The Tushar Mountains, Utah's overlooked alpine country.

The Tushar Mountains are a high, volcanic range in south central Utah, rising directly east of Beaver in the Fishlake National Forest. They are the third highest range in the state, topped by Delano Peak at 12,174 feet, and a genuinely under-visited one: alpine peaks, a long ridgeline trail, an ATV network and a small ski resort, without the crowds of the Wasatch.

Delano Peak, at 12,174 feet, which is also the third highest summit in the state of Utah. Mount Belknap and Mount Baldy stand within a couple of miles of it, both also above 12,000 feet, and it is those three high summits together that make the Tushars the third highest range in Utah.

Not up the paved canyon road at the moment. State Route 153, the highway east of Beaver, has been closed since flooding and debris flows washed out sections of it in July 2026, and it stayed closed through 2026 while a funded rebuild is arranged. The peaks are still visible from town, and open sections of the Paiute ATV Trail can be reached from other communities. Check the current status of SR-153 with UDOT before planning a drive up.

In a normal season, plenty: hike Delano Peak and the other summits, walk or ride the roughly 23 mile Skyline ridgeline trail, ride the Paiute ATV Trail, camp at Big John Flat, chase wildflowers in summer and aspen color in October, and ski at Eagle Point in winter. The high country is realistically open from about July through October.

A roughly 23 mile trail that runs the crest of the Tushars, north to south, designated a National Recreation Trail in 1979. It crests around 11,100 feet and skirts the 12,000 foot peaks, and it is open to hiking, mountain biking, backpacking and horseback riding. It sees little traffic for terrain this high, and October brings the aspen color.

July through October, in a normal year. The Tushars are high enough that snow lingers into early summer, so the peaks, the meadows and the Skyline Trail are realistically reachable from about July on. October is the standout for fall color, when the aspen turn gold across the mountainsides.

The range was built by volcanic activity tens of millions of years ago, so its rock formed from lava and ash rather than the slow cooled granite that shapes the Wasatch to the north. That origin is why Delano Peak reads as a broad, rounded dome rather than a jagged spire, and why the same dark volcanic stone shows up in Beaver's old pioneer houses at the foot of the range.

They are Utah's third highest range, behind only the Uinta Mountains and the La Sal Range, with three summits above 12,000 feet standing close together. Unlike the granite Wasatch peaks most Utahns know, the Tushars are volcanic, with rounded alpine ridges and tundra meadows rather than sharp granite ridgelines.

Yes. Beaver County's own tourism materials describe the herd in the Tushars as the largest mountain goat herd in Utah. Whether you see them comes down to season and elevation and a bit of luck; it is not something to plan a trip around.