Signal Peak (North of St George, UT)

Harlan W. Stockman
Saturday, Aug 27, 2005

Another peak on the LVMC "Classic 50" list. The peak is part of the Pine Mountains, which rise 7700' above the city of Saint George.

The route to the top is about 4.8 miles; elevation gain is over 4000', since one must descend twice after cresting the ridge. The first part of the trip has southern exposure, and can be warm in the summer. The last 0.5 mile or so is trailless; one must leave the faint trail and head up the ridge. A GPS is immensely helpful, since the true top is forested, and nearby quasi-summits are almost as high, and have better views. There are 2 registers on the summit -- one at the cairn in the woods, and one at the viewpoint to the south. There was a lot of deadfall over the trail, so look past big logs for the cairns. In the oak scrub, the trail is often invisible at eye level; but you will quickly tell if you leave the trail, since the tangled branches at ground level will impede your progress.

The drive from Las Vegas (i15 and us 95) to the trailhead at Oak Grove campground, is about 150 miles. Take exit 22 to the town of Leeds, about 15 miles N of St George (exit 23 is for south-bound traffic on i15).

The campground was officially closed because of lack of water, but the "Interagency Information Office" in St George told us that camping was allowed. Some of the campsites are quite nice; others are barren and unattractive. However, no caretaker was on duty, and some local yahoos came in at night, set up boomboxes, and began shooting guns. It is easy to see why the campground was off-limits earlier this summer; there were multiple lightning-initiated fires in this area in 2005, and not only was the forest primed to burn (lots of deadwood), but the escape road out would be slow and winding. On the trail, you will see many, many hints of past fires.

Click on any small image below to see the larger version.

100k map with GPS trace. Heading north from St George, take i15 exit 22 , onto Main, and turn left (W, under i15) on Silver Reef Road.	24k map with GPS trace. The "sign" is shown below.	Evening primrose.
Starting out, view NNE.	Scarlet gilias.	View NNW.
View S.	Now we're on the W side of the ridge; view N.	Looking S.
Mint, possibly "stinking coyote'	We near the crest, where there are jagged granite* spires. This area is just NE of the "9922T" mark on the 24k topo map.	View S at sign indicated in 24k topo. Take the trail to Further Water at this point.
Snow! This pile was protected by the shadows and the coating of spruce boughs.	Blue penstemon (beardstongue).	View SW at Further Water. I think the flowers are bistorts.
Monkshood.	Lupines.	Comrades across fields of lupines; view SW, still at Further Water.
More blue penstemons.	We all arrived at top simultaneously, and touched the summit cairn at the same time.	The top (highpoint) is wooded; there is a view perhaps 50 m south.
View SW near top; the sharp peak in distance is Moapa.	Yarrow.	Aster.
Cinquefoil?	Mountain bluebells.	We returned back to the crest, after the climb back from the junction sign. View SE.
	The beach is that way.	Ali feeds Luba a paintbrush.
Utah penstemons.	View W, heading down.	Garrett’s Firechalice
Thistle.	Much of the lower slope is covered with young oak; often the brush is chest-high.

*A light-colored, feldspar-rich plutonic rock. Few rocks are officially "granites".