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    Looking for the best backpacking in Utah? We've got you covered with the top trails, trips, hiking, backpacking, camping and more around Utah. The detailed guides, photos, and reviews are all submitted by the Outbound community.

    Top Backpacking Spots in and near Utah

    • Boulder, Utah

      Backpack Death Hollow in Grand Staircase-Escalante

      22 mi / 1600 ft gain
      The most popular route into Death Hollow is from the Boulder airstrip near the town of Boulder, Utah.  The trailhead for the Boulder Mail Trail begins, or ends here depending on which way you are hiking.  Leave a car at the Highway 12 bridge over the Escalante River for the thru hike, or get luck...
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    • Moab, Utah

      Backpack the Lathrop Canyon Trail in Canyonlands

      18 mi / 2130 ft gain
      Access to this trailhead is a few miles south of the Islands in the Sky Visitor Center in Canyonlands National Park. An easy drive from Moab or Interstate 70. Remember to get permits and check in with the rangers if camping. If just doing a day hike then no permits are needed. REMINDER: There is ...
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    • Salt Lake City, Utah

      Winter Backpack to Dog Lake and Backcountry Ski Reynolds Peak

      4.5
      5 mi / 1500 ft gain
      The hike is considered moderate, but the 1500ft. elevation gain (2100ft. to Reynolds Peak) will definitely get your heart rate up. Snowshoes/skins are recommended but the trail is often packed enough to do without them.After crossing the street from the Spruces parking lot, follow the trail past...
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    • Kamas, Utah

      Hike to Weir Lake

      5 mi / 800 ft gain
      Weir Lake is one of many mountain lakes located in the High Uintas near Kamas, Utah. The trail can be accessed off the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway about 33 miles east of Kamas and starts at the Crystal Lake Trailhead. There is a parking lot near the start of the trailhead, but expect it to be fairly...
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    • Draper, Utah

      Lone Peak via the Cherry Creek Logging Trail

      14.8 mi / 6378 ft gain
      You start this trail at the Orson Smith Park in Draper.  It joins with the Bonneville Shoreline Trail briefly before turning off onto the cherry creek logging trail.  It switchbacks for a long ways exposed on towards the valley.  It is fairly steep in places, but doable.  I had tennis shoes with ...
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    • Provo, Utah

      Camp at Silver Lake

      4.5
      4.4 mi / 1500 ft gain
      Silver Lake is a wonderful place to go if you're in need of a quick adventure in the woods.  Located in the the Uinta National Forest, Silver Lake is relatively easy to get to via American Fork Canyon in Utah, however I do recommend driving a car with 4WD and can handle steep dirt roads with shar...
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    • Salt Lake City, Utah

      Hike Clayton Peak in Utah's Wasatch Mountains

      4.0
      3 mi / 1600 ft gain
      Clayton Peak is approximately 1.5 miles from Guardsman Pass (3 miles round trip), and you'll gain about 1,600 feet of climbing.  There is parking on top of the pass, but it fills up quickly with hikers and mountain bikers during peak season as this serves as the trailhead for Bloods Lake, Jupiter...
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    • Garfield County, Utah

      Hike in the Upper Muley Twist Canyon

      4.5
      10 mi / 750 ft gain
      This hike is by far my favorite trail I've been on. To begin, you access Upper Muley Twist Canyon Road from the top of the Burr Trail Road switchbacks. Regular vehicles can be driven a little less than half a mile to the trailhead (adding about 3 miles to get to the trailhead, about 6 miles round...
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    • Virgin, Utah

      Hop Valley Trail, Zion NP

      3.0
      14.58 mi / 1000 ft gain
      This 6.5 mile (one-way) trek is a multi-functional trail. The trail can serve as standalone trail allowing hikers to get in either a solid in-and-out day hike or as a leg to a much bigger and epic Trans-Zion Trek. For those interested in the later, the Hop Valley Trail is the leg of the journey t...
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    • New Harmony, Utah

      Backpack Kolob Canyons, Zion NP

      5.0
      16 mi / 1000 ft gain
      Overview Starting at Lee Pass trailhead the trail descends down to run alongside the Timber Creek, past the open finger canyons of the nearby cliffs. At roughly mile 3 the trail will bend slowly to the left and climb up before descending again to run upstream and alongside La Verkin creek. Cam...
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    • Escalante, Utah

      Backpack the Escalante River

      14 mi / 400 ft gain
      The Escalante River trail is an easily accessible, moderately strenuous hike within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The national monument encompasses over 2 million acres of wilderness, choc-full of large canyons, narrow slot canyons, rivers, hoodoos, arches, natural bridges and more...
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    • Monticello, Utah

      Backpack to Chesler Park, Canyonlands NP

      5.0
      13 mi / 600 ft gain
      The first draw of this adventure is the roadtrip to the trailhead itself. Set out pre-dawn from Moab, UT and head 77 miles south and west to the Needles District Visitors Centre on Utah 211. En route you'll pass Newspaper Rock, a treasured collection of pictographs well worth the detour if you're...
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    • New Harmony, Utah

      Trans-Zion Trek, Zion NP

      5.0
      100.6 mi
      The following adventure guide for the Trans-Zion Trek will actually consist of six separate trails. The trails listed below are listed in order, going West to East. If the individual trail adventure is composed on the site as going east to west, it will be indicated that the reverse hike will be...
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    • Moab, Utah

      Syncline Loop in Canyonlands NP

      5.0
      7.87 mi / 1955 ft gain
      Be advised, the NPS signs and maps that warn of a very difficult hike ahead are not hyperbole, as I thought at first. This hike is a loop around the famous Upheaval Dome on an unmaintained trail that leads you down over 1500 feet into the canyon, close to the Green River, then climbs back up 1500...
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    • Kamas, Utah

      Backpack to Notch Lake

      5.0
      4.6 mi / -600 ft gain
      The hike to Notch Lake begins at the Bald Mountain trailhead. You'll need to display a recreation pass in your vehicle to park at the trailhead. You can purchase a pass for $6 at the fee station entering the forest boundary (east of Kamas) or at the Forest Service office right in Kamas. Take the ...
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    • Kamas, Utah

      Camp and Climb at Cliff Lake

      4.3 mi
      Cliff Lake can be located from the Crystal Lake Trailhead. The exact location is pinned, but you get there driving from Kamas. From Kamas take the Mirror Lake Highway and take the exit for Trial Lake Campground, the turn north to the Crystal Lakes Trailhead. There is a parking lot with bathrooms ...
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