I came upon Millard County's highpoint, Mine Camp Peak, from the "backside", so to speak. The two guidebooks for the Utah highpoints both describe a hike from the west side out of Fillmore, up Chalk Creek and some cross country, a 12-mile round trip hike with almost 4,000 feet of gain. While getting my maps together for this one, I noticed a road from the east side, so I decided I'd explore that option instead.

As I approached the city of Salina after a successful hike up Mt. Ellen in Garfield County, the weather was behaving badly with dark clouds, lightning and rain. After some rest stops in town, I decided to make a go for it and hope for the best. I first tried it from the northeast off of US-50, about 6 miles northwest of Salina. Just past the Millard County line sign, I found Willow Creek Road, which I followed up and into the Pavant Range for about 15 miles. The road was pretty good, but I was hitting a lot of rain, turning sections of the road into sticky mud. I pressed on a bit but then had to stop: a large boulder about 400 lbs was sitting smack in the middle of the road, with no safe way to go around it. I was forced to turn around. I retreated back to Salina then drove down to Richfield, on Interstate-70. Here I checked with the Forest Service and got some information about an approach out of Richfield.

In "downtown" Richfield, I found a Days Inn on Main Street and 300 North, and turned west onto 300 North. Shortly this brought me to the Interstate-70 underpass, where the road turned to gravel. I headed up this road. At 0.3 miles I came to a Water Tank, and at 1.2 miles came to a gate, which was open. I simply followed this mostly good road as it meandered into the mountains. At 7.6 miles I came to a major junction, turning right onto the Paiute ATV Trail. At 13.7 miles, I came to another junction, turning right again toward "White Pine Peak", staying on the Paiute ATV Trail, which is open to vehicles. I saw two ATVs, taking care not to hit them. At about the 11-mile mark the road became rough and I put my truck into 4wd. White Pine Peak and its mates were visible, including Mine Camp Peak a bit to the west. At 15.3 miles I came to a junction, turning left and following the road to its terminus at a cattle grate at 17.5 miles. Mine Camp Peak was just across the way, so in the cold misty weather I got dressed and made the quick hike to the top. From where I parked I dropped about 200 feet to a saddle, then up a steep 400 feet to Mine Camp's top. The register shows about one group a week visits the summit, most coming up from the west. I saw deer, and there was much wild mint brush to make for a pleasant scent. Helicopters buzzed the area- I found out a small fire was burning on the Pavant's west side. As I drove out, I went slow and had some rain to contend with, but soon was back in Richfield and on my way home, my truck a total muddy mess.