Trip report
Jun 20, 2024 — The Forsyth Trail is my preferred route for accessing Signal Peak, the high point of the Pine Valley Mountains. On this trip I decided to save this hike for last since I'd have company today during Austin's family reunion, and I'm glad I did since it's probably the most diverse trail in the range. There are numerous other options for reaching Signal Peak, including the Browns Point Trail from the northeast and the Oak Grove Trail from the south. We decided to also take a quick detour to reach Burger Peak, a summit with similar elevation but much better views.
From within the hamlet of Pine Valley, the trail starts from a dirt lot accessible by any vehicle. After a short hike through shrubby lower elevation, the Forsyth Trail enters the forest and leads into the watercourse of Forsyth Canyon. The trail was in excellent shape, clearly maintained regularly. In fact, we even saw some folks doing trail work today. As the Forsyth Trail narrowed and got deeper into the range, some excellent craggy cliff formations became visible on the right, the same ones visible from the drive into Pine Valley. The trail closely follows Forsyth Creek for a time, offering short breaks from the forest with grassy meadows and glimpses of the forested summits ahead.
Eventually, we reached the junction with the Summit Trail, which we took southeast. Pretty quickly, the Summit Trail began ascending far more steeply than the Forsyth Trail had, wrapping around the east face of Burger Peak. Soon we were treated to excellent views to the west, notably of St. George and Snow Canyon State Park in the distance. Once we reached the west side of Burger Peak, we left the Summit Trail and followed a faint social trail to the summit. There were some boulders to weave around and light Class 2 terrain to reach the high point, but the forest was easy to hike through.
Signal Peak was just to the southeast, visible through the trees from Burger Peak's summit. I decided to be honest even though it could mean we'd be skipping the next peak, warning everyone that Signal Peak didn't offer much of a view. Everyone wanted to continue, and lifelong St. George resident Casey seemed thrilled to finally reach the high point of the range outside his town. We descended off-trail from Burger Peak to rejoin the Summit Trail, only following it briefly until we reached the saddle separating Burger Peak from Signal Peak. From there, we headed directly up to Signal Peak through the forest. We found it best to keep just north of the ridge crest on the sparsely vegetated slope.