Hiking to Fish Lake Hightop, Sevier County High Point Girl on a Hike

Hiking to Fish Lake Hightop, Sevier County High Point

Fish Lake Hightop (11,633 ft) is the Sevier County High Point, and popular among those completing the Utah County High Points (CoHPs) list. Fish Lake Hightop was my very last one and I was sooo excited to finish the list! My very first CoHP was actually Deseret Peak back in 2014, so this list took me years to complete. When I first started bagging peaks I didn’t know the CoHP list even existed I just wanted to hike to cool places. Fish Lake Hightop was no different – it took me to a new part of the state I had never been, Fish Lake, which is about an hour southeast of Salina, UT.

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About

The trail itself follows Pelican Canyon for 4.5 miles, gradually gaining elevation. The lower half of the hike is very shaded and earlier in the year Pelican Canyon Creek flows, however, come Fall it is typically dry as it was for us. The upper half is much more exposed and works up a few steep hills and small switchbacks before reaching the plateau. Once on the plateau you can clearly see your destination, Fish Lake High Top!The best time of year to hike this route is summer and fall, when the snow is gone and the trail is dry. Dogs are allowed off leash, and older kids will also enjoy this hike. Plenty of camping is available all around Fish Lake. We camped at Doctor Creek Campground and I would not recommend that one, as there was only one site that could accommodate more than one tent. Great for RVs though!

Directions

From Salina, UT drive south on HWY 24. Turn left at the signed “Fish Lake”. Drive 10 miles, then turn left on FR034/Pelican Overlook. Park at the end of the road. High clearance is needed to reach the overlook. If you only have a small car, you’ll need to park lower then walk up to the TH.

Here is a driving map.

Trail Info

Distance: 9 miles RT

Elevation gain: 2,400 ft

Time: 5-7 hours

Dog friendly? Yes, off leash

Kid friendly? Yes, ages 9+

Fees/Permits? None

The trail begins at Pelican Point (aka Promontory) at the East end of Fish Lake.

Great views of Fish Lake to the West.

Here we go, last CoHP!

Within the first two minutes you’ll reach the first trail split. There is no sign (just this wood stick), but stay left.

The trail is very shaded.

At 0.5 mile, keep straight/right up the canyon. Turning left takes you down to the Bowery Resort & Campground.

The hill begins to get steeper, but still shaded. Parts of it are rocky.

At mile 2.3 miles reach another trail split. Stay right this time.

Just off to the left is a pond. It’s pretty mucky but the dogs didn’t mind since they could cool off for a minute. There was also very old cabin remnants near here as well.

Now the next mile goes up more steep hills but also through flat meadows.

Hike up a few small switchbacks.

The trail fades a little near the top but it well marked by large cairns.

Eventually, about 1/2 mile from the summit we saw this sign. It only shows a pretty inaccurate map, so we kept hiking. From the sign hike North (left).

Here we go, final push to my last CoHP!

A few boulders to jump over.

Dang it, Charlie beat me to the last one! But look how happy he is! Does he know he’s done with the CoHPs??

And then there were zero CoHP left for me to summit! Charlie went from happy to sleepy quickly hahah!

Whoo hoo! I did them all! So excited to be done and I can’t believe I’ve now literally been to every part of Utah. What’s next? Stay tuned for my next project, launching in 2020!

Thank you friends for joining me on my last one! They all joked that they would now call me “Girl who used to hike” haha! Stav, in the red shorts, joined us all the way from Las Vegas and he runs his own blog, Stav is Lost, and has done 15! Penny and Nick completed CoHP #13, David (blue shirt) only has one more to go, and Dan (next to me) has completed #11! Such a great way to make new friends and all have a goal in common.

Earlier this year David asked if I was interested in doing a few CoHP together and of course I said yes, but it also gave much a ton of motivation to complete the list this year. In 2019 alone I did 11 CoHPs, so I really kicked it into gear. I had done all the bigger peaks, so most of the peaks this year were on the easy side, even driving to about three or four of them.

Charlie completed all the CoHPs with me except American Fork Twin Peaks, and thats only because dogs aren’t allowed up there. Way to go Charlie! He says his next goal is to sniff out new places for us to hike to!