Farmington Creek: Upper Canyon–Fall

Farmington Canyon is a great trail that follows a river and has access to 2 nice waterfalls and 3 amazing car wrecks to explore. The trail is not terribly hard to get to or do and has a lot to keep you excited. The main waterfall however requires a little bit of mountain goating to get to. You can kind of see it from the main trail, but to get to the base is a bit of a doozey. I generally call this trail Farmington Canyon however the city refers to it as Farmington Creek: Upper Canyon Trail. Probably because there are 4 sections of trail to do along Farmington Creek. The Fairgrounds Section, which we haven’t explored yet. The City Section AKA The Lagoon Trail. The Lower Canyon Trail, which we did a little bit of when we did the city section, and this one which we have done in the spring.

Farmington Creek waterfall

Bonnie and Clyde Car

Quick Details:

Length: About 1.5 to the waterfall 1.8 to Sunset Campground.
Difficulty: DR4. There is certainly some up, and a few not so happy spots.
Elevation Gain: About 1,000 ft.
Restroom: No. The closest one I know of is a seasonably open one at Farmington Pond.
Dogs? Yes they are allowed.

To Get Here:

Take exit 395 on i15.  and go right onto UT-225 E/Park Ln for 0.5 mi. Turn right onto Main St 0.3 mi. Turn left onto 600 N 0.1 mi. Turn left onto N 100 E/Farmington Canyon Rd/N Skyline Dr. Continue for about 1.5 miles on the thin canyon road. When you hit the hairpin turn, where the road turns to gravel, park.

The fall color around Davis Creek (DBP).

Farmington Canyon Road is thin, but not too bad (DBP). At least for the section below the hairpin turn, after that is gets a bit intense.

Some nice fall color already (DBP).

Where the pavement ends at the hairpin turn.

The small parking lot and the trailhead (on the left).

The Trail:

Pretty color up here.

Very quickly you will reach Farmington Cave. Uhm… there appears to have been a large collapse since the last time we were here.

These 2 images from our visit here in 2013. Looks like it fractured right at the first alcove layer. And the cool corn is gone too. Scary!

But I still went inside.

Looking out.

From 2013. There has definitely been a collapse.

Piles of rocks.

More color.

Looking back down canyon.

For most of the trail you are a little ways above the creek, but there are a couple spots where you can see it.

Looks like there was recent slide.

Pretty butterfly.

With it’s tongue.

Looking down canyon. It is super pretty up here.

I didn’t like this part very much, but I made it up and down it without any problems.

Pretty mountainside.

Pretty colors.

Super pretty up here.

Looking up canyon.

More color.

The first side stream. It’s tiny and can be easily stepped over.

Wild raspberries.

Pretty flowers.

Great color.

Looking up canyon again. You can see the road above top left.

Pretty oranges.

I am still trying to figure out what the marked side trail leads to. We almost explored it, but discovered the thinner trail was very obscured by fallen leaves, so we might have to come back in the spring and see what is down there.

More color.

Pretty red tunnel.

Pretty.

Looking up.

Halfway creek.

There is a nice little waterfall here.

Random tire.

Pretty color.

Colorful peak.

Looking down canyon. You can see the Great Salt Lake from here.

Panoramic.

Looking out of the canyon towards Antelope Island.

Looking up canyon.

The creek.

Pretty forest.

Pretty color.

Looking down canyon again.

Bonnie and Clyde Car. The oldest and coolest of 3 wrecked cars along the trail. This is about a mile up.

It looks a little more damaged than the last time we were here.

The front axil.

That is one beat up car.

I love the suicide doors.

It’s a fun place to get a picture.

The mountain again.

More pretty color.

One of the silly side effects of fall hiking. The hiking pole naturally collects leaf litter.

That rock totally looks like a face. I think it even rivals nearby Indian Annie Rock.

More color.

Pine trees.

Not far past Bonnie and Clyde Car is the wrecked truck.

The engine block.

Better view of the truck. The bed is missing. Spoiler, I think we found it on the way down.

The drivers side.

I still don’t know what the story is with these cars. Could be bad, but I am leaning towards pushing old POS cars off a cliff is funny to high school kids.

The 3rd side creek is Corduroy Creek.

Little waterfall.

Hint: The 3rd wrecked car is to the left after crossing the creek.

This one is really banged up too. Last time we were here we thought it was a station wagon.

From above.

I randomly decided to see what might be up this side canyon.

We found a door.

And another tiny waterfall.

Back down to the station wagon. There is a giant boulder on top.

Oh that is a shame! That tree used to be over the trail and had branches that made a nice little archway to pass through.

From our last time here. It is amazing to see how much can change along a trail in 4 years.

Lush forest.

We made it to Farmington Creek Waterfall.

Looking down canyon again.

There are 2 spots along the main trail that offer an okay view of the waterfall.

However to get down to the base of the trail requires making your way down this really steep incline. Somebody added a rope, so Landis thought he would make his way down. I tried, but I couldn’t do it. I really wanted to see it, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Landis took a few pictures with his phone while he was down there. It is certainly a lovely waterfall.

Here is the steep trail from the bottom.

The waterfall from the main trail.

We found a side trail down to the creek a little further up hoping it might lead to the top of the falls.

Looking down stream.

This pool blocked the path, marking the end of the line.

This kind of looks like it would make a fun waterslide. However, only when warmer, but then the problem is the water level is probably quite a bit higher, and that pool below is at the top of the waterfall… so either do it safely and freeze or do it warmly and risk taking a very high tumble. Probably best to not try it out.

Another shot.

Looking up stream.

Cars on the road above.

The pool again.

Well we had fun, but decided to head on back. Sunset Campground is only another 3/10’s of a mile further, but it is quite a bit more steep, and doesn’t really offer anything great so we decided to just head back down.

Some pretty color.

Cars driving along the canyon road. It is very busy today! I guess it’s a good road to take in the fall color, but nope. Also, considering the wrecks we just passed it is a little unnerving.

More color.

Back down to Corduroy Creek.

More color.

View out of the canyon.

View of the canyon.

Little waterfall in the creek below.

More color.

Pretty mountainside.

Halfway creek again.

Some more amazing color.

Looking up.

Some nice orange and yellow.

Debris channel.

Flowers.

The first little creek. If this one is named I don’t know what it is.

We found another little side trail and thought we would explore a little.

We found a nice little campsite next to the creek.

Some color down here.

Farmington Creek.

The little side stream down here.

It’s nice to be down by the creek for a minute.

I think we found the missing truck bed from the truck above.

Pretty hillside.

Farmington cave below. And a little window across from it.

The road above again.

The creek below.

Back down to Farmington Cave.

Rock pile.

Little window across the way.

Colorful mountain.

Going down the canyon road.

That is a great hike, so many things to see. From the pretty forests, a big cave, the side streams, and the wrecked cars, it’s just fun. Plus it was a great option to see fall colors. Hardly anybody else on the trail today. I really do enjoy this trail. However I am going to remove a squirrel for needing to be part mountain goat to get to the base of Farmington Creek Waterfall. Otherwise, it is a great trail.

As for difficulty, it was a bit of a climb, but mostly not too bad. DR4 for the main trail. DR5 to get down to the base of the waterfall.

Dogs are allowed.