June 26, 2026
My wife and I usually camp at least once a year with some friends at their property in Hobble Creek, and during my hikes on last year’s trip Provo Peak was often prominently visible on the skyline, so this year I made that summit my goal. We hauled the RV up Thursday afternoon and I took Friday off work so I could make the hike. I left camp a little later than I planned, and the road was bumpier and slower than I was expecting, so I didn’t start hiking until almost 7:00 AM. I had been aiming for closer to 6:00! And despite my late start I had to stop a few times during the drive to photograph the excellent views into Utah Valley as the sun came up.
There were two vehicles already at the trailhead when I arrived, one was unoccupied and the other, which appeared empty when I pulled up, apparently had someone sleeping in the back because they emerged and drove away while I was getting ready to hike. I started up the closed road, which had probably the stupidest sign blocking it, saying the road is closed to prevent damage to the road. I’m not sure if the Forest Service knows what roads are or how they function? I hiked up the road, careful to minimize any damage, about half a mile to the junction with the Provo Peak hiking trail. I had the junction marked in my GPS but it was evident enough that I wouldn’t have missed it otherwise. There were some nice wildflowers in bloom but most of my photos turned out blurry since it was windy for the entire hike. There was a nice view north toward Cascade Mountain, but not much of a view elsewhere due to being surrounded by steep mountains.
I encountered a pair coming down the trail who said they’d turned around because one of them was worried it would be too windy on the summit. Hmm, okay. I climbed steadily, and looked behind me frequently at the changing view as more of the valley became vislble. For most of the ascent I could only see five of the other six peaks of the Wasatch Seven. Spanish Fork Peak was hidden behind the ridgeline ahead of me until I was almost at the summit.
There wasn’t much to the rest of the hike. It started out steep and got steeper. There was one place with exposed bedrock that I almost had to scramble up, but otherwise there was a good trail the entire distance. I’d been hiking in the shade all morning until just before 9:00 AM when the sun finally peeked out over the peak.
I got to the summit and then went a couple hundred feet north along the ridge to find a geocache. I took in the views of the valley, and the three peaks to the south that I have hiked, as well as the three to the north which I haven’t. I could see down Bartholomew Canyon into the Left Fork of Hobble Creek but my camp was just out of view behind a ridge.
It was quite windy on top so I hiked down about a quarter-mile and found a place in some trees, out of the wind, to sit down for an early lunch break. The descent took almost as long as the ascent–the steep slope required slow and careful foot placement to avoid sliding and falling. I returned to the trailhead just before noon. It took two hours to get down, while it had taken 2.5 hours to hike up to the summit. My total distance was 3.3 miles with 2,800′ elevation gain. I was expecting the hike to be a little more difficult just due to the steepness but it really wasn’t too bad.
I’d never seriously considered hiking all of the Wasatch Seven until this hike, but seeing all the peaks lined up in both directions from the summit of Provo Peak made me think it would be satisfying to summit each of them. In fact, I began planning a hike to Cascade Mountain right after this trip, for the following weekend, but some foot pain sidelined those plans.
Photo Gallery: Provo Peak