Kingfisher Wetlands Trail

The Kingfisher Wetlands Trail in Ogden is a great, short trail system around a small wetland with a couple ponds. There is also a spot that offers really exceptional views of the Ogden Valley and mountains above it. And, there is a fun bird stand that you can climb and get a higher up view as well. I actually enjoyed this trail a lot more than I thought I would. We discovered this place on our trip to 21st Street Pond it was an item of interest on the Centennial Trail so we thought we’d check it out. Reviewing the map we decided the best access point was Fort Buenaventura Park. After a kind of meh experience at the Bear River Bird Refuge we thought this would be good extra adventure.

OOH-A View point

View from the Crows Nest

Quick Details:

Length: 2 miles round trip if you do the inner loop. The outer loop will likely add another quarter mile or so.
Difficulty: DR3. Mostly flat, there is a small hill you have to climb.
Elevation Gain: 50-60 ft. Not a lot.
Restroom: No
Dogs? Yes, Ogden has a leash law though.

To get here: Take i15 to exit 342 Pennsylvania Ave. Pennsylvania will veer to the right and become 24th st. Turn right on A avenue. Turn left into Fort Buenaventura Park. 2450 A Ave. There is a baseball field and then a bridge with a gate into Fort Buenaventura , we parked just before the bridge and the trail is to the right of it. If you cross the river, you went too far.

Park sign next to the bridge. Trail is to the right.

Centennial Trail. You will follow this for about a half mile before getting to the Kingfisher Wetlands.

Nice paved trail. Easy peasy.

The Weber River is crazy high right now.

Like the Ogden River Parkway, the Weber River Parkway follows the Weber River. However, now both trails have been/will be connected to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and all 3 make the Centennial Trail which makes a nice loop around the Weber Valley.

Nice trees along the river.

And before long (about a half mile) we have reached the beginning of the loop. We decided to take the right and do a counter clockwise loop. Looking back, I think that was the easier option.

Lower pond.

Now it is a dirt path. Still wide, and mostly well packed, but we did encounter some wet and/or muddy sections.

We heard and saw a lot of birds, but can’t say for sure if any of them were kingfishers.

I bet this hill looks nice when it greens up a bit.

Upper pond.

Duckies!

Old old bridge. It was a little lopsided, but cross-able. You can shave a 10th of a mile or so off the inner loop if you want here.

We opted to keep going.

Landis tells me this is the old Pillsbury Factory. Some other company owns it now though.

I can’t believe I didn’t get any pictures of it, but after the bend below the factory there is another trail split. The left fork goes back along the inner loop, the right heads towards the factory. We thought it was taking us away from the trail, so we backtracked. I learned the trail picks back up and you follow the ridge back to the main trail. Happy accident though, because we are about to hit a great viewpoint.

Back along the inner loop.

Here is the other side of that sketchy bridge.

And up the hill we go.

The upper pond from above.

Great view of Mount Ogden.

I love the red plants! I still don’t know what it is, but it’s neat.

Found a clearing, holy crap that is an amazing view! Who knew, on the west side of Ogden of all places! I later learned this is called OOH-A View Point. I think it is a really good name because I think that is almost what I said when I saw it. Ooh, look at that view!

Quick panoramic.

Gnarly old tree.

Another view of Mt Ogden. It’s kind of cool to see Waterfall Canyon (towards the middle) and Beus Canyon (towards the right) from this different perspective. There are a couple other canyons I need to explore as well.

here you can see where the outer loops reconnects with the inner loop.

And a great view of Ben Lomond as well.

And now we just need to go back down the hill, which I have discovered is called The Cap. Seems we chose wisely going counter-clockwise as this looks to be a little more steep. It’s not a lot of elevation to gain though so, I guess it really doesn’t matter.

Hrm. Looks like we found a homeless camp. Makes me a little nervous but it doesn’t seem like there is anybody there right now.

Oh, there is still some snow out here.

Boardwalk section through a bit of a swamp.

Swamp.

Reflection.

Oh, we found an old hunting blind. I see it is named Crows Nest Viewer.

View from the front of it, back down to the lower pond.

The front side of the Crows Nest.

it took a couple minutes for me to muster up the courage to climb it (I don’t like heights). The stairs were sturdy, but the main platform was a little questionable.

Nice higher up view of the pond from it though. We saw something swimming around in there, but I never did catch it with my camera. Likely another muskrat.

And Ben Lomond. I think I definitely need to return in the summer and see this area all greened up!

Top of the platform.

Crows Nest Viewer.

And we are back to the Centennial Trail. Almost done with the loop.

I thought I would go a little further down the Centennial Trail and about 20 feet later was met with this. Well, end of the line for today.

Just to the left. The Weber River is really high.

Back to the lower pond.

Crows Nest Viewer again.

The last part of the loop is just the Centennial Trail.

Starting to get some cool lighting on the storm clouds coming in.

Looks like an eye.

There is another little hunting blind (named Blind Viewer) just before where the loop ends, it’s ground level though. Surprised I didn’t get a picture of it, but this one has information about the local birds. As well as a nice view of the lower pond.

The Weber River again.

Next to the path.

And back to where the loop splits off. So, with only a little side trips and backtracking, the inner loop is about a mile. Just another half mile back to the parking lot.

The clouds are looking fantastic!

The path and the river again.

The river and peaks above.

The river.

Old bridge.

Glad I took a pic of the sign, it helped me place some of the things we saw.

Another shot of the Weber River.

And a quick shot of Mount Ogden as we made our way back into town (DBP).

I really enjoyed this trail a lot more than I thought I would! Lots of wildlife and some great views of the Weber Valley and mountains above. Who would have thought on the west side of Ogden? Plus, it was really easy and not a whole lot of people. Only taking 1 star for the whole uh, homeless camp. Otherwise, it would be perfect.

As for difficulty, Half the trail is flat and paved. The other half has is like paved, and only has minimal elevation gain. Going with a DR3.

Dogs are allowed! leashed. Please clean up after your furry friend.