It's the hike every upperclassman tells you to do freshman year, and almost nobody does before October. The trailhead sits a fifteen-minute walk from campus, the climb takes maybe forty minutes round trip, and the view from the top — the whole valley laid out under that giant concrete "U" — somehow still feels like a secret every single time.
I went for the first time on a Tuesday, mostly because I couldn't sleep and figured I'd rather be tired on a mountain than tired in my dorm room. I was wrong about almost everything I assumed going in.
You don't need real hiking shoes
I did it in beat-up Sambas. The trail is well-packed dirt and switchbacks, not scrambling — old sneakers with any grip left in the sole will get you there. Bring water anyway: there's no shade for most of the climb, and Utah mornings warm up fast, even in fall.
The view doesn't care that you set six alarms to make it here on time — it's worth it either way.
What surprised me most wasn't the view, though it delivers. It was who else was up there at 6:15 on a Tuesday: a grad student running practice defenses of her thesis out loud to nobody, two guys from the rec center who apparently do this every single morning, and one woman doing what I can only describe as extremely committed journaling on a rock.
When to go
Sunrise is objectively the move — you beat the heat and the crowds, and the light hitting the Salt Lake Valley is the kind of thing that makes you forgive Utah for the DMV. If mornings aren't your thing, golden hour works too. Just bring a headlamp for the walk down.
Either way, go once before midterms convince you that you don't have forty minutes to spare. You do. Everyone does.
Trail Notes
Trailhead: 15 min walk from Union. Distance: ~1.5 mi round trip. Best light: 15–20 minutes after official sunrise. Bring: water, a headlamp for the descent, and zero expectations of having the summit to yourself.
As always,THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.
