Climbing Provo Peak 2019

Provo Peak (Oil on Panel)

This is a painting I made a few years ago Of Provo Peak, as seen from the valley near the boat harbor. Last Week, a friend of mine and I decided to hike Provo Peak, which rises 11,068 feet (about 3,374 meters) above sea level.

Provo Peak, Photographed from the Side of Lionshead Peak.

We started out in the afternoon, driving up Provo Canyon to Squaw Peak Road. There the driving became progressively worse the farther up the road we went. It seems that once past Rock Canyon Campground, the high mountain dirt road gets no maintenance. The road was full of rocks and deep ruts. A few places had holes as big as our car. It wasn't anything my 4Runner couldn't handle, we just had to drive slowly - often as slow as two miles an hour. It took us a couple hours to get from the beginning of the road to the trailhead.

Cascade Mountain, viewed from the Provo Peak trailhead.

Not long after beginning our climb, we found an unattended campfire. This is the second time in a week I've found campfires abandoned yet still burning in the mountains! And it's fire season. We didn't have enough water to put the fire out, so we dug up a lot of dirt and threw that on the fire until it stopped smoking.

Cascade Mountain, as seen from farther up the ridge.

The trail to the peak is not very good in some places. It's steep and full of loose rocks. Three times I left the trail and found my own way up the mountain for a while because the trail was so difficult and unsafe.

The higher we climbed, the hazier the weather became. I wonder if the haze was possibly from wildfires burning in other parts of the West. By the time we reached the 11,068 ft. high peak, the haze largely obscured the distant views we had hoped to see. The climb was still well worth it though! 

This was the fourth time I've climbed Provo Peak, and it's been a long time since the time before. I took a few photos from the top before we began our hike back down. The sun set before we were halfway down the mountainside. We made it to the trailhead, and the 4Runner, with the help of my flashlight. 

Hazy view of Cascade Mountain from the top of Provo Peak.

The view toward East Peak.

Looking southward from the peak along the main ridge.

The view ESE.

Looking down Slate Canyon to Utah Lake. 

The view from the top, toward Mt. Nebo.