The mountain Pine Valley
Two routes, one crest, and a mountain that never erupted
Whipple and Browns Point, from the village side.
Eleven and a third miles at a workable gradient, or seven and a half at a brutal one, both climbing into the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness and both finishing on the Summit Trail along the crest. What you are climbing is a laccolith, magma that spread sideways underground and never reached the surface, and it is described as the largest in the country. Right now both trailheads sit inside a closure order.
Start here
You are climbing a mountain that never reached the surface.
The Pine Valley Mountains are a laccolith, and it is described as the largest in the United States and possibly the largest in the world. A laccolith is magma that pushed sideways underground rather than erupting: it spread along a weak seam, lifted the rock above it into a dome, and then sat there while several thousand feet of overlying material eroded off and exposed it. What you walk up here is the inside of a mountain that never got out.
It has consequences you can see from the trail. The rock is a coarse grained intrusive rather than the layered sandstone that makes the rest of this county photogenic, the slopes are steep and evenly graded rather than terraced, and the high ground holds enough snow and moisture to carry spruce, fir and aspen in a latitude that is otherwise juniper and blackbrush.
Signal Peak, at 10,365 feet, is the high point. The Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness was designated in 1984 and runs to about 50,000 acres, and the Summit Trail runs the length of the crest with at least eight trails climbing to join it. Two of those climb from the village, and they are the two everybody means.
The range, by the numbers
10,365 ft
Signal Peak, the high point of the range
1984
the year the wilderness was designated
~50,000
acres inside the wilderness boundary
~18 mi
of Summit Trail along the crest
The classic
Whipple Trail 31025, eleven and a third miles to the crest.
The Forest Service gives Whipple Trail 31025 as 11.36 miles out and back with 2,259 feet of gain, rated difficult, open to hiking and horses, closed to bikes and motors, with no fee. It leaves the Whipple trailhead in the recreation area and starts climbing immediately, entering the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness within about half a mile, near the Santa Clara River.
The shape of it is two climbs with a rest in between. Switchbacks lift you out of the basin with the village dropping away below, and the first climb ends on a saddle. The second is rockier with fewer switchbacks and takes you close under the pinnacles, which are the rock towers you can pick out from the valley floor on a clear morning. After that the trail runs through timber and drops into Whipple Valley, where it meets the Summit Trail on the crest.
That junction is what makes it a route rather than a walk. From Whipple Valley you can turn along the Summit Trail and come down another drainage, which is how the loop everybody talks about is put together. It is also where a day out becomes a navigation problem rather than an out and back, and the reason to carry a map that shows the whole crest rather than one trail.
Half a mile in you are in designated wilderness, and the rules change at that line rather than at the trailhead.
The steep one
Browns Point, which trades distance for gradient.
Browns Point is the other route people mean when they say they went up the mountain from the village, and it is a different proposition from Whipple. Third party trail sources put it at about 7.5 miles with roughly 3,448 feet of gain, topping out near 9,780 feet from a start around 6,909. I have not found a Forest Service page giving its trail number with the same confidence as Whipple's, so treat the number as unconfirmed and the profile as the thing that matters.
That profile is the point. Roughly a thousand feet of ascent for every two miles of trail is a serious gradient, and it is why Browns Point is shorter than Whipple and harder. People who do the classic loop generally climb one and descend the other, and which way round they go is a genuine argument among people who walk here.
Both trails reach the same crest and both are wilderness trails in the proper sense: no bikes, no motors, minimal signage, and a trailhead that does not tell you how far you have to go. The mountain is high enough that snow lingers on the upper sections into June in a normal year and returns in October.
| Whipple | Browns Point | |
|---|---|---|
| Trail number | 31025, from the Forest Service | Given as 31008 by third party sources, unconfirmed |
| Distance | 11.36 miles out and back | About 7.5 miles |
| Gain | 2,259 feet | About 3,448 feet |
| Gradient | Moderate, switchbacked | Steep and sustained |
| Top elevation | Whipple Valley on the crest | About 9,780 feet |
| Uses | Hiking and horses, no bikes or motors | Hiking and horses, no bikes or motors |
Whipple's figures come from the Forest Service's own trail page. Browns Point's come from third party trail databases, which is why they are presented as approximate. Both trailheads are inside the closed recreation area at present.
The rest of the network
Forsyth, Mill Canyon, the Equestrian Trail and the crest.
Forsyth Trail 31012 runs 9.08 miles out and back with 2,464 feet of gain, rated difficult, hiking and horses only, no fee. It starts in Pine Valley and climbs the laccolith following the seasonal Forsyth Creek, crossing it repeatedly, through aspen groves and meadow openings, and passes through the wilderness. From the top you can continue on the Summit Trail or descend by the Blake-Gubler Trail. It is also the drainage the 2025 fire is named after.
Mill Canyon Trail 31013 wanders along its canyon crossing the creek frequently, and the Forest Service's own note about it is worth repeating: most of the trail is exposed because of an old fire scar covering the canyon. That is a description written before the Forsyth Fire, which tells you something about how often this range burns.
The Equestrian Trail is 31036, and the Summit Trail is 31021. The Summit runs the whole length of the range from the Paradise trailhead near Pinto in the north down to its junction with the Forsyth and Blake-Gubler trails, roughly eighteen miles with at least eight trails climbing to meet it. It is the spine, and every route on this page is a way of getting onto it.
Every trailhead named on this page is inside the current closure. Forest Order 0407-26-01 took effect on 15 January 2026 and covers area, roads and trails on the Pine Valley Ranger District so crews can restore the recreation area and clear debris flows and flood damage. Hazard tree removal inside the same ground began in January 2026 and runs into 2027 with heavy equipment and tractor trailers on the road. This is an active work site rather than a quiet closed one, and the sign is not a suggestion.
The far side of the same mountain
New Harmony has trailheads on the east, and they are not these.
This range has two sides with towns on them and the trails do not overlap. Pine Valley sits on the north and west, with Whipple, Browns Point, Forsyth, Mill Canyon and the Equestrian Trail all leaving from the recreation area above the village. New Harmony sits on the east, in a green valley below the other face, and its own Forest Service trailhead at the end of Trailhead Road carries two different routes: the Comanche Trail 31011, which follows a pioneer irrigation ditch for its first flat mile, and the Anderson Valley Trail 3022 up toward Mount Baldy.
Both towns reach the same Summit Trail on the crest and neither should be describing the other's trailheads. The New Harmony companion covers the east side trail by trail, and it is genuinely a different day out: lower, drier, and reached from Interstate 15 rather than from SR-18.
There is one practical wrinkle worth knowing. The Forest Service's own page for the Comanche Trail gives the Pine Valley Recreation Area as its trailhead, because the trail runs right across the range and that is its far end. That end is closed. The New Harmony trailhead is a separate access on the other side and is a different question entirely, so check which end a page is talking about before you plan around it.
| From Pine Valley | From New Harmony | |
|---|---|---|
| Side of the range | North and west | East |
| Trails | Whipple, Browns Point, Forsyth, Mill Canyon, Equestrian | Comanche 31011, Anderson Valley 3022 |
| Approach | SR-18 to Central, then eight miles east | I-15 exit 42, then west on SR-144 |
| Trailhead elevation | About 6,900 feet in the recreation area | About 5,500 feet at the end of Trailhead Road |
| Currently | Inside Forest Order 0407-26-01 | A separate access; confirm status before going |
Both sides finish on the same Summit Trail, which is the one object the two towns share. Neither companion describes the other's trailheads in detail, which is the whole arrangement.
Keep reading
More of Pine Valley on The Local.
Things to do
The top 7, ranked
Seven picks, ranked, and honest about how much of the mountain is behind a closure order.
Read the guideThe landmark
The chapel and the tithing office
A meetinghouse framed like an inverted ship, and the brick box beside it that was the post office.
Read the guideThe lumber town
The Tabernacle organ trees
A stray cow, the first sawmill south of the rim, and the canyon the Tabernacle organ came out of.
Read the guideWhat changed
The Forsyth Fire
A lightning strike that smouldered ten days, 15,675 acres, and three restoration projects running.
Read the guideMoving here
A cabin or a house
Ninety inches of snow, one road in, and two kinds of property that photograph identically.
Read the guideThe companion
Pine Valley, from a local
The chapel, the mills, the mountain and the fire, in one place.
Read the pageQuick answers
The trails, answered.
The Forest Service gives Whipple Trail 31025 as 11.36 miles out and back with 2,259 feet of elevation gain, rated difficult, open to hiking and horseback riding and closed to mechanised and motorised use, with no fee. It enters the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness within about half a mile of the trailhead and ends in Whipple Valley where it meets the Summit Trail along the crest of the range.
Steeper, yes, and shorter. Third party trail sources put Browns Point at about 7.5 miles with roughly 3,448 feet of gain, topping out near 9,780 feet, against Whipple's 11.36 miles and 2,259 feet. That works out at roughly a thousand feet of ascent for every two miles of trail, which is a serious sustained gradient. People walking the classic loop generally climb one and descend the other, and which way round is a real argument.
Not the ones that leave from the village side. Forest Order 0407-26-01, effective 15 January 2026, closes area, roads and trails on the Pine Valley Ranger District while crews restore the recreation area and clear debris flows and flood damage, and the Whipple, Forsyth, Browns Point, Mill Canyon and Equestrian trailheads all sit inside that ground. Hazard tree removal in the same area runs into 2027. Ring the Public Lands Information Center on 435-688-3200 before setting out.
The mountain itself. A laccolith is a body of magma that pushed sideways underground along a weak seam rather than erupting, lifting the rock above it into a dome, which erosion has since stripped to expose the intrusion. The Pine Valley laccolith is described as the largest in the United States and possibly the largest in the world, and it is why this range is coarse grained intrusive rock rather than the layered sandstone that shapes the rest of Washington County.
10,365 feet, and it is the high point of the Pine Valley Mountains. The Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness around it was designated in 1984 and runs to about 50,000 acres. The Summit Trail 31021 runs roughly eighteen miles along the crest of the range, from the Paradise trailhead near Pinto in the north to its junction with the Forsyth and Blake-Gubler trails, with at least eight trails climbing to join it along the way.
Forsyth Trail 31012, 9.08 miles out and back with 2,464 feet of gain, rated difficult, open to hiking and horses, no fee. It starts in Pine Valley and climbs the laccolith following the seasonal Forsyth Creek, crossing it repeatedly through aspen groves and meadow openings, and passes through the wilderness. From the top you can continue on the Summit Trail or descend by the Blake-Gubler Trail. It is also the drainage the 2025 fire is named after.
Not the ones on this page. Whipple, Browns Point and Forsyth all enter the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness, where mechanised use is prohibited alongside motors, so they are hiking and horseback only. That is a legal restriction rather than a Forest Service preference. Riders looking for this side of the county are better served by the Hurricane Cliffs network and Gooseberry Mesa, both of which the Hurricane companion covers trail by trail.
Roughly late spring to October in a normal year, and the shoulders are where people get caught out. Snow lingers on the upper sections into June and returns in October, and the trailheads sit at about 6,900 feet while the crest is over ten thousand. Afternoon thunderstorms build over this range through late summer, so the working plan is an early start and being off the top by early afternoon. Confirm the snowline rather than reading a trip report from August.
No, and that is a distinction worth getting right. Pine Valley sits on the north and west of this range and its trails are Whipple, Browns Point, Forsyth, Mill Canyon and the Equestrian Trail. New Harmony sits on the east side and its own trailhead carries the Comanche Trail 31011 and the Anderson Valley Trail 3022. Both towns reach the same Summit Trail on the crest, and the New Harmony companion covers the east side trail by trail.
The mountain will reopen. The questions about living under it will not change.
Whipple and Browns Point come back when the restoration work finishes and the closure order lifts. What stays constant for anybody thinking about a house down in the basin is the wildland urban interface, the single road out, and how a specific lot is set up for both. That is the mover page.