Nelson Peak is a 9,359-foot mountain in northern Utah’s Oquirrh Mountains, about 19 miles southwest of Salt Lake City and seven miles northeast of Tooele. Straddling Tooele and Salt Lake counties, it is the highest point in the northern Oquirrhs. The mountain rises sharply above Tooele Valley, with roughly 4,400 feet of relief over 3.5 miles, and its runoff drains toward the Great Salt Lake. Set within the Great Basin Desert, its elevation moderates the desert climate with cool summer nights and cold winters. Because the east side is private Rio Tinto land, most hikers reach it from the west on public land via Bates or Flood canyons.