Random Rambler: Dimple Dell Park

Dimple Dell Park is a huge (646 Acre) gully located in Sandy. There are tons of trails to explore while enjoying fantastic views of the mountains, As far as gullies surrounded by neighborhoods go, I think this is my favorite. It was surprisingly quiet and for the most part I didn’t even notice any houses, or even hear the cars going down Dimple Dell Road. There are multiple trailheads as well. We used the one located at 300 E Mt Jordan Rd.

I actually grew up near here and used to come down here when I was younger, but for some reason had not been back in a very long time. So, after last nights snowstorm, I decided this would be the adventure today.

Quick Details:

Length: Whatever you decide to do! Anywhere from .4 m to several miles. We ended up doing about 5 miles round trip.
Difficulty: DR3. Minor ups and downs, relatively flat. A lot of trail is wide and carpeted with wood chips. Due to this being a gully, unlike most trails around here, you start at the top and go down, and have to return uphill. This can be tricky for some people so keep it in mind.
Elevation Gain: Again this will vary depending on how far you go. We did about 574 ft today.
Restroom: Not at this trailhead. There is one at nearby Granite Park to the west or the Granite Trailhead to the east.
Dogs? Yes. Leash Laws strictly enforced. Seriously, lots of signs.
Other Info: You can view a map from the SL County parks page here (external page). I highly recommend having it handy for your first time.

To get here, make your way to Little Cottonwood Road and Wasatch BLVD. Head west down Little Cottonwood Rd. Turn left on 3100 East. Follow that through the stop sign. 3100 E will eventually curve to the right., immediately afterwards you will see Dimple Dell Rd to the left, and then the parking lot will be just beyond that.

Mount Olympus (DBP).

And the mountains above the trailhead. You can see Bell Canyon to the left there.

After consulting the map at the trailhead (same one I linked to above) we decided to hit Sunrise Point. It’s only about .2 miles.

Still quite a bit of snow here, and some mud and puddles.

Bell Canyon again.

And more mountains.

The various canyons to the south. You can see Rocky Mouth Falls Canyon towards the center Still need to explore some of the others.

And we have reached Sunrise Point. There is a nice, albeit tagged, bench to rest and take in the view.

View of Dimple Dell Canyon below.

And a panoramic of the mountains above. Little Cottonwood Canyon to the left, Lone Peak towards center right. This really is a nice little viewpoint, and quite short and easy to reach.

Bell Canyon again.

And down into the gully.

I noticed there is a trail down into the gully from Sunrise Point, but it looked a little steep, so we backtracked a bit.

We then took this trail down. According to the map listed above this is the Sego Lily Trail. But This sign, and another map I found (link) say this is the Sleepy Hollow Trail. Oi. I think this particular map might be working on differentiating the trails based on trail type, but I’m not 100% sure about that.

It was a little steep and muddy and I almost decided against it, but luckily it wasn’t too muddy.

I can’t get over the views. But then again, I do love me some freshly snowed on mountains.

Down, down down into the gully.

Dry Creek, not so dry right now.

And we reached the creek.

It’s actually quite nice in here.

I had a destination in mind today and seemed to recall the trail to the left would get me there. After crossing Dry Creek, I believe we are now on the Dry Creek Trail.

One of several random picnic tables.

It’s quite lovely down here.

Great views above.

And Dry Creek.. dried up… where did it go? I’m guessing the water is diverted somewhere.

We saw a few of these and Landis wondered what they were. After thinking about it and realizing this is a popular area for equestrians I think they are hitch posts.

Lovely forested area.

We found ourselves at the Dell Haven Ln. Trailhead.

Mountains above.

We started to see a ton of bat houses. I didn’t know this was a bat area.

The hills above.

The pond… or so I thought. I was a little disappointed for a minute.

Oh, wait, there is more to it.

Dimple Dell Wetlands Pond. I had no idea this was here until today.

Goose!

Duckie!

The pond overflows here into Dry Creek.

The mountains reflected in the pond.

This little pond is actually a bit nicer than I anticipated.

The west end of it.

The goose followed us. Must be used to being fed.

Looking north-east ish.

Well, this was the intended destination of the day, however, we still had some energy and decided to keep going.

Mountains above again. I think that is South Dry Creek canyon.

Random Bridge. Crossing it will take you to the Mountain View Trail. We found a small side trail below and managed to stay on the Dry Creek Trail. Oh I guess this is a good spot to mention watch out for horse poop. Lots of it along the trails in here.

Bridge from below.

Starting to see less snow. Yay!

Dry Creek below.

And Dry Creek less dry.

Bunny butt!

Following a creek again.

…and… it’s gone again.

However, it is still lovely down here.

Dry Creek and the mountains above.

And some of the Dry Creek trail is actually in the dry creek bed.

Land slide and the results below.

In the creek bed.

Another Bunny!

Continuing down Dry Creek.

I started to be reminded of the gullies I used to play in as a kid and was really enjoying our adventure today.

Sometimes the trail is the creek bed, sometimes it is next to it.

It looks like this tree could take a tumble any day now.

Creek bed.

This rock rolled down the hill and started making a snow spiral.

I really like this part of the trail.

Starting to green up some.

Some water in Dry Creek again.

Really sandy part. I was worried this was going to be thick mud, but it wasn’t bad to cross.

Holes in the side walls. If you look closely you can see a squirrel too.

Don’t forget to look behind you and enjoy the mountains.

Really fun down here.

Into the forest.

Wildflowers are starting to come up.

More water in the creek. It seems to be diverted in multiple places.

Pretty gully.

The further down we go, the less snow there is.

Last nights storm seemed to have hit the area pretty hard. Not sure if this is related but on the way in we saw a lot of down trees and branches and even a couple fences.

Just lovely down here.

Mountains above again.

We decided that we would go about 2.5 miles before turning back. We pushed on to about 2000 east at about 2.65 miles. Here is one last look down before we turned around. I can’t find a definitive answer, but it looks like you could keep going for another 3 miles or so.

Creek bed. I had noticed a trail going up to one of the upper trails so we decided to make a loop.

A little steep but manageable.

And now we are on the Mountain View Trail. This one is mostly wide and covered in bark chips which, I gotta say feels a little weird to walk on.

But they aren’t kidding about the mountain views. Wow!

More little wildflowers.

Mountains again. So the trade-off between the Dry Creek Trail and the Mountain View trail is yes, spectacular view of the mountains, but the surrounding neighborhood is now more noticeable.

The gully below. Unfortunately you can also see and now hear the traffic on Dimple Dell Road.

Not sure what the canyon is called but google tells me South and Middle Dry Creek flow out of here.

Looking down into the gully again.

Random equestrian. Ran into quite a few of them on the trail today. Popular spot for them.

More mountains.

Green hillsides to the north.

I have never seen so many robins in one area before.

More mountains.

The Mountain View trail is taking us back down to the bridge we passed on the way in. I failed to get a picture but there was a slight trail split with a thin dirt path veering to the left. I later learned the Mountain View trail actually continued along that thin trail and this is a spur trail connecting to another trail. So not only is the mess of trails confusing as is, but the main trails change from natural to bark lined to paved and vice verse. Oi. No wonder I couldn’t make any sense of the map. Anyway, I wasn’t so much concerned about getting lost, but I didn’t want to end at some random neighborhood and as much as I didn’t want to lose the elevation we gained I ultimately decided to just go back to where we were. I later learned that ‘side trail’ would have gotten us back.

Panoramic of the mountain range above. Lone Peak towards center.

Found the Dimple Dell Amphitheater.

Thank goodness the pond has the fence. Not sure if I would have noticed it if not for it.

It’s a little pond but it does offer a nice reflection of the great mountains above.

Last parting shot.

I didn’t expect to see a Northern Harrier on this adventure, but hello friend! Happy hunting!

I’m not sure, but I think I can see Twin Peaks from here.

Another panoramic of the Lone Peak Mountains.

After the pond we made our way back to The Mountain View trail, and then back to the Sego Lily Trail.

The gully below.

One last look at the creek before the long climb back up.

Climbing back up.

Nearing the top.

Random silly memory, when I lived around here I always thought those hills looked a butt… they still kind of do.

One of several signs saying dogs must be leashed.

I actually enjoyed that more than I thought I would. of course, it’s been a couple weeks since we had a good hike with elevation change at all so it might be that. But it was nice, and a good choice for after the random spring snow we got last night. There were some puddles and mud, but it wasn’t the suck you down kind of mud we’ve experienced on other trails such as Ensign Peak. Some great sights, and even a little bit of wildlife and not too many people or horses. Do watch out for horse dung though. My only issue is the maze of trails, and the fact that some trails change from thin dirt paths to wide barked paths and vice verse so that made things a little more confusing. Although, in hindsight, even though it was confusing, I do appreciate having options and control over where in the gully I want to be. Some trails do not offer that luxory. Either way, I recommend having the map handy to help find your way. I was also kind of surprised at how big the area is, we will definitely need to return and explore some more. Going with 8 out of 10 squirrels today.