Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness

A mountain island surrounded by desert, Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness preserves numerous lush meadows — up to 50 acres in size — and a beautiful forest of Engelmann spruce in the south, with spruce mixed with fir, pine, and large stands of aspen in the north. The Pine Valley Mountains rise through the entire center of the area and provide habitat for chipmunks, marmots, red squirrels, and a large herd of deer in summer. Elevations rise to a high point of 10,365 feet on Signal Peak in the southern portion. On a clear day from that summit you can see Zion National Park across Interstate 15 to the west, and some of Arizona's highest mountains to the south. Several springs fill numerous perennial creeks. Snow falls October through March, followed by a relatively dry and pleasant period that ends with a season marked by typically violent storms from July through September. The Summit Trail follows the crest of the Pine Valley Mountains in their north-south ramble for about 18 miles, and at least eight other trails climb to join the crest, including the easily accessible six-mile Whipple Trail. The Wilderness, Utah's second largest, lies within a much larger undesignated wild recreation area, bringing the total mileage of maintained trails to more than 151.