Lone Peak, a mountain peak southeast of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

is the center of the

Lone Peak Wilderness The Lone Peak Wilderness is a wilderness area located within the Uinta and the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in the U.S. state of Utah. The Lone Peak Wilderness was established in 1978 as part of the Endangered American Wilderness Act and wa ...

, established in 1978. With an elevation of , it is one of the taller peaks in the Wasatch Range along the Wasatch Front and tends to be a favorite hike. The first person in recorded history to successfully hike Lone Peak was Richard Bell, Sr. of Riverton, Utah. Richard also lead the first recorded climb of the Lone Peak Cirque. He went on to lead several expeditions and taught the first guides. Bell Canyon is still a common route to the summit, and was named after Richard Bell Sr. following his historic climb. Lone Peak consists almost entirely of

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(a granitoid, or

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

-like) rock of the 30.5 million year old Little Cottonwood Stock.

Quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

are also found in distal locations on the mountain. The mountain from Little Cottonwood Canyon on the northern end to Corner Canyon on the southern end is called "Mount Jordan", the highest peak of which is Lone Peak, with other lower peaks being Enniss Peak and Bighorn Peak. The Peak ranks 98th on a list of Utah peaks with topographic prominence.

Hiking/Backpacking

It is possible to reach the summit in one long day, but rock climbers often camp at the base of the summit and non-climbers often camp lower on the Jacob's Ladder Trail. There are a few streams that dry up before summer, so water must be carried in. There is reputedly a spring that runs year-round.

Jacob's Ladder Trail

The trail head, located at , is marked with a sign. It is located near a large turnout on the right side of the road and three 4-wheel drive tracks climbing the road bank on the north side of the road. In 2007, the turnout was accompanied by a wooden fence leading to the starting point of the trail. Round trip mileage is about 11.1 miles with 5,603 feet of vertical gain.

Draper Ridge Trail

The Draper Ridge Trail is currently inactive. The trail is in a deteriorated condition, as the top of the trail is very exposed to weather. Towards the bottom, thick undergrowth prevents passage. The Jacob's Ladder Trailhead is just up the road. The Jacob's Ladder Trail overlaps the Draper Ridge Trail for the last 2/3 of the way to the peak.

Cherry Canyon Logging Trail

Important features of this trail are that it has a year-round spring (cold springs) located at and a small cabin in a meadow. The route gains altitude in the beginning, going through a steep scrub oak section. After a few hours of hiking, things change as the trail levels off and veers north into the trees crossing the water of cold springs in bear canyon. The trail climbs out of the drainage on the north side into a new drainage, but stays generally below the ridge line. The trail eventually opens into a meadow with a small cabin in the large pine trees. The trail continues up above the cabin to the southeast and crosses over to the south into another drainage at a low point on the ridge. The southeast top of the new drainage meets up with the main granite drainage running roughly north-south which leads to the Lone Peak Cirque via stacked rock cairns. An alternate route is to roughly follow the stream bed up the drainage until the top of the ridge that runs roughly north-south above a granite drainage is reached. Round trip mileage is about 16 miles with 6,876 feet of vertical gain.

Outlaw Cabin

The Outlaw Cabin, located at on the southwest side of a meadow, was constructed in the summer of 1960 by the Allen Brothers and Alan Summerhays. Construction was completed in 1967 prior to the area being designated as a wilderness area. The cabin has three cots, a pot belly stove, cabinets, and two small windows. It is built from trees downed in the area and the roof is lined with plastic and dirt/grass for insulation. All the materials besides the trees were hauled to the location by horseback. The cabin is partially hidden by large trees. In October 1997, a Draper family was caught in a blinding snow storm and took shelter in the cabin until they were rescued. There is a journal in the cabin that visitors can add their stories to.

Deaths on Lone Peak

* December 15, 1936 - Seven died when a Western Air Express Boeing 247Department of Commerce Aircraft Accident Report
/ref> crashed just below Hardy Ridge on Lone Peak. The major parts of the aircraft were hurled over the ridge and fell over a thousand feet into a basin below. * July 25, 2002 - Two hikers were struck by lightning near the summit of Lone Peak while they were trying to seek shelter. * September 8, 2015 - A woman fell 200–300 feet near the cirque. Her body was found the next day. *June 17, 2017 - An extreme trail runner fell about 500 feet near Bighorn Peak while approaching Lone Peak.

Movie Rocks

* The 1968 film The Devil's Brigade was filmed in Utah. The attack on a Nazi mountain stronghold in Italy was filmed on the lower part of this peak's mountain at a place called "Movie Rocks". The trail leading there is just to the west of the Jacob's Ladder trail.

Images

File:LonePeak Utah Saddle View.jpg, alt=Lone Peak from Jacob's Ladder trail, Lone Peak from Jacob's Ladder trail File:LonePeak Utah Peak and QmarkWall.jpg, Looking South at Lone Peak and Question Mark Wall File:LonePeak Utah Scamble.jpg, Scrambling may be required File:Lone Peak Summit in the Winter.jpg, alt=Summit in the winter, Summit in the winter File:Question Mark Wall on Lone Peak.jpg, alt=View of the Question Mark wall in the winter, View of the Question Mark wall in the winter File:Lone Peak South Summit and Question Mark Wall.jpg, alt=View towards Utah Valley and Utah Lake, View towards

Utah Valley Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

and Utah Lake File:Lone Peak.jpg, alt=Lone Peak from Salt Lake Valley at night, Lone Peak from Salt Lake Valley at night File:Lone Peak South Summit wall.jpg, alt=The south summit wall of Lone Peak, The south summit wall of Lone Peak

References

External links

* {{cite summitpost , id=151267 , name=Lone Peak
Lone Peak
Climb-Utah.com.
Hiking to Lone Peak Summit
Utahwild.com.
Lone Peak Hiking Directions
UtahPictures.com
Hiking Lone Peak
by Hyrum Wright. Mountains of Utah Mountains of Salt Lake County, Utah Mountains of Utah County, Utah Wasatch Range