Mount Olympus Hiking Guide
Mount Olympus is the mountain everyone in Salt Lake City looks at, a great limestone wedge rising directly behind the eastern suburbs, and the trail up it is famously punishing. Four thousand feet of gain in three and a half miles, starting from a trailhead you can reach off I-215, with almost no flat ground anywhere and a genuine scramble to stand on the true summit. Locals use it as the benchmark before Wasatch peak season.
The Grade Never Relents
There is no warm-up and no recovery. From the parking area the trail climbs immediately and keeps climbing, averaging well over a thousand feet per mile. The surface is rock, gravel and dirt with big step-ups, and the sun hits the west-facing slope for most of the day. Fit hikers take four to six hours round trip. The descent hammers knees — poles are worth carrying and most regulars use them.
The Summit Block
The trail delivers you to a saddle below the summit, and the final push is a class 3 scramble up limestone blocks with real exposure. It is short, and experienced scramblers will find it straightforward, but it is a genuine step up from hiking and plenty of people stop at the saddle. That is a sound decision — the saddle view is already excellent, and downclimbing the scramble on tired legs is where accidents happen.
Water and Heat
There is no reliable water on the route and no meaningful shade above the first mile. The west aspect means it bakes through the afternoon, so summer hikers start before dawn. Carry three to four litres in warm weather; running out partway up a 4,000-foot climb in the Wasatch sun is a genuinely dangerous position and this trail generates rescues every season for exactly that reason.
Dogs and the Watershed Line
Mount Olympus sits outside the protected watershed, so leashed dogs are permitted — which makes it unusual among the big Wasatch objectives. Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, City Creek and Parleys canyons supply Salt Lake City's drinking water, and dogs are banned outright in the protected watershed — not leashed, banned. Rangers ticket for it. Mill Creek Canyon sits outside the watershed and is the local answer for dog owners. Do not assume a rule you learned here carries over to Lake Blanche or Cecret Lake, because it does not. Note also that the upper scramble is beyond most dogs regardless of the rules.
Season and Parking
Late spring through autumn is the standard window; snow and ice make the upper mountain a mountaineering objective in winter and the scramble genuinely dangerous. The trailhead lot off Wasatch Boulevard is small and fills early on weekends, with roadside overflow along a busy road. Arrive early for both the parking and the temperature. Cell coverage is reasonable low down and patchy high up.
Hiking tips for Mount Olympus
- Bring trekking poles — the 4,000-foot descent on loose rock is what people actually remember about this hike.
- Treat the saddle below the summit as a legitimate finish; the final class 3 scramble is exposed and worse coming down.
- Carry three to four litres in warm weather; there is no water and the west-facing slope bakes all afternoon.
- Do not carry the dog rules from here to the Cottonwood canyons — Olympus is outside the watershed, they are not.
- Arrive early for the small Wasatch Boulevard lot, which fills on weekends and overflows onto a fast road.
Nearby trails to explore
- Grandeur Peak
- Lake Blanche
- Living Room Trail
Hike this trail with TrailMates
Mount Olympus is the Wasatch benchmark and a long day to share. Use TrailMates to find Salt Lake hikers training for peak season and starting before dawn. Download the TrailMates app to find a partner.