It seems like every time we drive past a mountain or mountain range or even a tall hill Jason wants to climb to the top of it. (like… even rocks in parking lots aren’t safe!) The Paiute Wilderness is located to the east of Mesquite and we drive by it on the highway every time we go up to Utah and Jason comments pretty much every time that he wants to go to the top.  Turns out that there is actually a hiking trail to the top of the mountains and the highest point is Mt. Bangs. Guess where we’re going?

There are 2 ways to get to the Mt. Bangs trailhead: through Elbow Canyon, or the long way around.  Elbow canyon didn’t look very nice in the few youtube videos we found of it (like jeeps and side by sides) so Jason and I figured we would go the long way around.  It ended up taking a solid 2 hours, which is way longer than we thought due to how rough and rocky the road was.

We found an old hunting or ranch cabin up in the mountains.  The roof collapsed, but it looks like people still party in there on occasion.  Would be a neat place to go and take shots at night for sure! Also… we drove the 4Runner up onto a rock!

We finally found the actual trailhead and began our climb.  The hike works its way up the valley and eventually to a little saddle between 2 taller peaks.  The view there was pretty fantastic.  There was even a little spring! The climb wasn’t too bad so far but then I look around and realize that this isn’t the end of the hike… there are switchbacks up the mountain to the left… the big rocky peak looming above us is where we’re actually going.  Hope I brought enough snacks!

As usual, the peak was further away than it looked and the trail got worse and worse until we were following cairns haphazardly stacked in the general direction of “up” and scrambling across rocks and through overgrown brush.  Eventually we reached the top of the mountain that was literally just a huge pile of boulders.  The peak was still further away.  We began crawling through, around, and over the boulders until we got alllmost to the top.  We decided to not make the final scramble up to the true top because we’re literally crawling around on rocks overlooking a giant cliff of death and our legs are made of jello…  Safety first!

The view made the climb worthwhile though!  The mountains here must have more moisture because they were actually green and covered in trees and bushes while the valley below was all red dirt and rocks.  Pretty stark contrast!

I might hike this one again, but make a camping trip out of it and start way earlier in the day!