Grandview Peak

Grandview Peak, prominent from many points in both Davis and Salt Lake counties, is certainly one of the hardest-to-access peaks in all of the Wasatch. Any routes are long and/or difficult to get access to. I finally climbed this peak, the closest high peak in the range to my house, in summer of 2000.

A variety of routes exist. Two ways from City Creek Canyon are to hike up as far as Cottonwood Gulch and climb up the steep, grassy slopes directly to the peak. Another is to continue further to "City Creek Meadows" and ascend the more gentle slopes from there. That said, getting access to City Creek Canyon is a pain. A gate blocks the public from the upper parking five miles from the trailhead. You'll have to hitch a ride up there with someone who has a picnic permit, or get a permit for yourself. Another option is to climb the peak from the area by Big Mountain. This is a long, but pretty ridge hike of about eight miles each way. Still another option would be to climb from the foothills around Ensign Peak, but that is closer to ten miles each way. How about Muellar Park? You could hike the trail to Rudy's Flat (very scenic in the fall), and then climb the steep ridge and follow it for some distance to the peak on a faint trail.

I opted for the most logical route I could think of...I drove up Skyline Drive towards Bountiful Peak, turning south at a point at 8,100 feet where the road meets the summit ridge. I followed the road south for about a mile in my passenger car before deciding it was getting too rough to drive without having four-wheel. From here, I walked the dirt road south for about four miles of ups and downs to the official start of the "Great Western Trail". From here, it climbs steeply up to the ridge just behind the high point of "Sessions Mountain". Grandview Peak will now become visible for the first time. Unfortunately from here you'll have to drop a few hundred feet on the trail to the east as it bends to a ridge that will eventually lead up Grandview. You'll have to re-climb this hill on the way back.

After dropping down that hill, then re-ascending another hill, you'll have a pleasurable ridge hike for nearly a mile before getting due east of Grandview. From here, you'll have to find a faint trail that leads towards the peak. As you get nearer the peak, the trail seems to turn into a series of deer trails. Just follow the route that looks best to you. As you near the peak, the terrain steepens. I had the pleasure of climbing this peak while a number of fires were burning in the area, leaving my view to be less than "Grand". Atop the peak is a funky-looking mailbox with log books. The views are good, but I didn't think they compared to the higher peaks to the south. A long ridge headed west and down towards my home (at that time). The climb of Grandview was about seven or eight miles each way, climbing around 2,500 feet with all of the ups and downs. The trip down was in fact as miserable as I'd expected. I pulled a hamstring in my upper right leg, making some of the uphill climbs downright horrible.

Finally back at my car I was relieved to have this monkey of a peak off my back. I'd have to say it wasn't a favorite, and I don't think I'd rush out to climb it again. Let's just say I didn't think it lived up to it's name. Perhaps most interesting of the trip was seeing a cougar cross the road right in front of my car on the drive up in the morning. This was not far above the houses on the hillside, and the cougar was headed downhill. Roundtrip time was about nine hours, but that is with the hamstring injury, it could be done quicker I'm sure.