Window Cave

Window Cave is a neat little mine above Shepard Creek. As the name suggests it has a neat little window near the entrance. We attempted to find it once before and did not have much luck. However, I noticed Farmington City has slowly been improving their trails page (external link) and it looked much easier to find now so I thought we’d try again. Well, we still went back and forth and almost gave up, but we did eventually find it. Where Farmington city wins for their trails page, and having interesting points of interest, I wish they would provide more information. Also, they kind of fail at signage. This is where Ogden City wins.

Quick Details:

Length: About a half mile round trip.
Difficulty: DR5
Elevation Gain: About 300 ft.
Restroom: No
Dogs? Yes. Please clean up after your furry friends.
Other Info: Great addition to the Fruit Heights Upper Terrace Trail

To Get Here:

From i15 take the exit for US 89 North of Lagoon. Take exit 396 for Shepard Ln. Turn left on Main St. Turn right on 1400 N. Turn right on N Compton Rd. Turn Left on Grandview Dr. Turn Left onto Bella Vista Dr. Turn right on Bella Vista Ct. There will be a circle at the end park here.

The Trail:

There is a trail on the east side of the circle that I suspect might lead directly to the mine, however the Farmington Trail page suggested going up this access road to the north so that is what we did.

Neat rock formations above.

It is a quick ascent and already getting a nice view of the valley below.

Steep! But it’s paved so it’s not too bad.

The access road leads to this water tank. The trail continues south east.

Starting with this power pole, you will count to 3, and that is where the trail we took is located.

Looking into Shepard Canyon. Also, power pole 2 and 3.

We initially missed this trail and did a lot of back and forth up and down the canyon looking for the cave. We were just about ready to give up when we found it. There is a confusing spider web of trails up here so I may not have taken the right turn off. A sign would have been appreciated. Anyway, I will skip all that and go right to the path the eventually got us there..

Faint trail down next to the 3rd power pole.

When you hit the large rock outcropping you can head down to the lower trail on either side. I liked the way the eastern side looked a little better.

Shepard Canyon from the outcropping..

Down the side of the outcropping.

You can see a ribbon designating the trail. This gave me hope we were on the right path now.

Not much further along this trail and we found it! Finally!

It looks like they tried one direction…

And then went another direction. You can see the little window to the left here.

Landis poked his head in.

The little window again. I’m not sure if they mined this out on purpose, or if it just collapsed or what. But it is kind of neat.

Looking towards the deeper shaft.

The window.

Looking out the main entrance.

The entrance and the window.

From the outside again.

Looking across the canyon.

Well that was fun, but we decided to continue along the Fruit Heights Upper Terrace Trail, which I decided to split off as it’s own post as I thought Window Cave was neat enough to be it’s own post.

I was starting to get really frustrated going back and forth and up and down the side of the somewhat steep slope looking for the cave, but when we did find it I was happy we persevered. It’s possible I missed the correct side trail (there is a confusing spider web of trails up here) so this is where I feel a sign would be helpful. It’s small, and there isn’t much to it, but it’s unique amongst the other mines we have explored nearby in that is has the split shaft and the window. 8 out of 10 squirrels. Losing 2 for difficulty in locating it.

Dogs are allowed. Please clean up after your furry friends.