Until a week ago I had never been to the Stansbury Mountains in Utah. In fact, I had never even heard of the Stansbury Mountains. A few days ago I hiked the Deseret Peak Loop in this small mountain range and it was absolutely amazing!
The Stansbury Mountains are a small range a little over an hour’s drive west of the Salt Lake City valley. They run north to south for just 28 miles, but contain amazing mountain peaks, including 11,031 Deseret Peak. A week ago I explored the South Willow Lake Trail in this range and that is where I got my first look at Deseret Peak.
One cool thing about Deseret Peak is its geographical prominence, which is over 5,800 feet. Geographical, or topographic prominence, measures how high a mountain peak rises above its lowest surrounding contour line that contains no higher peak. Prominence is different than elevation in that elevation measures the height above sea level. Prominence measures how independent a peak is from neighboring higher terrain. From the summit of Deseret Peak I had an unobstructed 360 degree view in all directions for miles and miles.
The Deseret Peak Loop Trail begins at the Loop Campground a little less than 13 miles southwest of Grantsville, Utah off South Willow Rd. The trail goes through some nice and very large evergreens and other trees before starting to open up into more brush and grassy meadows as it gains elevation. My hike started well before sunrise and I reached a viewpoint at 10,000 feet just as the sun rose.
Just above this area the trail got much more interesting. The first peak over 10,000 feet I approached was East Deseret Peak. As I approached this rugged peak I saw dramatic cliffs and chutes dropping off to the east and northeast. Following the trail just below the ridge more of the same was all along the trail. After another 40 minutes or so I got to the summit of Deseret Peak.
The view in all directions was amazing. I could see the Bonneville Salt Flats to the west and northwest, the Great Sale Lake to the northeast and the desert floor and distant mountains in all directions. As I usually do when reaching a summit, I signed the register, took some great photos and video and had a snack and lots of liquid.
The trail back down followed the ridge of the Stansbury mountains along three more 10,000+ peaks before dropping down to connect to the trail I had been on 4 days earlier.
Between two of these amazing mountain peaks was a large notch with a huge chute to the east. There was a really fun rocky point towering above the top of the chute that I just had to go out on!
After dropping back down to the trail I had been when hiking to South Willow Lake the week before I was reminded of the beauty of this trail. As it traversed the side of a canyon and dropped lower dramatic peaks loomed above. As I descended the final couple of miles I had the massive east side of Deseret and its surrounding peaks at my back.
I have done a lot of hikes since moving to Utah in the summer of 2022, but the Deseret Peak Loop Trail was truly one of the best! It had everything I like. It was fairly remote and I went on a weekday so there were few others on the trail (I love hiking solo). The length and vertical gain were just right. The mountain was over 11,000 feet high. Views were beyond amazing – AND, I had an opportunity to hit some off trail stuff that wasn’t too technical, but really fun!
If anyone reading this wants to do this hike, please understand a few things. It is pretty challenging. The first 3.9 miles (I started the loop going counterclockwise) was steep. It went up over 3,600 vertical feet, meaning the average slope was over 17.6%. Parts of the trail were covered in loose rock and dirt There was some scree in places, meaning I had to watch my step carefully. If you like to filter water for drinking, there are a few places for this, but not enough to justify not carrying a lot of water with electrolytes. The trail also has a lot of sun exposure so sunburn is a real threat. Having said that, if you are a seasoned hiker and want a fun challenge this is a great one!
My hike took me over 9.6 miles and I had a cumulative vertical gain of over 3,800 vertical feet. The hike, including breaks, took just under 7 hours.
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