2009 10,365 24. South Tent Mountain Sanpete 08/2019 11,285 25. Thurston Peak Davis, Morgan 07/2010 9,706 26. Willard Peak Weber 09/2018 9,763
Chronologic listing of the county peak hikes:
Peak name County Date climbed Height in feet Elevation gain 01. Kings Peak Duchesne 08/1994 13,528 4,128 feet 02. Mount Nebo Utah 07/1997 11,928 5,427 feet (climbed twice) 03. Deseret Peak Tooele 10/2000 11,031 3,900 feet 04. American Fork Twin Peaks Salt Lake 09/2001 11,489 3,346 feet 05. Fish Lake Hightop Sevier 06/2002 11,633 3,000 feet 06. Ibapah Peak Juab 09/2002 12,087 7,000 feet 07. Signal Peak Washington 06/2009 10,365 4,500 feet 08. Delano Peak Beaver, Piute 07/2010 12,169 2,500 feet 09. Thurston Peak Davis, Morgan 07/2010 9,706 2,000 feet 10. Gilbert Peak Summit 08/2010 13,442 4,000 feet 11. Brian Head Peak Iron 09/2011 11,307 1,500 feet 12. Mount Peale San Juan 07/2012 12,721 2,500 feet 13. Mount Waas Grand 07/2012 12,331 4,000 feet 14. Eccentric Peak Daggett, Uintah 08/2012 12,276 2,000 feet 15. Mine Camp Peak Millard 08/2017 10,222 16. Andy Nelson Peak Kane 11/2017 10,027 17. Willard Peak Weber 09/2018 9,763 18. South Tent Mountain Sanpete 08/2019 11,285 19. Bluebell Knoll Wayne 09/2019 11,328 20. Mount Ellen Garfield 09/2019 11,522 21. Naomi Peak Cache 08/2020 9,979 22. Bridger Peak Rich 08/2020 9,255 23. East Mountain Emery 09/2020 10,743 24. Monument Peak Carbon 09/2020 10,452 25. Bull Mountain Box Elder 10/2020 9,934 26. Mount Cardwell Wasatch 10/2020 10,743 Other peaks that I have climbed: Peak name Date climbed Height in feet Elevation gain 01. Mount Timpanogos 06/1990 11,750 4,489 feet (climbed it 6 times) 02. Mount Raymond 07/1991 10,241 3,841 feet 03. Lowe Peak 07/1992 10,583 3,100 feet 04. Spanish Fork Peak 09/1999 10,192 4,580 feet 05. Provo Peak 10/1999 11,068 3,908 feet 06. Shingle Mill Peak 11/1999 10,690 3,530 feet (climbed it 9 times) 07. Lightning Peak 11/1999 10,056 4,136 feet 08. Liberty Peak 06/2000 10,801 3,641 feet 09. Cascade Mountain 06/2000 10,908 5,468 feet 10. Twin Sisters CO) 06/2000 11,426 2,501 feet 11. Flat Top Mountain (CO) 06/2000 12,324 2,869 feet 12. Hallett Peak (CO) 06/2000 12,713 3,258 feet 13. Box Elder Peak 08/2001 11,101 4,000 feet 14. Flat Top Mountain (UT) 07/2002 10,620 3,000 feet 15. Lewiston Peak 07/2002 10,411 3,000 feet 16. Wheeler Peak (NV) 09/2002 13,063 3,000 feet 17. Spread Eagle Peak 08/2006 12,426 2,500 feet 18. Mount Agassiz 08/2006 12,640 2,500 feet 19. Mount Belknap 07/2010 12,137 2,500 feet 20. Santaquin Peak 09/2011 10,685 3,000 feet 21. Lone Peak 08/2012 11,253 5,500 feet 22. Ben Lomond Peak 09/2018 9,716 Steepness of the county peaks: Using the elevation gained, the length of the hike, and the tangent formula, I have calculated the average angle of ascent for each of the county peaks in Utah. I have listed them by steepness and alphabetically: Steepness: 01. East Mountain -- 17.0 degrees 02. Deseret Peak -- 11.9 degrees 03. Mount Peale -- 11.1 degrees 04. Mount Nebo -- 10.5 degrees 05. Mount Waas -- 10.5 degrees 06. Gilbert Peak -- 9.9 degrees 07. American Fork Twin Peaks -- 9.3 degrees 08. Ibapah Mountain -- 9.1 degrees 09. Bull Mountain -- 8.6 degrees 10. Eccentric Peak -- 7.6 degrees 11. Mine Camp Peak -- 6.8 degrees 12. Bridger Peak -- 6.7 degrees 13. Fish Lake Hightop -- 6.4 degrees 14. Signal Mountain -- 5.8 degrees 15. Mount Ellen -- 5.6 degrees 16. South Tent Mountain -- 5.5 degrees 17. Andy Nelson Peak -- 5.4 degrees 18. Naomi Peak -- 5.3 degrees 19. Bluebell Knoll -- 5.2 degrees 20. Delano Peak -- 4.6 degrees 21. Willard Peak -- 4.1 degrees 22. Kings Peak -- 3.0 degrees 23. Thurston Peak -- 1.2 degrees 24. Caldwell Peak -- 1.1 degrees 25. Brianhead Peak -- 0.0 degrees 26. Monument Peak -- 0.0 degrees Alphabetical: 01. American Fork Twin Peaks -- 9.3 degrees 02. Andy Nelson Peak -- 5.4 degrees 03. Bluebell Knoll -- 5.2 degrees 04. Brianhead Peak -- 0.0 degrees 05. Bridger Peak -- 6.7 degrees 06. Bull Mountain -- 8.6 degrees 07. Caldwell Peak -- 1.1 degrees 08. Delano Peak -- 4.6 degrees 09. Deseret Peak -- 11.9 degrees 10. East Mountain -- 17.0 degrees 11. Eccentric Peak -- 7.6 degrees 12. Fish Lake Hightop -- 6.4 degrees 13. Gilbert Peak -- 9.9 degrees 14. Ibapah Mountain -- 9.1 degrees 15. Kings Peak -- 3.0 degrees 16. Monument Peak -- 0.0 degrees 17. Mount Ellen -- 5.6 degrees 18. Mount Nebo -- 10.5 degrees 19. Mount Peale -- 11.1 degrees 20. Mount Waas -- 10.5 degrees 21. Mine Camp Peak -- 6.8 degrees 22. Naomi Peak -- 5.3 degrees 23. Signal Mountain -- 5.8 degrees 24. South Tent Mountain -- 5.5 degrees 25. Thurston Peak -- 1.2 degrees 26. Willard Peak -- 4.1 degrees
Click here to return to the ‘Personal’ section index