Salt Lake City, UT: Mount Moriah
Summit a lonely wilderness peak in the stunning Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.
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Get your solitude in large doses in the 82,000-acre Mt. Moriah Wilderness, a wildly remote land in the northern Snake Range that features alpine views, high-elevation mesas, and ancient forest—and you can see the best of it on this difficult 19-mile shuttle hike. Begin following Hendrys Creek Trail through a stream canyon whose slopes are dotted with shrubs and pinyon pine. You’ll pass through a mixed forest of ponderosa pine, white fir, limber pine, and aspen before reaching bristlecone pines—one of the oldest living species on the planet—near 11,000 feet. Hike on to The Table, a sloping, windswept plateau, then leave the trail to take an unsigned, cairned spur 1.5 miles across the northeast face of 12,067-foot Mt. Moriah, where you’ll get uninterrupted vistas of Eastern Nevada’s canyons and summits. Return to the trail and scout for a meadow campsite (at about mile 9 on Hendrys Creek Trail). The next morning, follow the 8-mile Hampton Creek Trail down another trout-filled stream canyon to your car.
Info: Moderate to high clearance vehicles recommended for roads to trailheads. (775) 289-3031; www.fs.fed.us/htnf
Hike provided by Mike White, author of Backpacking Nevada Wilderness (Wilderness Press) and 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada (University of Nevada Press).
Waypoints
MOR001
Location: 39.207691192627, -114.077453613281
Hendrys Creek Trailhead
MOR002
Location: 39.2472801208496, -114.108245849609
Hampton Creek Trailhead