Hike Swasey Peak House Range BLM, UT

May 21, 2022 — Swasey Peak is the high point of the House Range in Utah's West Desert. Google has no issues navigating on excellent roads to the trailhead, and although the last few miles become slightly rocky, with care any car can make it. Chris and I thought it extremely odd that the roads out here were so good that they can be driven at full speed for most of the time, so we were happy to reduce our predicted drive time significantly. Aside from Swasey Peak's gorgeous southern face and summit views, it leaves much to be desired. The hike is short, overly steep, and sometimes brushy.

We set out from what seems to be a primitive campground at the end of Sinbad Road and headed along a doubletrack converted to trail that slowly led northeast toward the base of Swasey Peak. After about a quarter mile the old roadbed ended and a social trail materialized, leading us in the same direction. This social trail also only lasted a short time and we were forced to fend for ourselves in finding a route to Swasey Peak's west ridge. It will be extremely tempting to head directly up the steep slope to get higher up, but it's ridiculously clogged with brush and loose rock. My recommendation is to make an ascending traverse to gain the peak's west ridge as low down as possible. There were hints of a social trail along this unpleasant traverse section, but never enough to feel confident that we were following any sort of "best" option. You can avoid most brush if you pick your route carefully, though.

Once we reached the west ridge, a good social trail led very steeply up the ridge, relentlessly climbing about 1000 feet in about half a mile. The terrain is mostly solid, but some sections are loose. The last few hundred feet eased up a bit and soon we found ourselves on the summit of Swasey Peak. The views were ridiculously cool, especially toward the cliffs that characterize the western slopes of the House Range.