Hiking Lookout Peak

I often think that one way to alleviate pressure on the Cottonwood Canyons is to better promote the recreation opportunities that exist in other areas around Salt Lake City.

With the holiday weekend upon us, we opted to hike this morning up Lookout Peak, which sits at the head of upper City Creek Canyon and is most easily accessed from Affleck Park along State Route 65.

In a previous life, I had mountain biked down the hiking route after circling into it from Big Mountain Pass.  Those were the good old days, pre-Bonneville Shoreline Trail and extensive mountain biking in the Park City area, which necessitated riding all sorts of narrow trails and avoiding face plants as we descended with hard-tail bikes with about 2 inches of front-fork travel.

Today we found ideal hiking conditions, with plenty of wildflowers.

It's about 4 miles and 2700 vertical feet to the summit, depending on where you start.  The views today were fantastic and include vistas of Little Black Mountain, Lower City Creek Canyon, and the Great Salt Lake.

Upper City Creek Canyon and Grandview Peak.

Closeup of Grandview.  This might be my next hike once the Skyline Drive is open (supposedly June 1st).  I've always thought it would make an interesting ski adventure in the spring to ride up City Creek and approach it up the canyon.

Hikers on the false summit, with the Uinta Mountains in the distance.

The central Wasatch showed off their coat of white today.  Sadly, it is going fast.

Now is really the time to hike these mid-elevation peaks.  Check out how green it is in Emigration and Parleys Canyons.

The route is not well signed and takes a little sleuthing to start.  It begins in the Affleck Park campground, which was open for camping, but gated today for access.  Thus, we parked at the Quacking Aspen Grove Historic marker and walked into the campground, finding the trail near the northern end.  After that, one ascends to the divide with Killyon Canyon, turns right (north) and works their way to the summit.

Enjoy while the grass is green and the heat is not too stifling.