I’ll keep things short this week, and summarize things by saying, it’s steep. The last mile has a 35% grade!
I was very exhausted after hiking this. It took 7.5 hours total, and I ran out of water for the last couple of hours, which was annoying, but I was as prepared as I could be with water. I was carrying as much water as possible, and I woke up at 6:00 to try to avoid being out when it was hot. Make sure you bring plenty of water; the last mile and toughest part of the hike doesn’t provide any shade.
Pros
- Great view. It’s almost as high as Mount Timpanogos
- There’s a variety of starting points. You can choose to make this hike a short hike to one of the tallest peaks in Utah, or you can make it a long day hike by starting at the Y or Slate Canyon.
Cons
- It’s steep
I lost the last 500 feet of data, but you get the idea.
Max elevation: 10531 ft
Total time: 04:02:18
Directions
There are many ways to go, if you want to hike this peak. You can start from the Y trailhead, Slate Canyon, Rock Canyon, or with a high clearance vehicle you’ll be able to start on an old ATV trail that crosses Squaw Peak Road. I started from the Y.
From the Y
Hike up to the Y, and from the top of the Y, there is a trail that continues to the canyon on the South of the mountain. Continue to the top of the canyon. Soon after you hike up the canyon, there is a trail that veers to the right. That trail skirts back around the mountain and dead ends. You don’t want that trail, continue along the Y trail. Eventually the trail will take you to the top of the Y mountain, you don’t want that either. You’re looking for a trail that branches off to the right of the main trail. This is the trail that you want. Eventually you’ll reach an intersection with the Slate Canyon trail.
from slate canyon Continue to follow the trail until you meet up with the three way intersection with the trail from the Y Mountain (called slide canyon trail).
From the Y mountain or Slate Canyon.
Once you meet the three way intersection, continue on the trail headed East. You’ll be taken up and around this little hill, and then down to squaw peak road. The trail crosses squaw peak road and turns into an old ATV trail.
From Rock Canyon/Rock Canyon Campground.
You’ll want to continue along the rock canyon trail until you reach the Rock Canyon Campground and Squaw Peak Road. Passengers coming down Squaw Peak Road may not be able to go any farther than Rock Canyon Campground. From the Rock Canyon Campground it’s approximately 4 miles to the ATV trail.
Squaw Peak Road
Continue hiking until you reach the old ATV trail
All trails
Where the old ATV trail crosses Squaw Peak Road, there is a little roundabout for cars. You can park here, if you drove to this point. Continue hiking along the Old ATV trail. You’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for the symbols directing you to a trail up the mountain. There will be two arrows made of rocks, pointing up the mountain, and a pile of rocks to the side of the trail. These arrows and pile of rocks mark the start of the trail up to Provo Peak. From here thing will get really steep. Continue onwards and upwards, and you’ll reach the summit.