Hike Old Tom Mountain via Mormon Canyon Trail Caribou-Targhee National Forest, ID

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Old Tom Mountain is a high-prominence peak in the Bannock Range. It's got ATV roads all over, taking away from the tundra beauty to a pretty high degree, but it's still a nice summit worth visiting. Most seem to approach this mountain from the west via what sounds like a somewhat decent road, but I was more excited to check out the Mormon Canyon Trail #195 from the east, starting at the Goodenough Campground. Any car can make it here.

Unfortunately, it turns out the Mormon Canyon Trail is a graded ATV route. Regardless, it was nice to walk through the forest and enjoy the sounds from the little creek crossings. After waking up absurdly late, I was happy that the first half of this hike was mostly forested, protecting me from this outing that's certainly too low in altitude for the summer heat. I gained a bunch of elevation through the trees, crossing the trickling Mormon Creek multiple times. The trail emerged from the forest a few times, offering nice views north toward Scout Mountain and the countryside below.

The Mormon Canyon Trail reached the ridgeline and headed south on a much steeper ATV road. I was enjoying the views enough that the ugly road didn't bother me, and a passing ATVer even stopped to prevent kicked-up dirt from choking me, so that was nice. The road undulated a bit along the ridgeline, and a social trail allowed me to cut off one of these additional lumps. At about 8400' the ATV road ended and I continued on a social trail to a false summit. From here there was a bit of light Class 2 leading to the summit of Old Tom Mountain to the south. The route-finding was trivial, but it was a little rocky and there were a coupe of small cliff bands to avoid.

After reaching the summit, I peered north toward Scout Mountain, this large lump tempting me into hiking to it and I certainly would have if it was actually a trail and not just an ugly ATV road. Instead I called it a day and returned the way I came.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Old Tom Mountain

8733 ft

2893 rise

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Starting out from the Goodenough Campground.

Along the Mormon Canyon Trail.

Nice views early on as the trail wraps around a slope and enters Mormon Canyon.

View west into Mormon Canyon.

Easy creek crossings.

Nice forest setting, too bad it's an ugly ATV road.

Making progress up Mormon Canyon.

Emerging from the forest for a bit.

View back down into Mormon Canyon as the trail leaves it to traverse along the slope to get to the ridge above.

Back into the forest for a bit.

A view toward Scout Mountain along the Mormon Canyon Trail.

I reached the ridge and headed south along this other ATV road.

View back along the ridge. The Mormon Canyon Trail came up from the right. Scout Mountain seen top left.

Continuing south along the road. Ahead you can see the false summit of Old tom Mountain.

Close-up of the steep ATV road.

Another shot back at my progress.

A look back along a social trail that avoids one of the humps along the ridge.

The road ends and I continued to the top of Old Tom Mountain's false summit. Old Tom is seen poking out on the left.

False summit, view toward Old Tom Mountain. Some easy Class 2 leads along the ridgeline.

Class 2.

View back below the summit.

Old Tom Mountain ahead.

Old Tom Mountain summit, view north.

Hire me or show me some love!

Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!