Toward Lone Peak Alpine
The Alpine side of a mountain that files under another city
The Hamongog route, and the road nobody agrees about.
Schoolhouse Springs to First Hamongog at about 1.75 miles, on to Second Hamongog at roughly 6.9 miles out and back and 2,437 feet of climbing, then steeply toward Lake Hardy and the ridge under an 11,253 foot summit. The route, the meadows, the wilderness rules, and the honest state of a gravel road that a private owner, a neighbouring city and a court order all have a view about.
Southern Utah is my home turf. Alpine is not, so these pages are researched rather than lived: checked against city, county and venue sources, and dated so you can see how fresh they are. For the on-the-ground work here I lean on a Utah County partner agent.
Start here
The famous way up Lone Peak is not in this town at all.
If you searched for the Lone Peak hike and landed on a Draper page, that was not a mistake by the search engine. Jacob's Ladder, the approach almost everybody means when they say they are climbing Lone Peak, runs from the Orson Smith trailhead area in Corner Canyon, in Draper, and it is about twelve miles round trip with more than five thousand feet of climbing and a sustained scramble near the summit. It is Draper's, it is written up on Draper's Corner Canyon page, and there is a Draper mountain bike flow trail of the same name to muddle things further.
Alpine has its own way at the same mountain and it is a different thing entirely. It starts above the Alpine Cove neighbourhood at Schoolhouse Springs and climbs through two meadows to the ground below the summit ridge. First Hamongog sits at about 1.75 miles. Second Hamongog is roughly 6.9 miles out and back with about 2,437 feet of climbing, which makes the upper meadow a perfectly good objective in its own right. Above that the route turns steeply toward Lake Hardy and the ridge.
Hamongog is a Biblical word for a meadow, which is precisely what the two of them are: flat grassy platforms stacked on the side of a very steep mountain. The name is why this route reads as obscure in search results while the Draper side reads as famous, and it is worth knowing before you try to find anything written about it. The other reason this route needs a page of its own is that the last part of the approach to the trailhead is not settled ground, and that is the next section.
The route in numbers
1.75 mi
to First Hamongog
6.9 mi
out and back to Second Hamongog
2,437 ft
of climbing to the upper meadow
11,253 ft
Lone Peak, above the ridge
The part nobody writes down
A gravel road, an injunction, and a city telling people to walk.
This is the reason this page exists, and it is put near the top rather than in a footnote because it is the thing most likely to affect your morning. What follows is the position as I could establish it on 14 August 2026. It has changed before and it may well change again.
The trailhead area at Schoolhouse Springs sits above the Alpine Cove neighbourhood, and the last stretch of the way to it runs along a gravel road that is privately owned and posted against trespass. That is the whole of the problem in one sentence, and everything else is the consequence of it.
Lehi City owns the trailhead parcel itself, the ground by the water tower, and holds it under a court injunction requiring that access be allowed. So there is a legally protected destination reached by a road whose owner does not want people on it. The landowner's position has been reported as an attempt to establish that the route has not been used for some years. That is a live civil matter rather than a settled one, and this page is not the place to argue either side of it.
What Alpine City has done in the meantime is give walkers a practical instruction: park where North Aspen Drive meets North Three Falls Way and walk up from there. That adds distance to an already long day and it is the position I would follow, because a city telling people where to leave a car is the most authoritative thing available on a question like this.
The honest advice is short. Do not plan this route on the strength of turn by turn directions from a forum post, a trip report or a mapping application, because all three lag a dispute like this by years. Ring Alpine City before you go and ask what the current position is. If that answer is not available, Box Elder Peak from the Dry Creek trailhead is the same order of mountain day with none of the ambiguity attached to it.
Confirm the access position with Alpine City before you drive out here, and do not follow a mapping application up the gravel road. As of 14 August 2026 the situation reads like this: the last stretch of the approach crosses a private gravel road posted against trespass, Lehi City owns the trailhead parcel and holds it under a court injunction requiring access to be allowed, and Alpine City has instructed walkers to park where North Aspen Drive meets North Three Falls Way and continue on foot. That is three parties with three different interests in one short piece of road, and it is exactly the sort of arrangement that moves. Alpine City is the authority worth ringing. Nothing on this page is a substitute for asking them on the day, and no route description here should be read as a right of way.
What is actually up there
Two meadows, a lake, and a ridge that asks for a full day.
The climbing starts immediately and it does not really let up until the first meadow. First Hamongog arrives at about 1.75 miles and it is the point at which the walk stops feeling like a suburban trail and starts feeling like a mountain. The ground opens, the grade eases briefly, and the wall of the Lone Peak massif is suddenly the whole view rather than something glimpsed through trees.
Second Hamongog is the natural turning point for most people. Roughly 6.9 miles out and back with about 2,437 feet of climbing puts it in the same bracket as a hard half day, and it is a genuinely good place to stop: a second flat meadow higher up the same slope, with the summit ridge above and the whole valley below. Turning round there is not a failure and it is what a large share of the traffic on this trail does.
Above the upper meadow the route turns steeply toward Lake Hardy and the ridge, and the character changes again. Alpine Days runs a guided walk to Lake Hardy every August, leaving the Upper Three Falls trailhead at a quarter to six in the morning, and the city's own description of that trip is about eleven miles round trip with 4,500 feet of climbing. That is a fair measure of what the upper mountain asks, and it is why the guided version starts in the dark.
The summit itself is 11,253 feet and it is not a walk up. Lone Peak finishes in granite, and every honest account of it from either side involves scrambling near the top. Big Horn Peak on the same ridge is reached by the same approach and is a common objective for people who want the height without the summit block. None of this is ground to be on for the first time late in the day.
Hamongog is a Biblical word for a meadow. There are two of them stacked on this mountain, and the second one is a better day out than most people who pass through it realise.
Two sides of one mountain
The Draper way and the Alpine way are not versions of the same walk.
Lone Peak sits on a county line and both sides have a classic approach to it. They differ in almost everything that matters, including how certain you can be of reaching the start. Here they are together, which is something no single trail listing does.
| The Alpine side, via the Hamongogs | The Draper side, via Jacob's Ladder | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | Schoolhouse Springs, above Alpine Cove, on foot from Aspen Drive and Three Falls Way | The Orson Smith trailhead area in Corner Canyon, Draper |
| Which county | Utah County | Salt Lake County |
| Distance to the summit | A very long day; the guided Lake Hardy version alone is about 11 miles | About 12 miles round trip |
| Climbing | About 2,437 feet to the upper meadow, roughly 4,500 to Lake Hardy, more to the ridge | More than 5,000 feet, sustained |
| The character | Two meadows, a lake basin, then a steep turn for the ridge | A relentless climb with a scramble near the summit |
| Getting to the start | A live access question over the last stretch of gravel road | Established Draper city trailhead parking |
| Who writes it up | This page | Draper's Corner Canyon page on The Local |
Route figures as published in current trail data and by Alpine City, checked 14 August 2026, with ranges shown rather than averaged. Lone Peak stands at 11,253 feet inside the Lone Peak Wilderness and the Forest Service issues no day use permit from either side. There is also a Draper mountain bike flow trail called Jacob's Ladder, which is a different thing again and is not a route to any summit.
If the Draper side is what you actually want, it is written up properly and it is not here. Corner Canyon carries Jacob's Ladder along with Ghost Falls, Ann's Trail and the rest of the network, plus the parking, the dog ordinance and the seasonal picture, on Draper's Corner Canyon page. That is a Salt Lake County companion with its own local detail. This page exists for the Alpine side, which nobody else was writing down.
The ground you are on
Utah's first wilderness, and it starts above a residential street.
The Lone Peak Wilderness covers 30,088 acres. It was designated in 1978 under the Endangered American Wilderness Act, it was the first wilderness area in Utah, and for six years, until 1984, it was the only one. That is a genuinely unusual thing to have at the top of a street in a valley city, and it explains a good deal about why Alpine looks the way it does: nothing above the last row of houses is ever going to be developed.
The practical rules follow from the designation rather than from any local ordinance. No bicycles, no motorised or mechanised equipment past the boundary. Group size and campfire rules that can tighten through the season. And no day use permit, which surprises people who have got used to booking things: the Forest Service lists none for this wilderness, so a walk to either Hamongog needs nothing booked in advance.
The office that carries this side of the range is the Pleasant Grove Ranger District of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, and its alerts page is where seasonal fire restrictions are actually posted. Restrictions in this part of the forest have run to specific drainages and specific reservoirs with their own date ranges rather than one blanket rule, so checking the alerts rather than assuming is the right habit.
The other thing the designation does is set the tone for what a rescue looks like. There are no roads, no motors and no quick vehicle access above the trailhead, which is worth thinking about at the point you are deciding whether to carry a head torch on a route where the guided version starts before six in the morning.
The other summit
Box Elder Peak
Eleven thousand one hundred and one feet from the Dry Creek trailhead, and no access question at all.
Read the pageThe short version
Horsetail Falls
Four and a half miles to a cascade in the same wilderness, from a trailhead that is not in dispute.
Read the pageWhere it ranks
Seventh on the list
The mountain is the biggest objective in town and the least straightforward, and the entry explains the ranking.
The ranked listWhere this sits
One mountain, two counties and three pages.
Lone Peak is shared ground and The Local writes each side from the town that actually holds the trailhead. These are the neighbours.
The other side
Corner Canyon, Draper
Jacob's Ladder, Ghost Falls and the rest of the network, with the parking and the ordinance that govern them.
Read the guideThe mountain opposite
Timpanogos and the Loop
The seasonal gate, the ticketed cave and the two summit trails, across the canyon from this ridge.
Read the guideThe companion
Alpine, in full
Seven pages on the town under Lone Peak, from the city open space to the paperwork.
Read the pageKeep reading
More of Alpine on The Local.
Things to do
The top 8, ranked
Eight entries, ranked, each with the body that runs it and the season it keeps.
Read the guide255 acres
Lambert Park
Sixteen miles of volunteer singletrack, a rodeo ground inside it, and no motors at all.
Read the guideThe Dry Creek walk
Horsetail Falls
Two and a bit shaded miles up Dry Creek to a cascade and a Marine Corps plaque.
Read the guide11,101 feet
Box Elder Peak
A long day to 11,101 feet, with the last mile loose, steep and fully in the sun.
Read the guideMoving here
The end of the road
What it takes to own a lot where the highway stops and the fuel starts.
Read the guideThe companion
Alpine, in full
The open space, the two trailheads, the tower, the week in August and the wilderness line.
Read the pageQuick answers
The route, answered.
Draper. Jacob's Ladder is the Corner Canyon approach to Lone Peak, reached from the Orson Smith trailhead area in Draper, and it runs about twelve miles round trip with more than five thousand feet of climbing and a sustained scramble near the summit. There is also a Draper mountain bike flow trail of the same name. That is why the Lone Peak hike files under Draper in almost every search result. Alpine's own approach to the same mountain is the Hamongog route from Schoolhouse Springs.
At the Schoolhouse Springs area above the Alpine Cove neighbourhood, on the east side of town. Alpine City has instructed walkers to park where North Aspen Drive meets North Three Falls Way and continue on foot from there, because the last stretch of the approach crosses a private gravel road. From the trailhead area the route climbs to First Hamongog at about 1.75 miles, then to Second Hamongog, and above that turns steeply toward Lake Hardy and the summit ridge.
It is a Biblical term for a meadow, and on this mountain it describes exactly what is there: two flat grassy platforms stacked on a very steep slope, known as First Hamongog and Second Hamongog. The unusual name is part of the reason this route reads as obscure in search results while the Draper approach on the other side of the same mountain reads as famous. First Hamongog sits at about 1.75 miles from the trailhead area and Second Hamongog at roughly 6.9 miles out and back.
That is the live question and it is why this page leads with it. As of 14 August 2026 the last stretch of the approach crosses a private gravel road posted against trespass, Lehi City owns the trailhead parcel by the water tower and holds it under a court injunction requiring that access be allowed, and Alpine City has instructed walkers to park where North Aspen Drive meets North Three Falls Way and walk. Ring Alpine City before you travel rather than relying on a forum post or a mapping application.
Roughly 6.9 miles out and back with about 2,437 feet of climbing, which puts it in the bracket of a hard half day rather than a summit attempt. It is a legitimate destination in its own right: a flat meadow high on the slope with the summit ridge above it and the whole of Utah Valley below. A large share of the traffic on this trail turns round there, and doing so is not a failure. First Hamongog, lower down, arrives at about 1.75 miles.
Lone Peak stands at 11,253 feet, inside the Lone Peak Wilderness, and the Forest Service issues no day hike permit for it from either side. The wilderness covers 30,088 acres, was designated in 1978 under the Endangered American Wilderness Act and was the first wilderness area in Utah. What the designation does change is behaviour rather than paperwork: no bicycles and no motorised or mechanised equipment past the boundary, and campfire and group rules that can tighten through the season.
It is a full mountain day and it finishes in granite. Every honest account of the summit from either side involves scrambling near the top, and the Alpine approach adds the walk in from wherever the current parking position puts you. As a measure of scale, the guided walk to Lake Hardy that Alpine Days runs each August leaves at a quarter to six in the morning and is described by the city as about eleven miles round trip with 4,500 feet of climbing, and Lake Hardy is below the summit rather than at it.
A high lake basin on the Alpine side of the Lone Peak massif, above Second Hamongog, reached by turning steeply up from the upper meadow. Alpine Days runs a guided walk to it each year from the Upper Three Falls trailhead, leaving at 5:45 in the morning, and the city describes that trip as approximately eleven miles round trip with 4,500 feet of elevation gain. That figure is the most useful published measure of what the upper part of this route asks of a walker.
Box Elder Peak, from the Dry Creek trailhead at the top of Grove Drive. At 11,101 feet it is only a hundred and fifty feet lower than Lone Peak, the most travelled route is about 10.7 to 10.8 miles out and back, and there is no access question attached to the start of it at all. It is still a full day with something close to five thousand feet of climbing and a loose, exposed final mile, but everything about getting to the trailhead is settled and the parking is an ordinary dirt lot.
One mountain, two counties and a road in dispute.
This is the page I would most want somebody to read before buying on the east side of Alpine, because it shows what the ground above the last row of houses is actually like: federal wilderness with no permits and no development, reached by approaches that are sometimes contested and never improved. That is a real feature of an address here and it cuts both ways. Tell me what you are weighing and I will put you with a Utah County partner agent who works this end of the valley, and stay on the file for the financing side.
Referral disclosure. Outside Southern Utah, I connect home sellers and buyers with partner agents I trust in their area. If you choose to work with an agent I refer, that agent's brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee. The fee comes out of the agent's compensation; it is not an added cost to you. You are always free to choose any agent you wish, and using a referred agent is never required.