Naomi Peak

Table of Contents

About

Naomi Peak is a mountain peak in the Bear River Mountain Range. It is the highest peak in the Bear River Mountain Range at 9,979 ft / 3,042 m.

Its name originates from the Old Testament, Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth.1 The peak is located within the Mount Naomi Wilderness, an official protected area managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

Description

"Naomi Peak is situated on the main crest of the Bear River Range, about one mile east of Mount Magog and just under two miles northwest of Tony Grove Lake. To the north and east, the terrain drips into a series of cirques and gentle basins that hold three lakes; Tony Grove Lake, White Pine Lake and High Creek Lake and one seasonal pond. To the west the steep slopes are carved and dissected into a series of need ravines and draws that empty into Smithfield Canyon. The relief is generally 1-2,000 feet to the eastern basins, but the drop to the west off the summit block is approximately 3,000 feet.

The mountain is composed of dolomite over quartzite formed from ancient tidal mud and coastal beaches. There are a handful of small caves in the area and occasional fossils can be found. The upper subalpine slopes are near the climatic timberline for the area and support open forests of limber pine, whitebark pine, subalpine fir and spruce, with occasional Douglas fir."1

From a geomorphic standpoint, Naomi Peak displays classic alpine features—steep cirques, ridges, and talus slopes—formed by a combination of tectonic uplift and glacial sculpting during the Pleistocene. Although not heavily glaciated today, the mountain shows signs of past glacial erosion, especially in its upper cirques and valleys. These glacial features add complexity to the peak’s surface geology, exposing structural relationships and layering that might otherwise remain hidden.

Travel

There are only three main routes to the summit of Naomi Peak. Motorized vehicles are prohibited from taking the trek. During the fall, it is advised that hikers wear orange while active hunters are in the area.1

Tony Grove Trailhead is the shortest and safest route to get to Naomi Peak.
High Creek is the longest route up Naomi Peak and possibly the most scenic, starting in Cove.
Cherry Creek Route is by far the most difficult of all the routes to get to Naomi Peak. Starting in Richmond at Cherry Peak Ski Resort, in less than 5 miles up about 4,000 ft, reaching Cherry Peak. From Cherry, you can make your way east to Naomi Peak. This route is usually not the best.

Geology/Orology

Geologically, Naomi Peak is composed of a thick sequence of Cambrian to Devonian sedimentary rocks that have been uplifted, folded, and faulted over hundreds of millions of years. The area is dominated by Paleozoic carbonate formations, including dolomites and limestones from the Langston, Ute, St. Charles, and Garden City Formations. These rock units dip generally eastward as part of the larger Logan Peak syncline, a regional fold that trends north-northeast through the Bear River Range. The presence of multiple conformable contacts between these formations suggests a relatively continuous marine deposition environment during the early Paleozoic.

In addition to folding, the Naomi Peak region shows strong evidence of compressional tectonics in the form of bedding-plane thrust faults. These low-angle faults, formed during the Sevier orogeny (Late Jurassic to early Tertiary), locally omit stratigraphic sections by stacking younger formations over older ones. These thrust faults are especially important near the contact zones of the Langston and Brigham Formations, where they disrupt the expected sequence. The deformation patterns indicate eastward tectonic transport, consistent with the regional direction of compressive stress during the Sevier mountain-building event.

The orology of Naomi Peak is also shaped by subsequent extensional faulting tied to Basin and Range tectonism, which began in the Tertiary period and continues today. This process created high-angle normal faults, notably along the western front of the Bear River Range, which dropped Cache Valley downward relative to the rising range. This faulting is responsible for the dramatic relief seen today, with Naomi Peak towering above the valley floor by nearly 5,000 feet. Fault scarps, tilted fault blocks, and evidence of seismic activity all reflect ongoing tectonic adjustment along these faults.