Scenic Drive: Guardsman Pass Big Cottonwood Canyon To Park City

Guardsman Pass is a high pass (elevation: 9717 feet) situated between between Big Cottonwood Canyon and the Heber Valley or Park City. It is a very pretty scenic drive with several opportunities for hiking or for taking pictures. It is really spectacular in the fall as well. As with most of our scenic drive adventures, many of the pictures will be Drive By Photography (DBP) shots. This is me in the passenger seat taking pictures. I don’t think I could get a good picture while driving safely, even if I wanted to. Let alone on a windy mountain road. So, Landis drives, I take pictures.

Scenic Drive Details:

Length: About 47 miles. From the mouth of Big Cottonwood to the mouth of Parleys.
Time Needed: 1.5 - 2 hours for the drive, plus hiking and sightseeing.
Road Conditions: 2 Lane well paved and graded to steep thin but paved, to 4 lane freeway.
Summit: 9717 feet.
Restrooms: facilities in Brighton and Park City. pit toilet below the pass on the BCC side.
Interesting Things: In Big Cottonwood Canyon there are numerous things to explore. For an easy nature trail with a good chance of seeing a moose stop by Silver Lake. While there if you want to get away from the crowds head up to Twin Lakes or Lake Solitude. A couple other options near the top of the canyon are Lake Mary and Willow Lake. At Guardsman Pass there is Bloods Lake. You know, we have not explored trails in Park City very much but we passed a few trailheads.
Other Info: the pass is closed in winters and can be dangerous during a summer storm.

To Get Here:

Either head up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and then up guardsman Pass Road, or head up Park City Mountain Resort then head over over Empire Pass.

The Drive:

We decided to start in Big Cottonwood Canyon today.

Heading up Big Cottonwood Canyon (DBP).

Nearing the top (DBP).

Look for the turn off on the left for Guardsman Pass Road. If you miss it, just do the loop around Brighton and hit it on the way back (now on the right). It won’t add much.

Now on the Guardsman Pass road (DBP).

As far as high mountain passes go it’s not too bad (DBP) The worst part is at the actual pass.

I even managed to get a shot of the view back down in Big Cottonwood Canyon this time (DBP).

Guardsman Pass itself has a small parking lot and does have a nice view so it is worth the stop.

The view into the Heber Valley from Guardsman Pass.

The parking area at Guardsman Pass has gotten increasingly crowded over the years. It’s a zoo up here today! Most people tend to go down to Bloods Lake from here. Its a beautiful lake as well, but is getting a little crowded lately.

Loads and loads of wildflowers up at the pass this time of year.

Today we decided to hike down to Shadow Lake. That was quite the adventure!

After our hike we continued our scenic drive down.

The Heber Valley again.

Below the pass. It is quite steep and quite a ways down so keep an eye on your little ones.

Back to the scenic drive.

Heading down into the Heber Valley (DBP). I have read that there are sections near the pass that are not paved. That does not appear to be the case anymore.

Nice view from here (DBP)

Not far beyond the pass the road gets a little less scary.

Pretty mountains (DBP).

Fork (DBP). about 1 3/4 miles below the pass there will be a fork in the road. Right will continue into the Heber Valley towards Midway. Left will go over Empire Pass into Park City. That is the way we went today.

Heading back up (DBP).

Quick glimpse of Jordanelle (DBP).

I didn’t get a pic of Empire Pass as we went over it. It is at about 9700 feet.

Heading down through Park City Mountain Resort (DBP).

The road on this side of Empire Pass is steep and windy but not many scary parts (DBP).

Pretty (DBP).

Hitting Park City proper (DBP).

We decided to stop at Squatters for a nice dinner. we burned more calories than expected today and they make a mean burger! Actually, just about everything I have ever tried here I have enjoyed.

Monument from the Olympics.

Now we are on i80 and back up to normal freeway speeds (DBP).

.

Almost to Parleys Summit (DBP). At only 7120 feet high it is the lowest of the 3 passes on the trip.

Random useless info, it is the highest point on i80 within Utah.

Coming down the other side (DBP).

I’m not a big fan of driving down Parleys Canyon, but it is pretty (DBP).

Nearing the bottom.

Well, that was a nice scenic drive with a great hike as well! It is definitely one of the shorter scenic drives around here, but it is lovely and a great way to experience our wonderful canyons.