Ensign Peak Hiking Guide
Ensign Peak rises directly behind the Utah State Capitol, and the walk up it takes about twenty minutes from a residential street. Four hundred feet of climbing on a wide gravel path delivers a monument, a bench, and the whole Salt Lake valley laid out below with the Oquirrh Mountains beyond and the Great Salt Lake catching light to the northwest. It is the city's default sunset walk and it works in every season.
The Climb
From the small trailhead on Ensign Vista Drive the path switchbacks up an open grassy hillside, gaining 400 feet in under a mile. The surface is compacted gravel, wide and well maintained, with benches at intervals. It is steep enough to raise a sweat and short enough that almost anyone can manage it with a rest or two. Twenty to thirty minutes up is normal.
History on the Summit
A stone monument marks the peak, which Brigham Young and a party of Latter-day Saint leaders climbed within days of arriving in the valley in July 1847 to survey the ground below. Interpretive signage covers that history. Whatever your relationship to it, standing where the city's grid was first sketched out and looking at what came of it is a genuinely interesting few minutes.
Sunset and Crowds
This is the sunset spot, and on a fine evening the summit is busy with couples, families and photographers. Arrive early for a bench. The city lights coming on below as the sky goes orange over the Oquirrhs is the payoff. Bring a headlamp for the walk down — the path is easy but unlit, and the trailhead sits in a neighbourhood where stumbling around in the dark is avoidable.
Neighbourhood Access
The trailhead is small and embedded in a residential area with limited parking and posted restrictions. Park considerately and keep noise down, particularly in the evening. This is a case where continued easy access depends on visitors not annoying the people who live at the bottom of the hill. There are no facilities at the trailhead.
Year-Round, and the Inversion
Ensign Peak works in all four seasons, which is unusual in Salt Lake. In winter it often rises above the valley inversion — the trapped layer of cold, polluted air that settles over the city for weeks at a time — so you can climb out of grey murk into clear sunshine in twenty minutes. That is the single best reason to know this trail. Leashed dogs are welcome; it sits outside the protected watershed.
Hiking tips for Ensign Peak
- Climb it during a winter inversion — twenty minutes often takes you above the trapped smog into clear sun.
- Arrive well before sunset for a bench, and carry a headlamp for the unlit descent.
- Park considerately in the residential streets; access here depends on staying on good terms with the neighbourhood.
- Bring the dog — unlike the Cottonwood canyons, Ensign Peak sits outside the watershed and permits them on leash.
- Use this as an altitude-and-fitness taster on your first day in Salt Lake before committing to the Wasatch canyons.
Nearby trails to explore
- Living Room Trail
- Grandeur Peak
- Mount Olympus
Hike this trail with TrailMates
Ensign Peak is the easiest way to meet other Salt Lake hikers on a weeknight. Use TrailMates to find sunset groups heading up from the Capitol side. Download the TrailMates app to join one.