Wendover to SLC

TylerB

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I've been having this crazy idea for a long time. The big picture would be a trail that connects the sierra (Mt. Whitney) to the Wasatch (sunset peak). It would go across the great basin. The California side would take the lowest to highest (or highest to lowest route in this case) to get from whitney to CA/NV border. I know there are a few options across Nevada and it would be good to somehow hit Ruby Mountains and Great Basin NP on the route across Nevada.

Right now though I am focused on the Utah portion, specifically Wendover to Sunset peak. I have a really good idea of how to get from Jordan Park to Sunset Peak in two sections.....all familiar trails I have walked.

1. Jordan Park to Wasatch Drive (Salt Lake Urban Street Hike... SLUSH)
9 line to main street or west temple
main street to 2200 S
street car trail to fairmont park
parleys trail to wasatch drive

2. Wasatch drive to Sunset peak
Grandeur from the west
Grandeur peak to church fork
pipeline to elbow fork
elbow fork to the terraces
terraces to white fir pass
white fir pass to baker pass
desolation trail baker pass to butler fork (or mill d north)
mill d south to cardiff road
cardiff road over the ridge drop down into alta
across the alta meadows (albion basin) to catherine pass TH
catherine pass TH to sunset peak

My question is...what would be the best route to go from wendover to Jordan Park? Ideally some criteria to consider would be a resupply or two crossing a town (ideally) or road (second option). South of I-80 the route runs into some land ownership issues with Dugway proving grounds....north of I-80 the route looks pretty soggy.

One option would be following the NV/UT border south until I'm well south of Dugway proving grounds....head east....resupply at food cache at simpson springs campground....head north through skull valley....cross stansbury mountains....resupply in tooele valley....cross the oquirrhs and then somehow connect e.g. butterfield canyon to the jordan river parkway?

I haven't spent much time in stansbury or oquirrh mountains. Any recommendations for major canyon thoroughfares running west to east across these north/south ranges that might be the best route?

Other ideas of how to make this route a reality?
 
Lol ... Seems like some pioneers did that years ago.. .
 
Deep Creek mtns ... Overland canyon goes thru. Part of the. Pony express...
 
This. I am thinking about the Death Valley to Mt Whitney part alone.
Yeah there's about a three week window in late Sep-mid Oct when L2H is doable, and perhaps a similar window in April if you've got mountaineering skills. But to do that at one end of a 1500-mi hike (as this would probably be) means that you'd be crossing the Great Basin in the height of summer.
 
Check out he Utah portion of the Pony Express Trail.

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This looks like a good option. The line I created in google earth following this route shows about 165 miles from Ibapah to Utah Lake. At Utah Lake, I could connect to the Jordan River Parkway.

A resupply at simpon spings CG looks about halfwayish on the stretch between Ibpapah to Utah Lake. What is the terrain like? From what I can tell online.....it seems to be dirt road walking? Any ideas for deviating from this main line to make things more interesting?

Yeah there's about a three week window in late Sep-mid Oct when L2H is doable, and perhaps a similar window in April if you've got mountaineering skills. But to do that at one end of a 1500-mi hike (as this would probably be) means that you'd be crossing the Great Basin in the height of summer.
Sorry I should have explained that I would do this in big sections...not as a single giant thru.
 
Dirt/gravel roads, unless you travel thru the Deep Creeks outside of Overland Cayn. Simpson Springs may or may not have water, Fish sprs and callao would have water.
 
I haven't spent much time in stansbury or oquirrh mountains. Any recommendations for major canyon thoroughfares running west to east across these north/south ranges that might be the best route?
Most viable one in the Stansburys is going to be Pass Canyon/North Willow Canyon since there aren't many other trails/4WD roads that ascend from the west. You could try bushwhacking one of the canyons farther south that has an old road going part or most of the way up, like Deadman Canyon. Looks like you could make that one go by heading up to the summit of Vickory Mountain and then bushwhacking to the trail a little below the summit on the east side.

For the Oquirrhs, it'll be a bit tricky because of land ownership. I need to verify whether the land owners let hikers go all the way up, but Ophir Canyon, up to Lowe Peak, with a ridge walk north to Kelsey Peak, Butterfield Peaks and out one of the trails that ends in Butterfield Canyon would be awesome. When I lived in Utah, my job actually had me involved with some of the land owners in Ophir Canyon, so I know through that that most of the trails through private land up there are open to foot and horse traffic. I've been up a few of them. Their big issue is mainly with the ORV people, not hikers. I'm just not 100% sure the one that goes up the head of Ophir to Lowe Peak is open. If it isn't open to the public, you could walk up Serviceberry, which I know for a fact is open to foot traffic. Then once you get to the head of Serviceberry Canyon (the road/trail isn't marked on topos but is extremely clear in satellite imagery), you could contour and ridge walk (some of it is on marked trails) all the way to the main ridgeline just north of Lowe.
Otherwise, a less cool road walk up Middle Canyon and then down Butterfield would of course work. There's a decent amount of vehicle traffic on both sides, with a whooole lot of dust on the Middle Canyon side. Fun when you're in an enclosed vehicle. Not fun otherwise.
 
Thanks @Bob I'm thinking of a route through the deep creeks that would enter Uiyabi canyon to the north end of the ridge and then just run that ridge south to Rocky Peak and then exit the deep creeks out through middle canyon or Goshute Canyon and drop into Callao rejoining the PET. The elevation profile looks pretty gentle.

I'm not thrilled about the road walk on the PET from simpson springs CG to Utah Lake. Looking into some of the options further north @Jackson just mentioned....also have been looking at a route that stays south from simpson springs to Eureka and maybe from there somehow connect to Mt Nebo? The Eureka detour would go through the sheeprock mountains and the west tintic mountains. Looks like a less gentle elevation profile with a lot of up and down. But still might be better than a road walk...anyone familiar with this area? Seems like from Eureka I could have some land ownership issues with the mining.eureka detour.pngdeep canyon detour.png

Red line is main PET...blue lines are detours
 
A ridge walk on the Deep Creeks will be a thrash and thats a long way. I hunted out there for 25 yrs so have seen most of the area. No water along the ridge either. Lots of Mt Mahogany and some thick fir pockets. Goshute cyn lower is big boulders in the bottom, but there used to be an old mine road right in the bottom, usually washed out, Ive driven dirt bikes up it. Oreilly and Hardscrabble would be rougher, thicker. Id come off rocky peak thru the basin out middle cyn down the old road. Most of the eastern canyons have (had untill our drought) small streams about halfway down in them. Last few years i hunted and its been a while, the springs we knew of were going dry... On the west side cold spring was good.

You could go up christensen and out north pass to stay off main road thru overland
 

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