Overview

Hype:

The hiking trail to Spanish Fork Peak begins in Whiting Campground in Mapleton, UT. The trail parallels a stream then passes a pond before arriving at the summit.

Trail Condition: Class 2 (Trail may have tree roots or rocks jutting out. Navigation skills may consist of following rock cairns and choosing turns at junctions. Elevation gains may be more substantial.)

Time: 5-8 hours

Length: 10 miles round trip

Fees: None

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Getting There

Navigate to 40.135368, -111.523056.

Maps

Closest City or Region: Mapleton, Utah

Coordinates: 40.088280, -111.527690

Interactive Guide Map

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August 24, 2019 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Tara Dye, Marci Parker, Callie Parker,

Logistics

Start: 6:25 a.m.

Peak: 2:25 p.m.

Finish: 3:15 p.m.

Story

Tara, Marci, and Callie hiked to Spanish Fork Peak. They took it at a leisurely pace and had a fun time. Tara was super sore the next day. This was one of her first peaks bagged, and she was working on getting in shape for our upcoming backpacking trip.

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Pictures

September 1, 2003 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye,

Story

I've hiked portions of this trail on several occasions. The trips were several years ago (circa 2003-2004), so they kind of get mixed together. Here's what I remember, so take it for what it's worth. We started at the parking lot at Whiting Campground. The trail went straight for a while then forked to the right. I'm pretty sure there was a stream crossing at this point. After a mile or two (or maybe three), the trail turned right again and followed a small stream. The stream has several small waterfalls. We had fun bushwacking down to the stream to take pictures (at this point, the trail was about 50 ft higher than the stream, and it was a pretty steep slope).

This was my favorite waterfall that we found. It's not very big, but I love the moss and plants.

On this particular trip, I think we only made it to the clearing where the trail leaves the river. The leaves were just starting to turn colors.

On another trip, Anthony and I went together. We left around 2:00pm on a Saturday, probably late fall 2003. The trail kind of disappeared after it passed the pond, so we didn't really know where we were going. We made it to the top of the saddle, but we didn't know if we were supposed to go to the peak to the south or to the north (the south one is higher, but we didn't know that at the time). We watched the sun set, then it occurred to us that we didn't have flash lights and it was going to get dark soon. So we started running down the mountain. It was crazy and a lot of fun. We rock surfed down a scree/talus slope at full speed. Then we kept running all the way down the mountain. I remember that at one point we were running through a field of grass that was up to our armpits. We just held out our arms and kept running. Shortly after that I noticed that the sky was behaving funny. Our eyes had grown accustomed to the movement, and when we looked at the stationary sky, it appeared like the whole sky was collapsing in on us. Apparently this is a common motion aftereffect illusion. It was cool. Toward the end of our hike, it got quite dark. But that didn't slow us down. I mean, sure we couldn't see the trail in front of us, but no biggie, right? We couldn't tell if the dark patches were rocks or holes, but we figured either way it wasn't a good idea to step there. It took us 6 hours to climb up the mountain but only about an hour and a half to run down it. That was a fun hike.

On another occasion, I hiked to the top of Spanish Fork Peak with Mark Jensen. It was a Saturday again. Mark had something going that afternoon, so he was in a hurry to get to the top. I couldn't keep up with him. For about 90% of the hike, he was so far ahead of me that I couldn't see him. He waited at the pond for me, but as soon as I got there, he started hiking again. I met up with him again at the peak. There was a dude up there that brought his lamas. That was a little out-of-the-ordinary.

The rest of the pictures are from June 2004:

Pictures