Hike Stansbury Island High Point Stansbury Island BLM, UT

Directions

Route Map

Download GPX

Stansbury Island High Point GPX Track

I need to offset my substantial website costs somehow! You can download a hike/drive GPX to assist you here. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is otherwise a free resource.

Add to Cart

View Cart

Stansbury Island is beautiful island/peninsula on the Great Salt Lake, and it definitely rivals the beauty of the more popular Antelope Island. I actually preferred it because of the relative solitude. The route to the highest point of Stansbury Island is a little funky to get to because the region around the main road is riddled with private property and mining, so a round-about route is required to stay on public land. I won't claim that I went through private property on the way back, but the option is available and I've included this viable route in my map, but it's not recommended. Additionally, my route takes a somewhat more fun ridgeline ascent than what seems to be the standard, easier route (dotted blue line on the map).

Starting from a dirt road just off the main Stansbury Island road, I followed a fenceline to a rock outcropping, then trekked through the tall grasses along the western base of the foothills. After spending some time traversing north across the grasses, I located a ridge that I ascended east for a few minutes until getting to the remains of an old road system that weaves north along the foothill slopes. There's no "correct" route here, but overall I liked my choices as I wrapped around the base of the range and I would recommend it.

The old road started to curve east into a minor drainage, and it wraps even farther north before the standard route leads to the aforementioned saddle. Rather than continue on this old road, I decided to instead just head up the closest ridge to see what I would find. After a steep Class 2 shallow gully, I got to a random ridgeline with some fun Class 3 moves. It's short and sweet, and a nice addition to the day. If you want to keep the route a little easier, rather than heading up the shallow gully continue along the old road (follow the blue dotted line on my map). Both routes lead to the saddle to the south of Stansbury Island High Point.

Once on the ridgeline I continued north, encountering some Class 2 and then some really light Class 3 just before the summit of Castle Rock. The short traverse from Castle Rock to Stansbury Island High Point was a bit more spicy. A Class 4 headwall greeted me at the saddle of the two, but I opted to head to the left around this headwall in search of an easier and more likely route. The scrambling can get a little cryptic here, since the blocks are large and obscure the view of what's to come, and the route isn't totally obvious. A few bouldery Class 3 moves and some light route-finding around rock monoliths brought me to the grassy summit.

Like I mentioned, from the summit of Stansbury Island High Point, a light Class 2 route that's otherwise mostly just a grassy walk leads west to the dirt road used to enter Stansbury Island, but this is partially on private property and I dont recommend going this way, but that's the only reason I wouldn't recommend going that way.

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

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Castle Rock

6600 ft

20 rise

Stansbury Island High Point

6649 ft

2437 rise

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!

A view toward Stansbury Island High Point, center, from the trailhead.

I followed a fenceline as it led to the base of the range's grassy slopes.

Past the fenceline, I continued along the base of the slopes on overall pleasant, though grassy, terrain.

I ascended the sloping spur ridge ahead.

View back through the grasses. My car is right of center at the base of the black hump.

After ascending the spur ridge, I made it to this old road.

View back along the road. My car is somewhere on the right.

Pretty view toward Stansbury Island High Point. The standard route (blue dotted line) heads along the base of the spur ridge in the center before ascending to the ridgeline.

Instead, I chose to ascend using this shallow gully in order to reach the ridgeline more quickly, visible center.

Ascending the shallow gully.

View back as I ascend. You can see the old road I was just on in the center.

Class 2 and then Class 3 along my chosen spur ridge.

View back.

Class 3 stuff, adding some fun.

Another shot back.

I made it to the main ridgeline, Castle Rock top right.

View back along the ridgeline.

I continued along the ridge.

Some minor Class 2 as I ascended.

But most of the time it was grassy and straightforward.

Another shot back at my progress.

Rock outcrop obstacle along the ridge.

And more grassy ascending.

Castle Rock visible center.

View back.

Castle Rock ahead.

Ascending the ridge to Castle Rock.

I couldn't help myself with photos. The lighting was beautiful.

Class 2 on the way up to Castle Rock.

View back at some Class 2.

Higher up along the ridge, looking back again. My car is somewhere right of center on the flat section of desert.

Summit of Castle Rock, view toward Stansbury Island High Point.

Class 4 headwall. I avoided it by staying left.

Class 3 ascent option to get back onto the ridgeline, avoiding the Class 4 headwall. There are likely many options, but I liked this one.

Continuing along the ridgeline on interesting rock.

View back.

Stansbury Island High Point ahead.

Stansbury Island High Point, view back along the ridge.

Stansbury Island High Point, view north.

Stansbury Island High Point, view west. If you choose to descent into private property (of course, not recommended), you'd head down the easy slope here.

The Great Salt Lake at sunset.

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!