Mahogany Mountain (9,001 ft) is located in Utah County, and considered one of the steepest hikes in the Wasatch. In just 3.5 miles to the summit the trail gains 4400 ft! Mahogany Mountain often gets overlooked for Mt.Timpanogos, which towers over it to the East. Because of this, not many people don’t know this mountain even has a name. Except for peak baggers that is. This is one of those hikes every peak bagger must do, and even with a lot of peak experience, this one is daunting due to the steepness. 

About

Leg day? Skip the gym and hike this mountain instead. This will leave your calves and quads burning and both the up and downhill. Looking for more mileage? Do the loop instead. Hike up Mahogany, down the Timpanooke Road, down Grove Creek Canyon, the north along the BST making a giant 17 mile loop (see map below). This is what we did, except we didn’t quite complete the loop. We stopped at mile 14 – keep reading why.While this trail is dog friendly, I recommend leaving dogs at home. There is 50/50 shade, but has zero water. Make sure that you start early to beat the heat. The best times of year to hike this are late Spring and Fall when the temps are cooler. Poles are helpful on this hike as well. 

Directions

From SLC head south on I-15 then take exit 284 towards American Fork Canyon. Take the commuter lane to avoid the lights. Turn right on North Canyon Drive. Drive about 1/3 mile and you will see a dirt lot on the left side of the road near the gold course. This is a safe place to park.

Here’s a detailed parking/TH map, and a driving map.

Trail Info

Distance: 3.5 miles to South Summit,

OR 17 mile loop

Elevation gain: 4400 ft  

Time: 3-4 hours to South Summit, 8-9 hours for loop

Dog friendly? Yes, off leash but I wouldn’t bring a dog next time

Kid friendly? No

Fees/Permits? None

Start by Parking in the large gravel lot, then walk towards the golf course. There is no trail, just cut through the grass.

Pick up the golf cart road, wrap around it walking by No Trespassing signs (the signs are for the water pump), and you’ll see the trail just after leading up to the left. Dogs should stay on leash until you reach the trail.

Now the fun begins. Looking back down to where we just walked to from the car.

Whew, the calve burning begins! This trail is so steep.

WOW! What a cool view down into American Fork Canyon.

A little level trail to relive the burn…

Such cool views from the North Ridge.

But wait! It gets steeper…

Charlie waits for his slow mama to catch up.

….and steeper. Ok, this was definitely the steepest section, right?

Finally, we start to top out on some level ground again.

Wow, taking in all the views!

Yay, on the far North end of the Mahogany Mountain ridge! One of my favorite spots the entire hike.

Next it was time to hike over to the North Summit. First, we had to hike up this large snow patch. It was quite big, no getting around it easily.

After the North Summit, we dropped down to the saddle then started up towards the South Summit.

 This is looking back to the North Summit.

Climbing the last steep section before the South Summit.

Whew, that wind really picked up as the clouds moved in.

Finally, after years at staring at Mahogany Mountain, we did it!It took us about 3 hours to get to the summit.

After eating a quick snack on the summit, we hiked back up to the North Summit, then dropped down the trail to connect to the Timpanooke road.

From there we hiked a few miles along the road until we saw the trail split for Grove Creek Canyon. You’ll see a brown trail marked “151” on the right side of the road.

 

Hiking down to Grove Creek Canyon.

Exiting the canyon. From here we caught the BST and continued hiking North to meet up with our car. However, as soon as we got here, Charlie hit his hiking “wall” – he started hiking really slow, got over heated, panted more, and you could tell he was just done.

 

You can see my map below and now know why we didn’t complete the whole loop. We got off the trail as fast as we could and caught an Uber back to our car.  We hiked a total of 14 miles, and had 3 more to go. I’m really happy we were able to have cell service most of this hike for emergencies like this. Sadly, I think Charlie’s max mileage these days is now 10-12, or at least in much cooler temps (below 50F). He’s recovering very well, and slept the rest of the evening and most of the next day. What a champ!

 

Check out my video!

 

Trail Map

My tracker decided to stop part way up the North Ridge, but thankfully I noticed quickly and started it back up. It only cut off about 1/4 mile.

Get your app here for a discount.

 

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