Y Mountain

Fairly steep hike, but with a lot of stops and benches along the way. Enough space for a lot of people to hike at the same time and a few places with shade. It’s the quintessential Provo hike, or so I’ve heard. It leads to a giant Y on the side of the mountain, so that’s exciting if you’re into letters on your mountains. Lots of families and dogs up here, but it doesn’t really feel crowded because the trail is so winding. Definitely worth it to go at least once. Even if you’re crazy out of shape, it’s easy to go slowly enough that you can make it up.

Wow! Harder than I expected. Going up, the elevation change is fast, and I had to rest every tenth mile or so. There’s benches and rocks along the way to sit if you want. The trail is wide and definitely family and pet friendly. The view of Provo from the top is very nice, and walking around the giant Y is fun. Going down is much faster and easier, and I saw some people jogging it which is definitely an option for everyone as it’s all downhill.
There’s a short trail along the bottom of the Y trail that’s much flatter and can sustain mountain bikes. If you add the Y trail with this other trail, you can definitely do 3 miles roundtrip.
Overall, very nice. I think this trail averages to medium difficulty but it’s still worth doing if you’re new to hiking — just take some water with you and allow enough time to get up (at least an hour to go roundtrip) and you’ll be good.

My family and I hiked up here with five small kids ranging from 1 – 10 years of age. The one year old was on my back and it did take us about an hour getting up and 35 minutes getting down. Of course we stopped an awful lot to rest. It is a pretty steep hike.
Given all that, it is way AWESOME! It made me tear up a little with Cougar pride being on the Y with my family overlooking the school campus. Beautiful!

How has no one reviewed this?! The quintessential BYU hike! Takes around an hour round trip, including hanging out in the Y. Great workout and fun, always has at least a few other people for safety :)

I love Y mtn and the hike is short in duration and distance and long in elevation. Great hike and beautiful view.