Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Utah / Wasatch Range

Lone Peak via Jacob's Ladder

Lone Peak Wilderness, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (above Draper)

Lone Peak rises above Draper, between the Salt Lake and Utah valleys, and its granite cirque lies in the Lone Peak Wilderness, which Wikipedia says was Utah’s only designated wilderness from 1978 until 1984. The shortest route is Jacob’s Ladder, a trail the Forest Service calls “extremely steep, long, and rugged.” Many hikers split it with a night in the meadows or the cirque below the summit.

It’s a big climb for a short distance, and the last stretch is an exposed scramble.

The hike

The Forest Service says to park at the Ghost Falls trailhead, about 2.6 miles up dirt Corner Canyon Road from the Orson Smith trailhead in Draper; Jacob’s Ladder starts 50 yards east. Climb-Utah lists the landmarks: a junction on a spur ridge, a second junction with other trails and a 4WD track, then Lone Rock, an outcrop with a big drop. A steep climb of about an hour and a half leads to an open grassy ridge and the Draper Ridge junction.

Above that is a rise with a meadow and the first view of the summit. Climb-Utah warns that “many get lost” here. The route crosses the meadow and a stream, climbs a saddle to the east, and reaches the Outlaw Trail junction, where you go straight east rather than north toward the Outlaw Cabin. Wikipedia says the cabin was built in the 1960s, before the area became wilderness, and keeps a visitor journal. Past a small saddle, the route enters the cirque and follows the drainage north to the north saddle, then follows the ridge east to the summit.

Climb-Utah rates the last quarter mile as Class 4 scrambling with serious exposure, and a 2005 SummitPost report describes roughly 600-foot sheer cliffs on three sides of the summit. Wikipedia gives the round trip at about 15.6 miles with roughly 5,600 feet of gain, and says a 2022 rebuild added switchbacks to ease the grade.

Other approaches reach the same cirque. A 2017 BackcountryPost trip used the Cherry Canyon Logging Trail from Orson Smith Park, which Climb-Utah calls the best maintained and notes passes a reliable spring. Climb-Utah also suggests going up Jacob’s Ladder and down Bear Canyon for water access. The Wasatch Mountain Club’s June 2026 overnight camped at Little Willow Creek before a summit morning.

For a lake overnight in the same wilderness, see Red Pine Lake on the north side.

Tips

Camping

There are no designated sites and no permit requirement was found. Wikipedia lists Lone Peak Wilderness rules: no overnight groups larger than 10, no camping within 200 feet of lakes, trails or other water, and no more than 3 days at one site. The Forest Service trail page instead lists a group size of 15, recommends 8 or fewer, and discourages campfires. Camp on durable ground well away from the trail and water.

Inside Intel: A 2005 SummitPost party camped in a meadow just past the top of Jacob’s Ladder and left their packs there for the summit. A 2017 BackcountryPost hiker camped in the cirque beneath Lone Peak and found water plentiful in the cirque and along Fort Creek after a big snow year. Wikipedia says rock climbers often camp at the base of the summit, while other hikers camp lower on the trail.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

The long grind up Jacob's Ladder:

The Forest Service calls Jacob's Ladder extremely steep, long and rugged, with roughly 5,600 feet of gain over about 15.6 miles round trip to Lone Peak. Find out how to set your poles for a climb like that.

Read the pole tips →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.