Killyon Canyon To East Canyon Saddle

Killyon Canyon is an incredible, easy trail located in Emigration Canyon near Salt Lake City. This beautiful area was slotted to become another expensive suburb however SLC decided to purchase it and set it aside as a nature preserve, very much like Willow Lake. I am really glad they did as it is awfully pretty and honestly, not too many trails seem to transport you somewhere else entirely as quickly as this one did. Plus, whomever forged this trail did so in such a way that you barely notice the elevation, well, until the very end anyway. A nice longer trail that is easy is kind of hard to come by so I loved it. May is my all-time favorite time of year to hike, and I tend to gush over any new trail we do in May, but, wow. I really did like this trail.

Quick Details:

Length: About 4.6 miles out and back including the .6 miles (x2 up and down) along the road from parking to trailhead.
Difficulty: DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 820 feet.
Restroom: No. We stopped at Ruth’s Diner for dinner and there was one there. Short of that, you’ll have to find a gas station.
Dogs? Yes, Leashed. please clean up after your furry friend.
Other Info: There is no parking at the trailhead. You will need to park at the bottom of the street.

To Get Here:

Head approximately 7 miles up Emigration Canyon. At the first hairpin turn there is a road called Pinecrest Canyon Rd. On the left. About 3/10’s of a mile you will see a small parking area on the right (signed), and a little overflow area just up on the left (not signed). This is just before the road forks.

The sign in the main (new) parking lot. I guess you could originally park at the trailhead, but property owners managed to make the whole street no public parking.

The smaller overflow lot from the main lot.

You’ll walk up this road for just a little while.

And then take this right fork on Killyons Ln.

As far as being forced to walk down the road goes, at least it is kind of pretty.

We heard and saw tons of hummingbirds along the road too. This was the only decent shot I got though.

The creek we will be following for a while.

I would say about halfway up the road goes from paved to dirt.

Large hawk hunting above. I did have my telephoto lens, but the lighting wasn’t favorable.

Trees are starting to green up.

Just below the trailhead is this pull out. I understand not wanting people to park on the thin dirt road, but really, why can’t we use this to park? It could fit 5-6 cars without blocking the road at all.

The trail head is just beyond the barrier. I think the trail used to be a thinner dirt road before the nature preserve so they just blocked it off.

Cute reminder to clean up after your pets.

The Trail:

Beginning of the actual trail.

Nice and green up here right now.

Loads of blue wildflowers lining the trail too.

I’m not sure, but I think these are forget me nots.

The creek again.

Short steeper segment.

Red, orange and green. It’s not fall, but uh, there is some great color along coming up right now. I think the red is willow, the orange took me a little longer.

Iddy biddy waterfall.

Mossy rocks.

The trail is beautiful right now. I can imagine in just a few short weeks when everything fills in it will be absolutely spectacular.

Hitting a patch of aspens.

8 years? This has been preserved for 8 years and I just am now exploring it? But seriously, this is awesome. I am so happy this was set aside as a nature area for us to enjoy.

I love the poop fairy signs. Seriously people, take your dogs where they are allowed, but clean up their poop!

The first of 2 bridges we crossed on our path today.

View upstream with another iddy biddy waterfall.

Small pond.

Nice open section.

With more red, orange and green.

The red willow and if you look to the top right you can see the source of the orange color. Seed pods of some sort.

Closer picture of the seed pods.

Another nice clearing.

It looks like this is where the original path crossed the stream, which caused some un-natural widening. The 2nd bridge is just below here now.

2nd Bridge.

Upstream.

Downstream.

Glacier Lilies galore.

This is seriously the worst part of the trail, and it is not bad at all. Short steep segment followed by a landslide. Most landslide segments are along steep slopes with a wall on one side and a drop off to the other, this one, not so much. So it didn’t faze me at all. Just watch your footing.

The creek below.

Quick view down canyon.

Twin trees.

Another little clearing.

We reached a trail split that had this super helpful sign…not a single thing mentioned on the left fork. Now that I am home and looking at a map I think left is the shorter route to Lookout Peak, but can also be accessed to the right. Anyway, I remembered the guide I read pointing us left, but this sign made me feel like right was the way to go. Not wrong, we were just exploring today. But, when I return I might check out the left fork.

There is a 3rd bridge on the left fork, but we went right today.

Dead log looks like a curious animal.

HUGE fir tree’s. Landis informed they are firs because: “Firs are friendly and fragile” meaning the needles don’t poke you, and they tear when pulled.

Beautiful forest through here.

Nice grassy hills.

The little valley we’ve been climbing.

The trail is a little thin through here but it is still nice and easy.

Hill across the way.

A couple of robins hanging out.

Another large fir tree.

This trail has exactly 2 switchbacks, they are seriously the most mild, lazy switchbacks ever.

Looking across the valley again.

Looking down canyon.

Up Canyon. I think Lookout Peak is just out of frame, to the left.

I don’t know if that peak is named.

The trail has worn deeper into the ground here.

Love this time of year when the hills are so green.

More big firs.

Looking up!

Another short hill.

Looking down canyon. It is so pretty up here right now.

I think that is Lookout Peak just to the right of that big hill.

Another nice clearing. The trail gets a little thin through here, but you can find your way.

Looks like this might be a little swampy in winter.

Another patch of aspens.

After this little clearing is about where you start to notice the trail is going uphill.

Particularly deep run-off channel. At least that’s what I call them, but I don’t know if there is an actual name for these. I suspect as the snowmelt really starts kicking into gear ephemeral streams create these. Of the top of my head, I can remember seeing similar phenomenon at Bloods Lake and also in North Canyon.

The trail starts to get a little choppy up here, just watch your step.

Pretty blue wildflowers.

I think that is Lookout Peak again.

More glacier lilies. These are usually the first wildflowers I start seeing in abundance. I am guessing that might have something to do with the name.

Little tree tunnel.

Pretty forest.

Short muddy section. This one was a little tough to try and avoid as it is another spot that the trail has worn down pretty deeply so it was hard to keep to the side.

Looking back down canyon.

Bizarre bright green beetle.

View down again.

The trail ever so gradually steepened that before long we found it to actually be some work. When we got here we were kind of hoping that was the top! Lucky for us, it was. We have definitely done steeper, and longer steeper trails though.

The ridge.

At the middle of the saddle you will come to a 4 way split. Forward (east) goes into East Canyon. Left will take you to Lookout Peak and Right will take you to Little Mountain.

I thought I remembered seeing there was an overlook not far along the trail going forward so we went over the ridge and down that way for a minute.

Please note: East Canyon is watershed, so if you brought your dogs along you can’t go down this way. My pups don’t do as well on the longer hikes so we didn’t bring them with us today.

Neat old stump.

Nice red peak.

I think this is looking back at Lookout Peak.

Well, we didn’t want to go down too far, because we knew we’d have to climb back up. We made it to our intended destination, so we called it and turned around. Looking at the map it looks like if you keep following the trail it will take you to Affleck Park and if you are really adventurous Big Mountain. Although I think that would be better started at Big Mountain Pass. We didn’t hike Big Mountain, but we went a little way down the Great Western Trail there from there back in 2012.

We only went maybe 1 to 2 tenths of a mile down but we didn’t see a viewpoint. Now that I think about it, I think the view point was on the trail to the south towards Little Mountain. I’ll have to do some more digging.

East Canyon is pretty too.

The red striped peak again.

Before long we were back at the crossroads on the saddle.

I would have liked a sign here but meh.

North towards Lookout Peak (obscured by the bush).

South towards Little Mountain.

Glacier lilies.

Little purple flower.

Large raptor flying above. Unfortunately, by the time I got the telephoto lens out it was gone.

Panoramic view looking down Killyon Canyon.

Heading back down.

Not 100% sure but I think this is broadleaf arnica. You know there are a million sunflower looking flowers that grow around here. Sometimes it isn’t easy to identify them.

Back to the muddy section. I was doing pretty good avoiding it until I randomly bumped my camera and the lens cap popped right off and landed square in it. really? I just bought a lens cap leash but I hadn’t put it on yet. Sigh. Well, guess what I did the next day, after washing the lens cap of course.

Little bit of rough trail.

Tree tunnel.

Little bit more rough trail.

Reaching the last little clearing with the aspens.

Fallen tree being reclaimed by nature.

Little clearing again… what was the word I learned.. Dell, I guess this would be a dell.

Hills above.

I just love this time of year when the mountains are nice and green.

Red dirt.

Still not sure what these are.

Pretty forest.

The valley again.

More pretty firs.

I noticed a couple signs of fire here. Glad to see it doesn’t appear to have been too devastating, or at the very least the forest is recovering strongly.

Most of the locations I pointed out before. would be nice if they added mileage.

10,000 steps! I always tend to hit that when we do longer trails. Go fig. :-p

More fire damage.

Looking down canyon.

The landslide section. Again, not a big concern.

The creek again.

The 2nd bridge.

Nice clear water.

Little pond again.

Wildlife research cam. Now that I think of it, I am kind of curious how much wildlife uses a waterhole next to a popular trail.

The lower bridge.

Reds and greens.

Little waterfall.

More forget me nots.

They start out purple.

They line the trail at parts.

Back to the trailhead.

Now we just have the 6 tenths of a mile down the road back to the car.

I was a little confused about the beach parking sign, until Landis pointed out the surf boards.

Almost back to where we parked.

Heading down Emigration Canyon (DBP).

We decided to check out Ruth’s Diner on the way down. I have head wonderful things about it, so I thought it was time to check it it. This was a great way to end the day. The service was amazing!

The original building in this location was a train car. You can still kind of see it.

Continuing down emigration Canyon (DBP).

Downtown with some nice sunset clouds (DBP).

Sunset (DBP).

That was a great hike! which is a little surprising since it didn’t really have an end prize, this one was more about the entire experience. beautiful woods and not a lot of people. I am definitely going to have to do this one again, but I am thinking an autumn trip is in store for here. Going with 9 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, this is probably one of the easiest longer trails we have done. DR3.

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