Malan's Peak (Ogden, Utah)

Malan's Peak is one my favorite trails in the Ogden area.  Malan's Peak is a sub-peak of Mount Ogden and is situated between Taylor Canyon on the north and Waterfall Canyon on the south. Like the Waterfall Canyon trail, this trail begins at the 29th street trailhead.  The trail winds up Taylor Canyon before ascending quickly up a series of long switchbacks that lead to the top of Malan's Peak.

From the base of the trail you can see the peak.  This photo is actually from partway up the trail, and from the base the peak looks pretty daunting.  At the trailhead you can't even see Mount Ogden Peak, and Malan's Peak actually looks like the top of the mountain.  From the trailhead, the trail makes a quick steep climb up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Heading north along the Bonneville Shoreline from that point, the trail gradually climbs as it winds to the northeast into Taylor Canyon.  

After about a mile, the trail meets the stream coming out of the canyon. The path ahead is rocky, but not too steep as it follows the stream bed for about another half mile.  There are a couple of places where the trail comes close to the stream and the trail flattens out.  The spot above is one of my favorite places to take a quick breather on the hike.

The trail gets rockier as you get higher up.  After about a half mile, the trail passes an area where the dirt on the hill across the stream must contain a lot of sulfur because it is bright yellow in color.  Not far beyond that, you reach this foot bridge.  This is the marker for the first real switchback where the trail crosses the stream, curves sharply to the right, and begins to go west.

The next leg of the trail is what I like to call the "Death March".  It is about a half mile long and has a constant slope of about 18 degrees.  This photo shows one of the steeper sections of the trail.  You start to gain elevation pretty quickly here.

 If you stop at the point where I took the photo above and look back, this is what you see.  There is a section of granite cliff that sticks out into the trail and looks pretty cool.

The next switchback is longer than the first and it's still very steep.  It's probably just as tough as the previous leg, but for some reason it doesn't seem quite as tough.  Not long into this switch the trail enters into a thick Douglas Fir forest, and it never really comes out of it again until you get to the top.  Near the top of this switchback (and right before the very steepest part) is the log in the photo above.  This is another of my favorite spots to take a rest and look back at how far I've come.

Above the log is another switchback that is much shorter, only about 1/8 of mile for the next two legs.  After that, the trail curves to the south and slowly works along the edge of a forested ravine that drops off on the left (east) side of the trail.  I've seen moose in this area more than once.  

After following the ravine the trail curves back to the west and begins to make the final run to the top.  The Douglas Firs begin to give way to scrub oak and smaller maples, and the trail narrows up but stays well-defined.

Finally, the trail emerges on top of a knoll and you can walk out onto the peak itself.  The view of Ogden 2800' below is amazing, and you can see for a long distance both north and south.  Looking back to the east gives you perspective on just how far away Mount Ogden really is -- from the top of Malan's Peak it doesn't look a whole lot closer than it does from the valley floor.

Looking north from the peak is a pretty neat vista-- you can see a cascade of three mountains, one behind the other.  The nearest is the spur of Mount Ogden that contains the Hidden Valley trail on the far side of Taylor Canyon.  Beyond that you can see Lewis Peak and finally Ben Lomond, furthest away to the north.

To the south, the trail continues into Malan's Basin and onward up toward Mount Ogden.  If you keep going south, you can make your way down into Waterfall Canyon, however if you want to combine the two trails I recommend doing it the other way around since the area of shale/scramble above Waterfall Canyon is pretty steep and would be much easier to go up than down.

Trail Stats:

Trail Type:                   Out-and-back

Total Length:              5.6 miles

Total Vertical Feet:  2,200

Average Slope:            14.9%