The climb everyone calls Sardine Canyon
US-89 and US-91 Box Elder County Open all year
Everybody around here calls the grade east of Brigham City Sardine Canyon, and that name has stuck for well over a century. The truth on a map is more interesting: the highway does not run through one canyon at all. Leaving Brigham City, US-89 and US-91 climb Box Elder Canyon to the little town of Mantua, continue up Dry Canyon from Mantua to Sardine Summit, then drop through Wellsville Canyon into Cache Valley on the far side.
The only place the word Sardine appears officially on the modern road is Sardine Summit, the high point of the crossing. The original Sardine Canyon was an older highway alignment on the eastern slope of the Wellsville Mountains, off the line the main road takes today. So when a local says they are going over Sardine, they mean the whole climb and the summit, not a single labeled canyon.
It matters for a mover because this grade is the daily link between the Bear River Valley and Cache Valley. Plenty of people drive it to work in Logan and back, and the character of the crossing, easy in summer and serious in a winter storm, shapes how the two valleys connect. This page covers the Box Elder approach; Cache Valley's own guide takes the Logan side of the summit and Cutler Reservoir below it.
The details
Getting there
From Brigham City, the climb starts right at the east edge of town where Main Street becomes US-89 and US-91. It is a steady four-lane grade up to Mantua and the summit, an easy drive in clear weather and a well-traveled truck route the rest of the year.
Before you go
- Your map may read Box Elder Canyon or Wellsville Canyon; on the ground people call all of it Sardine.
- The grade is four lanes and well maintained, but it climbs steadily, so watch your speed on the descent.
- This is the Box Elder side of the pass; the Logan approach belongs to Cache Valley's own coverage.
- Check road conditions in winter before you count on the crossing being clear.
Mantua, the old flax town
About 5 miles east of Brigham City Elevation about 5,164 ft Population 1,090
Mantua sits in a green bowl at the top of the first pitch of the climb, about five miles east of Brigham City and roughly 5,164 feet up. It began in 1863 as a Danish colony, settled by immigrants Lorenzo Snow sent to grow flax for the young territory's cloth. The high, wet little valley suited the crop, and for a while flax was the whole reason the town existed.
The flax experiment gave the place its early names, Flaxville and Little Copenhagen among a string of others, before it was renamed Mantua after Lorenzo Snow's hometown in Ohio. The flax industry faded, but the town held on as a small farming and ranching community, and today it is a quiet town of 1,090 people in the 2020 census, wrapped around its reservoir.
There is not much commercial about Mantua, and that is the point. It has no downtown to speak of, a town park, and a rim of homes looking onto the water and the Wellsville slopes. For most travelers it is the place the reservoir is, and for the people who live there it is a mountain-valley address ten minutes from a full-service town below.
The details
Getting there
Mantua is the first place you reach on the climb, signed off US-89 and US-91 about five miles up from Brigham City. The town wraps the reservoir, so the water and the streets share the same short network at the top of the grade.
Before you go
- Mantua is residential and quiet; the reservoir and the town park are the public draws.
- The limit drops as the highway passes the town, and it is enforced, so ease off through Mantua.
- Brigham City, five miles down the grade, has the groceries, fuel and services.
- The name honors Lorenzo Snow's Ohio hometown, not the town in Italy.
Mantua Reservoir, spring-fed and no-wake
Owned by Brigham City No-wake water Trout, bass and winter ice
The reason most people turn off at Mantua is the reservoir. It is an earthen-dam water built by Brigham City in 1959 and 1960 and still owned and operated by the city, fed by natural springs rather than a big river, which keeps it clear and cold. Figures for its surface vary by source, so call it a compact reservoir of roughly 500 acres.
Because it is a no-wake reservoir, there are no water skiers or fast boats; the rule keeps it quiet and makes it a paddling and float-tube water for kayaks, canoes and small craft. The fishing is the year-round draw. It holds rainbow trout along with largemouth bass, bluegill and yellow perch, an unusual warm-and-cold-water mix in one mountain pond.
Winter is its own season here. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has named Mantua among the state's top ice-fishing waters, and once safe ice forms the surface fills with augers and shelters. A level path runs along part of the shoreline, sometimes described as a lakeside boardwalk and loop, for an easy walk with the water on one side and the Wellsville Mountains above.
The details
Getting there
The reservoir is right off US-89 and US-91 at Mantua, about five miles and ten minutes from Brigham City, with shoreline access and parking near the town. You are essentially at the water as soon as you leave the highway.
Before you go
- A current Utah fishing license is required for anyone old enough to need one.
- It is a no-wake reservoir, so bring a kayak, canoe or float tube rather than a ski boat.
- For winter ice, never trust early or late ice and check conditions before you walk out.
- The lakeside path is a short, flat walk, not a full loop of the whole reservoir.
The Box Elder Peak in the Wellsville Mountains
Wellsville Mountains 9,372 feet Hiking and backcountry road
The mountain wall on the south side of Mantua is the north end of the Wellsville Mountains, and its high point is the Box Elder Peak in the Wellsville Mountains, at 9,372 feet. Say it that way on purpose: there is a different and taller Box Elder Peak in the Wasatch near American Fork, and trail apps regularly confuse the two, so anything around Mantua means the Wellsville summit.
The Wellsville Box Elder Peak is a hard, all-day hike, most often reached from the Cache Valley side, with a shorter Box Elder Creek trail leaving from the Mantua area for a taste of the range without the full summit. The Wellsvilles are known for being narrow and steep for their height, and in fall they are a corridor for migrating hawks and eagles moving along the ridgeline.
A backcountry road also climbs from near Mantua toward the high Willard Basin country on the crest above Willard. It is a rough, seasonal, high-clearance route, and the full story of Willard Basin and its viewpoints belongs to Willard's own coverage; from here, know only that the road up starts near town.
The details
Getting there
Trailheads for the range sit around the top of the climb and on the Cache Valley side, and the Box Elder Creek trail leaves from near Mantua. The summit itself is a full day and real effort, so treat it as a hike to plan, not a casual stop.
Before you go
- Use the Wellsville summit at 9,372 feet, not the taller Box Elder Peak down in the Wasatch.
- The summit hike is long and steep with little water; carry plenty and start early.
- The Willard Basin road is rough and seasonal, and its full story lives with Willard's coverage.
- Fall is prime for watching migrating hawks and eagles move along the Wellsville crest.
Winter over Sardine Summit
Sardine Summit The weather chokepoint Check UDOT
Sardine Summit is the weather story of this crossing. It is the high point between the Bear River Valley and Cache Valley, and it is usually the first stretch to slow or close when a storm moves in, with snow, wind and reduced traction on the grade. For the many people who commute over it to Logan, a bad morning on Sardine is a familiar delay.
The road is plowed and driven all winter, and most days it is a routine crossing. But when a front stacks up against the mountains, the summit can hold snow and ice after the valleys below are clear, and UDOT will post conditions and, in the worst weather, traction laws or a temporary closure. It is the kind of pass you check before you commit to it in January.
None of this makes the canyon a place to avoid in winter; the ice fishing on Mantua Reservoir is a winter draw in its own right. It just rewards a look at the forecast and the road report before you drive, and a little extra time and traction when the weather is working.
The details
Getting there
The summit is about ten miles east of Brigham City, past Mantua, on the way to Cache Valley. In good weather it is an easy twenty-minute drive over the top; in a storm, it is the part of the route to watch.
Before you go
- Check UDOT road conditions before a winter trip over the summit.
- Carry winter tires or chains and give yourself extra time when snow is forecast.
- The summit can stay snowy and icy after the valleys below have cleared.
- Fuel and food are in Brigham City on this side and in the Cache Valley towns on the other.
