Recently we took advantage of blue skies and did the short hike up to Ensign Peak. At 5,416 feet in the foothills above downtown, Ensign Peak offers a nice view of Salt Lake City and the surrounding scenery. It’s an easy climb at only 1.0 mile round-trip and makes for a nice walk on a sunny winter day.

Ensign Peak is a significant part of the city’s Mormon founding. Two days after the first Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847, Brigham Young and eight others climbed to the summit where they declared that their new home would be an “ensign for the nations.”

The trail leads hikers up through a valley between the peak and surrounding hills before circling around to the top providing views of the city and the Wasatch Mountains to the south, the Oquirrh Mountains to the southwest, and the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island to the Northwest.

The expansive Salt Lake Valley

The monument at the top was erected in 1934

A bit hazy over the Oquirrh Mtns.

Antelope Island & the Great Salt Lake

Though it was slightly hazy the day we went, on a clear spring or summer day, the views are expansive. Maybe we’ll get back up there on another clearer day to see what it’s like.