Parrish Canyon

Parrish Canyon is a steep, thin trail up a very narrow canyon in Centerville. The trail offers 2 nice little waterfalls a bonus tiny waterfall, and an even more amazing bonus feature that you would not expect at all. It’s a little tougher than I would normally like, but it is very pretty. It’s been a few years since we have done it so I thought we should come check it out again.

The Upper Waterfall

Quick Details:

Length: 1.7 miles out and back.
Difficulty: DR4. This is a sandy trail along some steep slopes with some sketchy creek crossings.
Elevation Gain: about 460 feet.
Restroom: No. You would probably need to find a gas station.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.

To Get Here:

Take the Parrish St exit from i15. Follow it east as far as it goes, then take a slight left to continue up the narrow one lane road up to a dirt parking lot. The TH is at the north end of it.

The Trail:

Trailhead sign,

Great view down.

The canyon we are heading towards.

Centerville Peak. We went partially up that trail a while ago via the Parrish Creek Trail

Already seeing some pretty color.

Most of the elevation is gained in the first quarter mile as you make your way up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST).

The BST. The trail sign points forward, that will be the Parrish Creek trail, which I believe may have been renamed, or at least nick named the Zig Zag Trail. To get to the canyon you want to go left.

The view on the BST never disappoints, but it is exceptionally pretty during fall.

Panoramic.

Nice and flat after the long climb.

Some nice color in the canyon. Hooray!

Bright colored oak leaves.

I hate thin trails on steep slopes, this one isn’t as bad as some, but it did make me a little nervous.

Some nice color.

Little tree tunnel.

Leaf littered hillside.

Lone maple leaf.

Bridge over Parrish Creek.

Particularly pretty tree.

Looking downstream.

The thin trail heading up into the canyon. The city of Centerville used to have a trail sign here, but it has since been removed.

Landslide section.

The first little waterfall.

Little closer.

Looking down canyon there is some amazing color.

The climb up above the waterfall is a little gnarly, but not too bad.

Really getting into the narrow canyon.

It didn’t turn out too great but the creek flowing over solid rock here is neat.

Messy hillside.

More color.

I love the leaves in the creek.

Looking back down the narrow canyon.

Pretty tree.

Pretty little trees.

Looking up canyon.

Tiny waterfall.

Just above the tiny waterfall is a neat panel of pictographs.

Forest service sign. Basically it asks not to touch the rock art, and that it is illegal to. Please don’t be that person that ruins it for everybody else.

Some detail shots.

The whole panel again.

So, I mean, it is no McConkie Ranch but it is still absolutely fascinating and cool to be able to something like this so close by.

Looking down canyon.

We decided to keep going. The already somewhat difficult trail gets even more difficult from here.

Crossing the creek.

Couple of small cascades.

The trail is really thin through here.

Tall tree in a narrow canyon.

Cool natural slide. We had a little trouble getting across here because the other side is super steep. However, we managed.

More pretty color.

We had a little trouble following the trail through here with all the leaves all over the ground.

But there is some great color back here.

What in the world?

Oh, there is the rest of it. Looks like a mountain lion got a deer here. There isn’t any meat left so I am not terribly concerned, but, still keeping my eyes open just in case.

The upper waterfall is a beautiful twin waterfall.

Some more pretty color.

Back to the waterfall.

Little drip under the alcove.

The trail continues up above the upper waterfall, but I am not sure how much further it goes. We decided to turn around here.

Another pretty tree.

Another littered hillside.

Back to the waterfall.

The creek.

Waterfall and creek.

Bright color.

Thin trail along the hillside.

Looking down canyon.

Bright willows.

Lower crossing.

Bright tree.

Back down to the pictographs. I felt like if we had hung around for another half hour or so the sun would have been on them, but we didn’t want to sit around doing nothing.

The little waterfall below the rock art.

Neat little wash. It reminded us of sandstone slot canyons like Jenny’s Canyon in Snow Canyon State Park.

Big wasps nest.

Nice color on the hillside.

Nice color.

Closeup on the leaves.

Looking up.

More leaves.

More color.

Back to the lower waterfall.

Back down to the bridge on the BST.

View from the bridge.

Nice little tree tunnel.

View down canyon.

View down again.

The trail split again. Right gets us back to the TH.

View down.

TH Parking.

Centerville Peak.

The narrow road leading to the parking lot (PSP). There are pull outs on the side, but there is really only room for 1 car on the road. We’ve never had a conflict and needed to use a pull out though.

This trail is a little tougher, and a little sketchier than I normally like but I really enjoy the sights it offers. 2 decent waterfalls, and a bonus small waterfall and the wonderful surprise of pictographs on a trail that isn’t too far from the city. Bonus great fall colors this time of year. It’s also not a popular trail. We only saw people along the BST, none up in the canyon. I will take one squirrel for overall thin and steep trail. Going with 9 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, this trail is thin, and on steep slopes, rocky, and had some sketchy creek crossings. DR4.

Dogs are allowed but must remain on a leash. Please clean up after your furry friend.