Hiking Notch Peak in Utah's West Desert

See more of my photos from this hike.

This article gives more details, and has directions to the trailhead.

Utah's west desert is an amazing paradox - an alien-looking land, forbidding yet starkly beautiful. It offers great hiking options and I enjoyed challenging one of its best summits last weekend.

We climbed Notch Peak, which rises some 5,185 feet above the surrounding desert. The peak's south side has a section that is sheer for about 2,200 feet - and that makes it a cliff of major magnitude.

El Capitan, the famous rock mass in Yosemite National Park, has a vertical rise of about 3,000 feet. As precipices go, Notch Peak is almost as impressive, if you combine its vertical and almost vertical sections, but Notch is virtually unknown because it is located in Utah's remote, desolate west desert.

From the top of Notch, looking almost straight down for most of a mile, the feeling is overwhelming. Vertigo is common as you move toward the edge. It sometimes feels like a mysterious force is sucking you toward the cliff. Hikers innately respect the mountain; most lie on their bellies as they peer over the edge.

Most of the towering cliffs in Zion Park drop a meager 1,500 to 2,000 feet straight down. Aside from Notch and the Yosemite peaks, I don't know of another precipice in the US that boasts such an impressive sheer face.

I've wanted to hike Notch for some time, and finally made the trip last weekend. It was a great experience, well worth the effort.

Notch Peak is located west of Delta, about 3.5 hours from Salt Lake City. The hike is moderately strenuous, about 8 miles round trip. We made it up and down in about 5 hours, and that allowed time to play on top.

There is no formally designated trail and you need route-finding skills to make this hike. A topo map is essential and a GPS comes in handy.

We approached from the east and followed a winding canyon up to a saddle just below the summit. Hiking in the canyon is relatively easy but you do have to bust through some brush and climb around one dryfall. You also ascend a series of ledges, almost stone steps. Hiking through the canyon is fun and moderately adventurous. We had a couple kids with us, ages 12 and 13, and they made it with no problem.

As you come out of the canyon onto the open ridge, you gain a panoramic view of the surrounding desert. You feel like you've been transported to some distant planet, with alien-looking landscape falling away in front of you. The surrounding desert is mostly flat and devoid of life. The glassy waters of Sevier Dry Lake reflect distant brown mountains, with snowcapped mountain peaks visible in the far distance.

You look out over hundreds of miles of desolate country, no cities or towns in sight, a few roads the only signs that humans have impacted this vast land.

Views from half-way up the mountain are impressive and the wonderment grows with each step as you approach the summit.

The final push to the saddle is steep and exhausting, even if you are in good shape. You hike over small, loose pieces of broken shale and that makes for poor footing. This section of the hike is short but more difficult than it looks.

When you reach the saddle just below the peak, the summit rises a couple hundred feet above you to the left. To the right, we followed the ridgeline to another saddle, a little lower, where we were able to take photos that captured most of the peak's dramatic rise.

Bristlecone pine trees grow in a grove adjacent to this second vantage point. They are amazing trees, some thousands of years old. Gnarled and scarred, bristlecones are the oldest living things on earth. Some, on nearby Wheeler Peak, are thought to be more than 4,000 years old.

For something to live for thousands of years, you would think it must grow in the best soil, in a spot where temperatures and other conditions are favorable. Not so. These trees push their roots down into cracks in the rock, where there is little soil available, and the soil that is available is poor. They grow at high altitudes, here about 9,200 feet, on windswept slopes where summer days are very hot and winter nights are bitter cold.

The grove on notch is impressive.

Notch Peak makes a great hike - perhaps the best in the west desert. One of the best in Utah.

- Dave Webb

Hike details:

Notch Peak summit elevation: 9,655 feet

Sevier Dry Lake elevation: 4526 feet

Sawtooth Canyon Trailhead
39.128, -113.364

Canyon Fork
We hiked up Sawtooth for a short distance to a fork; at the fork we went left and stayed in the canyon until we were right under the saddle.
39.1334, -113.373

Saddle below summit
39.1426, -113.406

Notch Peak
39.1427, -113.409

Bristlecone Grove
39.1433, -113.403

Sale Of Oil Leases Near Utah Parks Causes Uproar

An AP news article about the sale of oil and gas leases near Utah national parks is being widely published, and is causing a bit of uproar. The sale is controversial and should be examined. Unfortunately, the AP article includes several misstatements, some so distorted they reek of sensationalism.

Here's the full article. Below are excerpts, with my comments.

"The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge — an unspoiled landmark so iconic it's on Utah's license plates — could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration "fire sale" for the oil and gas industry."

Delicate Arch is a natural arch, not a bridge. It is extremely unlikely that any present or future lease will result in a view of Delicate Arch that includes a drilling rig. The land features in that area make such a view virtually impossible. The claim is sensationalism. However, other arches on the edge of the park may be within visual range of potential drill sites.

"Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands."

Dinosaur is a national monument, not a park, and it is not in redrock country. It is located in NE Utah.

Virtually everyone agrees we should not allow drilling around the famous icons managed by the National Park Service. But Arches, Canyonlands and Dinosaur include thousands of acres of remote, seldom-visited backcountry. Here's a related question that deserves to be debated: Do we need to prevent development of land that is close to or within visual range of remote, seldom-visited areas within national parks and monuments?

The New York Times ran this story about the scheduled sales. The Times story does not include sensational claims or gross misstatements. But the tones of both articles make it seem like neither reporter has ever even seen the lands they are writing about.

Below is an excerpt from the Times article:

"The inclusion of the new lease tracts angered environmental groups, which were already critical of the bureau’s original lease proposal, made public this fall, because they said it could lead to industrial activity in empty areas of the state, some prized for their sweeping vistas, like Desolation Canyon, and others for their ancient petroglyphs, like Nine Mile Canyon."

Desolation Canyon is a deep gorge carved by the Green River in central Utah. River rafters enjoy floating the mild whitewater in the gorge, and enjoy the wilderness-like setting there.

The proposed leases are high on the plateau above the gorge and would not be within view from the river. The plateau above the gorge includes a huge amount of land that sees very few humans, aside from a small number of ranchers who run cattle there. It is not a popular area for recreation - there is very little backpacking, hiking and camping activity there.

A few rough roads provide access to the plateau. If the roads were improved, perhaps more people would visit and enjoy the area. Should an oil or gas well be located there, some roads would have to be improved.

Here are questions: Do we protect this area that is "prized for its sweeping vistas" by preventing all development, thus insuring it will remain virtually unused by humans? Or do we allow limited development, including improved road access, and thus open the door for recreational use?

Nine Mile Canyon is another story. There are several existing oil and gas wells in the area, some right in the canyon. The proposed leases are on land above the canyon - not even close to the ancient petroglyphs. Do we need to protect petroglyphs, which are adjacent to existing wells, by preventing future wells on land above the canyon?

These are weighty questions that have been debated for years. Most of the articles written in opposition to development are penned by people who have never seen these areas - who have no idea how big, remote and rugged this country is. They would write better articles if they would come see the land for themselves.

Ultimately, the public needs to decide what land to protect and what land to develop. It is public land. Come see it. Walk the deep canyons and visit the arches and petroglyphs. Then perhaps you can answer my questions.

Watch my Nine Mile Canyon video for more on this subject.

- Dave Webb