Hike Rencher Peak via Upper Grants Ranch Trail Dixie National Forest, UT

Rencher Peak is a pretty obscure forested summit within the Pine Valley Mountains that I was interested in mostly because I wanted to see the surrounding landscape from above. This actually ended up being a really nice hike to a remote part of Dixie National Forest. Any car can make it to the trailhead, assuming it hasn't rained because the road would otherwise be pretty muddy.

I started south along the Upper Grants Ranch Trail, hiking through forest and quickly passing Gordon Springs. The trail gradually ascended until it reached the base of a steep slope, wrapping into a wide gully to gain higher ground and leaving the forest for brushier terrain. At the top of this gully, the trail continued through sagebrush meadows. Looking back, I could see the Kolob Canyons of Zion National Park in the distance. The Upper Grants Ranch Trail merged with an old doubletrack road, leading over to a viewpoint of Rencher Peak. The road dropped south to the Long Flat Reservoir, which is housed within a wide and beautiful grassy meadow.

It didn't make any sense to begin ascending to the summit of Rencher Peak from here because it appeared to be heavily forested, and the Long Flat Trail seemed to get quite close to the peak on its northwest side. I wasn't really sure how the Long Flat Trail would be in terms of quality, but I figured I'd risk it to try to access the summit. No other trails come anywhere near it, so this was my best bet, and I hoped that at least I would be able to follow a semblance of a trail. The Long Flat Trail eventually connects with the Rock Springs Trail, but I was pretty sure based on my scouring of satellite imagery that that trail pretty much doesn't exist anymore.

Avoiding a slightly sketchy cow, I wrapped around Long Flat Reservoir and located the faint long flat trail, which took me west through the meadow. I managed to stick to this trail, only losing it for very short times because years of grazing cows have created annoying and confusing spur trails. Damn cows.

The Long Flat Trail heads through pretty meadows with spurts of trees, slowly ascending toward the western side of Rencher Peak. I kept my eyes peeled for options to leave the trail and head up, but it just didn't make sense yet, especially since I'd already researched and found what seemed to be a grassy slope on the northwest side. There were even some nice views along the trail, plus a flat section of slick rock, so I was happy to enjoy the walk.

Fortunately, my research proved worthwhile because I only had a couple of hundred feet of easy bushwhacking before I was able to ascend to Rencher Peak on a wonderful grassy, steep slope. There was a bit of brush toward the summit, but nothing to complain about. Although the peak's views were mostly forested, there was a large boulder at the summit that provided a nice overlook toward the White Rocks Reservoir meadow area to the south, with Timber Mountain and Big Point looming behind it. I quickly became very excited to explore more of this weird part of southern Utah.