The Living Room - Winter

The Living Room is a fantastic mile-ish hike right above the University Of Utah. You scramble up a somewhat steep gulley before climbing up a ridge and around the next canyon to reach a neat area of sandstone slabs that some people have built various chairs, loveseats, and coffee tables out of. These offer a fantastic comfortable place to sit down, catch your breath, and take in the incredible, I mean incredible views of the valley below. We tried it once before, and took a wrong turn, but boy, am I glad we returned today!

Normally I wouldn’t recommend doing this trail in the winter, however, we are currently experiencing an oddly dry winter and there is not much snow at all on these lower elevation hikes.

To get here, take i80 east or I215 N  to Foothill Dr. After 3.1 miles turn right (east) on Wakura Way. Take that .6 miles and turn right on Colorow Dr. (Just before the Red Butte Gardens entrance) Just .2 miles down this street you will see the trailhead on the left (east) side of the road.

The trailhead.

You start out hiking through some scrub oak.

Before long you cross a small stream.

And not much further up you hit the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Take a right here, and take the first major trail again on the left.. like 50 feet or so up.

There are a couple different trails that appear to get you to the main trail, but this appears to be the quickest.

View of the mountains above.

Already offering a great view of the city below.

Not long after crossing the BST the trail starts heading up the bottom of this small canyon.

Snowy and rocky!

And then just kind of rocky again.

Not much further up is a trail split. Last time we hiked here for some reason I looked above (see next photo) and assumed (wrongly) that that was the correct way to go. That way is interesting, it leads to what I have since dubbed The Parlor, but if you want to reach The Living Room, stay to the right here.

A look towards “The Parlor”.

It seems the only snow left on this trail, is the trail. It wasn’t too bad, but looking back, I wish I had brought my hiking pole.

Some of the sections appeared muddy.. but it was muddy ice and was a bit slick. Still made it up and down without incident, but watch your step if you see similar conditions.

Through the snow!

Small section thinks it is still fall!

The trails curves back towards the north before climbing the ridge. I believe that is Red Butte Peak, but am not 100% sure. I know the trail connects to that trail a little further up.

Starting to get some nice views in.

The mountains above.

The last push to the ridge.

View down from the ridge.

Quick panoramic from the ridge, this is quite the view already!

An upper view of “The Parlor”.

View up the ridge we are now hiking. As far as ridges go, this one isn’t bad at all.

Before long the trail crosses over into the next canyon. Take note of the landslide on the left side there, we get to cross that. It actually wasn’t bad. I tend to psych myself out sometimes.

Here you can just about make out where The Living Room is. Start at the rockslide on the right (yes same one as above) and follow the trail to the left and you can just make out some people standing there.

A little bit more mud, snow, and ice.

With a distinctive change in soil color. I don’t know why, but I always find that fascinating.

I liked the way the clouds looked.

The 2nd major trail split. I say major because well, there are a ton of little side trails, but aside from this one, and the other one I mentioned towards the beginning, it is pretty obvious which is the main trail. The Living Room is to the left back around to the next slope. The trail to the right takes you to Red Butte Peak according to the guide I have. I don’t know how much further that is though.

And around the canyon to the next slope. I thought it was going to be a little scary, but it really wasn’t bad at all.

View back down towards the trail we hiked up already.

The rockslide section wasn’t even bad.

Trees growing out of the rocks.

And we made it! As you can see it is a pretty popular trail. You can also see a couple of the various stone chairs, loveseats, and coffee tables that someone has built up here

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Chair and loveseat.

This chair looks like it hangs onto the edge of the world!

You can just see Ensign Peak from here.

I believe this is Red Butte Ridge.

Us hanging out on one of the loveseats

View of downtown.

More chairs. They are actually well constructed and seem rather sturdy. Comfortable for a quick sit, but this time of year kind of froze my tush a bit.

View up the ridge towards the peak.

With how crowded the trail is, I didn’t think I would get the place to ourselves for a second.. and yet, everybody cleared out! So, here it is in all it’s random stone furniture glory!

And here is a quick panoramic of the amazing view you get to take in while resting on a nice sandstone recliner.

Well we got a nice rest in and took in the amazing views, but it was time to start heading back down the mountain.

Lone tree.

Looking down towards the trail below. So, you start in Georges Hollow which seems to be split by that ridge, climb the ridge, come around the other side of the hollow, and onto Red Butte ridge to The Living Room. all in all, not a bad climb.

Back to the rockslide.

Muddy and icy trail.

Red Butte Ridge with some people hiking along. It seems like it would be a little more strenuous, but it appears it gets you there as well.

Red Butte Ridge.

With the peak above. You can kind of make out where The Living Room is just below and left of center.

A hiker making his way along the ridge.

A faint sundog.

Neat little tree.

Nice view of the mountains to the south

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I tend to find these random white shells on these trails near The Bonneville Shoreline Trail. At first I thought they may have been fossil remnants from the ancient sea, but a little research leads me to believe that they are ordinary snail shells bleached from the sun. Why I tend to find them in spades above the BST, and not really anywhere else, beats me.

Snowy trail, and the ridge above.

Here is a good shot of an icy section. It made me wish I had thought to bring my hiking pole, but it wasn’t too bad. We made it up and back down without slipping and falling so it wasn’t very bad. Did a little ice skating on the way down.

Magpie.

Ensign Peak again.

SLC Corp Monument? What are they monumenting? This looks like some USGS things we have seen, but is labeled as a monument. Interesting.

Little red flower growing out of the rocks

Back to the little stream.

That was a great winter hike! Well, for this weird winter. If there is much more snow I would recommend some good traction. It is very popular, but even with that we still got a moment of the main feature to ourselves for a moment which was nice, overall I enjoyed it! Removing one squirrel due to the crowds.

As for difficulty. We had a little bit of an extra challenge with some muddy sections, some snow, some ice, and some deceptive mud covered ice, but overall it wasn’t a bad winter hike! I would say that any time of year, this is still a tough uphill trail for the most part, and does have some sections with steep drop offs while only about 1.15 miles up, it is not very long I would rate it somewhere between easy and moderate. Going with a DR4.

Dogs are allowed! Please be responsible and clean up after your furry friend.