Ensign Peak

This memorial is at the top of the hike!

Ensign Peak is a place of historical significance for Utahns. Just 2 days after he entered the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young, recently recovered from a serious illness, climbed Ensign Peak and surveyed the valley. He envisioned the valley brimming full with residents, and laid the plans for the grid system of streets we have in use today.

The hike to Ensign Peak is short and easy. It is a bit steep, but our 4 and 7 year-olds made the hike up and back in about an hour. There is a little memorial park with many plaques that tell the story before you start up the mountain.The hike winds up through the scrub oak along a rocky trail. When you get to the top, there is a tall stone monument that can be seen from the valley floor, but you probably won't even notice it because the view over the valley is stunning. You can see everything from the U of U all the way around to the north point of the mountain. We especially enjoyed looking down on the airplanes as they came in for a landing. You could also see the Great Salt Lake, the Bingham Copper mine, and downtown Salt Lake.

The memorial garden has lots of shade and information.

We thoroughly enjoyed this hike. We wouldn't recommend it for anyone with health or walking difficulties, but if your health is good, this is a must do hike.

The only drawback to the hike was the disregard others have had for the landscape. Not only was the trail in poor condition due to inconsiderate hikers leaving the trail, but some unthinking screwball had taken cans of orange and black paint and defaced many of the signs and monuments. I understand that those things happen on what can be considered an "urban" hike, but please, please respect this trail (and any trail).

The start of the hike

It's definitely uphill the whole way!

We are almost there. Here you can see the Great Salt Lake.

The views are amazing! You can see everything.

There is a short side trail called Vista Mound that we took on the way back.
If you can't make it all the way to Ensign Peak, you could just
walk here and have a pretty great view.

Directions to Ensign Peak: From downtown SLC, head north on State Street to the Capitol building. Turn right and follow the road around to the northeast. It becomes East Capitol Boulevard. Follow it up the hill to the north and then turn left onto North Sandrun Road. Follow that road west to the LDS Church building. We parked in the church parking lot and walked through the memorial garden, then across the street to the hike. There is also parking on Ensign Vista Drive where the hike begins.