I headed down to Utah to visit some county highpoints and hangout with Dylan at Utah State. We'd been planning on doing Naomi Peak for like a year and a half. Instead of just doing one county highpoint on the trip, I went a day early to grab Thurston Peak.

Thurston Peak is located in the Wasatch, on the east side of Ogden. The peak rises straight up from the valley floor. While not as impressive as the Wasatch near Salt Lake, the peak is still steep and scenic. In addition to being county highpoint of Davis and Morgan counties, the peak also sports over 2000' of prominence.

The peak is named after Thomas Thurston who built a wagon road into Weber Canyon to allow people to settle the Morgan Valley. There is a really nice plaque on the summit with all that information.

To reach the peak, I drove the steep and winding (but well built) road to the base of Francis Peak. I parked just south of Francis Peak, where the road starts getting a bit rough. I think most people continue on .6 miles to where the road degrades into an ATV track.

I then followed the road north, passing Point 9314 and 9381 on the west side of the ridge. The road becomes a trail as it passes under Point 9381, then hits the ridge just south of Snow Horse Ridge (Peak 9491). I scrambled to the top of that peak since it only adds like 100 feet to the trip. The trail then descends to a saddle at 9000 feet at the base of Thurston Peak.

I followed the trail at bit before forking off and climbing the south slopes of Thurston Peak on a faint climber's trail.

Thurston had great views and I enjoyed reading the history on the plaque. The summit register paid homage to a local climber that died at a young age (his photo is laminated on the outside of the large summit register). I signed the register, then headed back the way I'd came.

Once I got below Francis Peak, I scrambled up to the summit, which is covered by large globes and buildings. The evening light was coming on and the lighting on the mountains was really cool.

After finding another monument explaining the Francis Peak history and naming, I descended down to my car which was only a few hundred feet down the hill.

This turned out to be a great trip. Sure the ATV trails, roads, and buildings on top of Francis Peak detract from the beauty a bit. However, the views of the Great Salt Lake on one side and the Morgan Valley on the other make it well worth the trip. Besides, who doesn't like tagging 3 peaks in a 4 and a half hour trip :-)!

Honestly, I just typed Francis Peak onto my phone GPS and it led me right there. Here are the directions from that:

From 1-15, take the Park Lane exit, EXIT 325, toward UT-225 (signed for US-89 N/Lagoon). Turn east onto UT-225, following it .7 miles. Then turn right onto N Main St which turns into W 600 N. Turn left onto E 600 N. Then turn left on N 100 E. (Skyline Drive). This is where the fun begins, as this is a steep road on the side of a mountain with big drop offs. It is easily doable in a sedan. Drive the road 8 miles and stay straight at a signed intersection (follow the signs to Francis Peak on FR 009). I thought the road improved here and was less intimidating.

Follow the road another 4 miles to a large parking area south of Francis Peak.

Numerous vehicles were driving another .6 miles to a saddle just north of Francis Peak, saving themselves from hiking and maybe 100 feet of gain. That portion of the road seemed a bit much for my Chevy Traverse.

From the base of Francis Peak, hike north on the road/ATV trail. Around Point 9381, the road becomes a trail. Follow it all the way past Peak 9491 to the saddle just south of Thurston Peak. After following the trail about 1/2 a mile from the saddle, I left it to climb the south ridge of Thurston Peak. You will find a faint climber's trail on this ridge. Even without the trail, the footing is good and it isn't very steep.