After spending 3 days moving our daughter into her own apartment down in Utah, we were looking for something fun outside to do. Instead of take the normal way back to Boise, we went through Wendover, tagging peaks along the way.

The most interesting of the peaks was Volcano Peak just north of Wendover. As you approach Wendover, Volcano Peak is the dark, pointy peak that catches your eye for several miles!

As we got nearer the peak, the south face seemed quite steep... we were hoping the north looked more doable. As we circled around to the northside, we saw a still steep looking and challenging route. My wife questioned my judgement a bit, but I thought I could see a route that should work.

The initial hike is in a small drainage with a trail created by rock hounders. We followed this drainage southeasterly to a saddle, directly north of the peak. A bit of traversing (always looking worse than it turned out to be) got us to the final saddle at the base of the north face of the peak. This looked steep and spooky!

As we headed up the final 400 feet, we were able to cut across the face on game trails. Turns out it wasn't too bad. We climbed toward the arch (climbers left of the actual summit). About 50 feet below the arch it turned class 3. Once we got just below the arch, we angled to our right, then eventually straight up to the top of the peak.

Despite not being the tallest peak around, views from Volcano Peak are impressive! The Bonneville Salt Flats to the east. Pilot Peak to the north. Stretches of snow covered peaks to the south and west.

Despite being such a short scramble, I highly recommended peak, especially if you are just passing through like we were

From I-80, take exit #4 for the Bonneville Speedway. Turn north and continue almost 1.5 miles to where the road splits. Go left and follow the paved road. This road eventually turns into dirt. At just over 3 miles, you reach the top of Leppy Pass. Look for a road on your right. Take this road for .75 miles. Here you take another right. This road curves around a bit, then heads goes directly towards Volcano Peak. Follow this road for about 1.5 miles to its end. There is adequate parking here, a nice view of Volcano Peak and great views of Pilot Peak.

This road is probably doable in a sedan in dry conditions.

See the GPS track above. We utilized the popular north face route.