The "Moderate" Hike of Doom

Today was our first hike as Utahans. After combing through two different hiking books for weeks, we picked a hike that was close to our house with what seemed like an appropriate length and degree of difficulty. The hike was listed as “moderate” by the hiking guide, which means it’s for “adults with an average level of fitness” – sounded perfect.

We started off on the Malans Peak Loop a little shaky. It's a 5.5 mile loop that goes up 2300 feet from trailhead to highest peak. Although there was a well-marked trail head at the beginning, it soon became clear that this was the type of hike that did not have signs and trail markings. At times we were not sure which trail was ours (or if we were on a trail at all). Luckily, we had detailed directions and a map to help us navigate through the hike.

The first section up to the hike was uphill along a stream to a 400-foot waterfall. The waterfall looked like something out of the movie Avatar – it was truly unbelievable.

After the waterfall, the guidebook described the following “look for the canyon continuing east up the gulch to the right of the falls. A few ledges warrant caution, but they are not dangerous, and no technical equipment is required”(13).

Now, it was pretty clear that there was only one way up the gulch – the rocky path to the right of the waterfall just as the book described. Unfortunately, I’d describe the “ledges” as mini-rock climbing walls a normal person would only attempt with at least a helmet on. We climbed a big group of boulders and up the first ledge, thinking a trail would magically appear. It did not.

At this point, Dirk was clearly nervous. From what I could see, there was one more tough climb and then things would level out a bit. We stood before the second ledge as he went back and forth about turning around. The problem was that it would be very difficult to get down the area we just climbed. I was 99% sure that we were on the right path, even if it was a treacherous one, but I didn’t want to say that because I didn’t want to be wrong and lose all my credibility on every future hike. 

Finally, I used all my former-camp-counselor skills and told Dirk to “try and push himself” and get up the ledge. Dirk is normally the one pushing me when we snowboard, so this hit a nerve and he climbed the “ledge” with no further complaints.

After the two death ledges, it was still a hand over hand, crawl/scramble for over 600 feet. I don't think you could even consider this hiking because we were not upright. By that time, I was convinced we were in fact on the trail, but Dirk thought there was no way this was a trail labeled as moderate in a hiking book. (Ultimately, I was right – we were on the trail and ended up exactly where we were supposed to be.)

After we reached the top of the gulch, things got much better. We dropped into lush Malans Basin and hiked a few miles of beautiful forest. After that, we made our way up to Malans Peak, which offered breathtaking views of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake and the entire Wasatch front.

By the end of the hike, we were both glad that we didn't turn around at the waterfall, and agreed that we's hike it again now that we knew what to expect. The hike was a great way to see a huge variety of land, water and foliage over a short 3.5 hours.