Ensign Peak, a somewhat nondescript peak in the foothills above the north side of Salt Lake City, had great significance for the Mormons who arrived here in 1847. Before leaving Nauvoo, Illinois, Brigham Young prayed for guidance on his long journey westward, and he later received a vision in which Joseph Smith, the founder of their church, showed him a mountain peak overlooking a valley where his followers would build their new city. Upon his arrival Young immediately recognized Ensign Peak as being the mountain he had seen in his vision. Two days later he and a small group of church leaders climbed the peak, and looking down from the summit they began . . .

. . . Upon leaving the elaborately landscaped trailhead you will initially be walking up Ensign Peak on a cement sidewalk. After just 250 feet the path splits, with the fork on the left leading to an observation point called “Vista Mound”. Vista Mount offers a view of the city not unlike what you will see from the top of Ensign Peak, although it is 350 feet lower than the summit. Continuing upward on the main trail the cement sidewalk soon ends and is replaced by . . .

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