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May 07, 2021 — After researching potential hikes in the Bull Valley Mountains north of St. George, I stumbled on a trail called the Pilot Peak Trail, but there was no other information that I could find about this trail aside from the fact that it exists and has two trailheads. I was looking forward to seeing if it is in good enough shape to use to access a few of the peaks in its vicinity, Windy Peak, Pilot Peak, and Flat Top Mountain. Despite being called the "Pilot Peak Trail", the trail doesn't actually go to Pilot Peak. I began on the western end of the trail, which runs east to west. The alternative (eastern) trailhead is located at 37.50869, -113.78055. I highly recommend starting where I did though, since I could see the eastern trailhead from Pilot Peak's summit and it was far less pretty than my approach. I'll note that with a good enough vehicle you could drive almost up to the top of Flat Top Mountain, but that didn't sound as fun as this exploratory route.
I headed east from the trailhead through grassy terrain with some pretty granitic features in a lovely pastoral-looking landscape. The trail was pretty obvious after the first quarter mile once passing where cows seem to have trampled the route. I added a few cairns and in a couple of spots that confused me I blocked off with sticks, but really it's mostly just a nice trail that's easy enough to follow. After a couple of miles, the Pilot Peak Trail ascended a delightful grassy slope and reached a low ridge that separated Windy Peak from Flat Top Mountain. First I headed south toward Windy Peak, where a spur trail took me to basically just below the peak's northern slope. I really enjoyed this section with its nice views and wildflowers all around me, but the enjoyment ended as I ascended the steep and sometimes brushy slope to the summit. I can't recommend a particular "best" way up Windy Peak, except that there are animal trails to help, but expect to knock a few burly bushes out of the way.
Back at the saddle of Windy Peak and Flat Top Mountain, I decided I wanted to continue along the Pilot Peak Trail, meaning I'd be ending my hike by coming back to this saddle later from the north. The Pilot Peak Trail became a little more difficult to follow past the saddle, but there still wasn't any bushwhacking, just a bit of looking for the trail at times. I followed it along the southern base of Flat Top Mountain until it reached a gate on the west side of Pilot Peak. Past the gate, I headed east along the ridgeline paralleling a fenceline, passing over a bump, and then ascending on Class 2 rocky terrain to Pilot Peak's summit.
Back at the base of Pilot Peak, I scoped options to ascend Flat Top Mountain. It wasn't super clear just yet what would work best, so I started west along the fenceline and followed the path of least brush when possible. After an initial grassy slope, multiple pockets of big volcanic boulders start to appear. If you plan it well, these pockets of boulders allow you to avoid the otherwise extremely brushy terrain and I was grateful they existed. Getting from one pocket to another did require some short sections of brush. Faster than expected, I found myself at the very steep Class 2 final few feet to the rim of Flat Top Mountain. I checked out the view for a minute before following a very old and mostly faded dirt road as it headed west, leading to the south side of the high point of Flat Top Mountain. The road faded out completely and I headed north to the summit on a short Class 2 section with some brush-dodging. The views weren't great since it's just a mesatop, but the sweeping meadows were still a nice backdrop.
I dropped southwest from the summit of Flat Top Mountain and met up with a forest road that brought me directly south to the farthest tip of Flat Top Mountain. I looked down toward the saddle below (the one that is shared with Windy Peak) and started to descend. Initially I was really concerned about how bad the brush looked, but plenty of animal trails and open sections provided a mostly carefree hike to the saddle. I headed back west along the Pilot Peak Trail to my car.
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