Ghost Falls

Ghost falls is a great family friendly hike in Draper. It takes you through a lovely wooded canyon up to a nice little waterfall. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your interests, there is no ghostly activity or even an interesting ghost story here. It is called ghost falls because it has been known to dry up and disappear like a ghost.

Quick Details:

Length: About 1.6 miles to the falls, depending on the route you take
Difficulty: DR3. There were definitely some ups and downs, but not too bad.
Elevation Gain: About 600 ft.
Restroom: There was a porta potty at the trailhead, but I don’t know if it is always there.
Dogs? No. As of March 30th 2016 dogs have been banned from the entire canyon.
Extra Info: There are a tons of trail splits! And it is really confusing at times. If it is your first visit I recommend printing off a copy of the map to help guide you. I found it on the DraperTrails page. Or here is a quick link

Directions There are a couple of trail heads, but we took the Coyote Hollow Trailhead. This is a little confusing but I will try to summarize it:

From I-15 take exit 289 for Bangerter Highway. Go east towards the mountains. After about a half mile turn left on 13800 S. After 1.7 miles turn right onto 1300 e. 300 ft later turn right on Highland Dr. .8 miles later turn left on S. Rambling Rd. .8 miles later you will hit a traffic circle, take the first exit onto Mike Weir (snicker) Dr. Turn left onto Pinon Hills Ln. Turn Right onto Canyon Vista Dr. Turn left onto Gray Fox Dr. Turn Right on Coyote Hollow Ct. Park.

Or do what I did, and put Coyote Hollow Trailhead into your map app and let it guide you.

Now onto the adventure!

Trailhead Sign.

Side stream.

Nice little path.

Again with all the trail splits. The quickest route from this trailhead is the Canyon Hollow Trail. If you see a sign warning not to use the trail when muddy, that is where you want to go, unless it is muddy. If it is muddy, then you want to follow the BST trail to the Ghost Falls Trail. Last time we came it was too muddy and I didn’t know about the alternate path so we turned around and came home. Today, following the directions I found on the internet we got a little confused and ended up taking the alternate path.

However, there was a sign pointing towards the falls so we figured we must be going the right way.

Oh joy. Just what I like to see on my trails.

Not too far up this wide trail we hit a dead end due to whatever construction they are doing, and the main trail we were following seemed to disappear. We ended up taking the east Burnham Loop trail to the Ghost Falls trail.

Nice view of the creek through here.

We felt like this trail was taking us the wrong direction. Boy I wish I had printed a map before we came.

Small waterfall back there… that you can’t really see.

Nice little creek.

Okay, we are still going the right way. Phew!

Neat looking plants and rocks.

Lovely view down canyon.

The silica pit. We’ll get a closer look at that on the way down.

More of those plants. Apparently they are a noxious weed, Myrtle Spurge and shouldn’t be touched. I generally tend to avoid touching plants I am not familiar with. But, just so you know.

Looking up canyon.

Looking down at the construction.

Oh neat, there is a car that fell down here.

The fun red looking plant we see in spring time. I know it is new growth that causes the color, as we only seem to see it in spring, but I still wonder what plant this is.

Leaving the high slopes and entering the forest.

Looking down canyon again.

Lone pine up at the top of the canyon.

Random tub.

Another bridge.

Oh! We made it! Ghost Falls.

From the side.

From below again.

Landis is a little more adventurous than I am. He braved the steep section and reported there was a small upper waterfall. So… I decided to see if I could make it up there.

Meh. Nice little waterfall, but I am not sure if it was worth the climb.

Back down to the lower falls.

Oddly enough, the best view is from the bridge.

The little hollow.

We decided to go down the other way, and started heading down the Canyon Hollow Trail.

Little side stream.

Another side stream. This one has a pretty blue color.

Nice forest.

Another car crunched up down here. Starting to remind me of Farmington Creek. Are there any canyons with roads above that don’t have cars at the bottom?

Tree tunnel.

And here is another one!

There is a quick trail down to this one so you can get in close and see the wreckage. This makes 3 that we saw.

I wonder how long it has been down here. Like I have said about other canyon wrecks, I hope they are the product of dumb kids pushing cars off cliffs and nobody got hurt in any of these. But I do find them fascinating. I think it’s the whole.. well this certainly doesn’t belong here!

I am glad we decided to come back down this way. Got to see more cars down here, and it is a nicer walk through the forest.

Across the canyon.

A view down canyon.

Another side creek, this one has carved quite deep.

And then the trail was rudely interrupted by this construction project!

We found what appeared to be a side trail across the makeshift road. in hind sight, I think this road generally followed the original Canyon Hollow Trail because well, we ended up on a trail we probably shouldn’t have been on.

Deer tracks.

Looking across the canyon again.

And another view down canyon.

First wildflower of the season.

A couple deer happened to meander by. I think this is probably the closest we have ever been to deer. I don’t think they liked the noise my camera made. Other than that I just let them wander by, and tried not to get too close.

Nice forest trail.

Bike switchback. We encountered quite a few bikes coming down on this part of the trail.

Well, that certainly explains why! I don’t know how we ended up on the downhill bike trail, I blame the construction. So, for any bikes that had to slow down because of us, I apologize.

Nearing the silica pit.

Some fun colors here.

Silica drip line.

The rock here was really soft and easy to break apart or rub off, kind of like chalk.

So, if you have made it this far, and want the quickest, prettiest way up, head towards the silica pit and follow the canyon hollow trail up.

Please follow the rules! Hiking through a muddy trail isn’t fun anyway. Adding pounds of mud to each foot really makes for miserable hiking conditions.

If it is muddy, follow the alternate path I did, it shouldn’t be muddy at all.

I really am not sure if I should be trying to give directions. I followed the directions I found on a blog and it only confused me more. Like I said, print the map I linked above, or save a copy to your phone. Follow the Canyon Hollow Trail, or Ghost Falls trail up to make it to the waterfall.

 

Back to the first little side stream.

The general path we took. Yellow up, green down.

Well that was a great little trail! A lot of interesting things to see, and a nice little waterfall to call an end point. As frustrating as the spider web of trails was, I really enjoyed doing the loop that we did, it allowed us to see more interesting stuff. I really want to give this trail a perfect 10, but am taking one due to the confusing side trails, and another one due to the construction adding to the confusion. 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, neither trail was too rough. Some ups and downs. The Ghost Falls Trail might not be the best choice to do on a hot summer day due to not having a lot of shelter. Going with a DR3.

Dogs, as I mentioned before they are allowed on some trails, but it looks like they are not allowed within 30 feet of the main stream, which the waterfall sits on. If the waterfall is what you are after, leave Fido at home. If not, bring him along but be sure to clean up after him!

Update, as of 3/30/16 looks like dogs have been banned in the entire canyon.

http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-news/draper-city-no-dogs-in-corner-canyon