Holmes Creek Reservoir

Holmes Creek Reservoir is a pretty reservoir in Layton that is primarily used for fishing and for waterskiing. There is a mess of trails all around the reservoir so it is a little confusing to walk around and there is a lot of growth and fallen trees as well. Between that, and all the leaves on the ground we ended up losing the trail about halfway around. But it was pretty and I am glad we came back to explore it.

Quick Details:

Length: About 1.5 miles
Difficulty: DR4. Steep slopes, debris and overgrowth make this one a little tougher than anticipated. But there are short easy options.
Elevation Gain: Depends what trails you use. We ended up doing about 100 feet.
Restroom: No.
Dogs? Not sure. No signs saying either way, so probably fine.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take HW89 to Gentile St and turn west. Look for one of several dirt pull out on the left side of the road.

The Trail:

Trailhead sign. A walk in permit should be obtained before going in. With modern technology you probably have a phone with access to the internet, but it was kind of a pain so I recommend doing it before you leave. wildlife.utah.gov/walkinaccess

View of the mountains above.

Down the steep path towards the reservoir.

A couple openings in the vegetation offer glimpses of it.

Much better. You can also see Adams Canyon there on the right.

Down to the shore.

Quick panoramic.

Pretty clear water.

Approaching the dam. This dam is actually pretty significant. It is the oldest dam in Utah, and one of the first in the west. Originally built in 1852 it was only 4 feet high. In the 1870’s it was increased to 22 feet, and then by 1929 it was grown to 70 feet high.

The reservoir looks to be about 10-15 lower than full.

The reservoir again.

The dam.

Last remnants of autumn hanging on.

The various water level lines near the dam.

On top of the dam.

The reservoir from the dam.

The other direction.

From the far end of the dam you can see almost the entire thing.

Now we get to walk through some trees.

Couple spots open up to view the reservoir.

Another panoramic.

Some leaves still holding out.

And a couple small pockets of color left as well.

One of the many trail splits. We decided to head right.

The mountains above.

Some color.

After climbing up, now we are going to drop back down into the southern arm.

Here is one of the inlets. In fact this is the North Fork of Holmes Creek which is the creek coming down Adams Canyon. I read he diverted the water so I don’t think this is the natural path.

This stump kind of looks like an octopus.

Big trees.

The reservoir. We are still down in the southern arm.

Back into the trees.

Nearing the northern arm.

Floating dock. I imagine that is for the water skiers.

There is soe wildlife in here. A bunch of geese hanging out in the northern arm.

Either we lost the trail with all the leaves on the ground or it ended. We tried making our way through but started having trouble getting through all the foliage and fallen trees.

Pretty tree.

Well, we probably could have backtracked and found another way around, but we were getting frustrated and decided to head back. We made it just over half way at about a mile. I used google maps to estimate the approximate distance to continue all the way around and rounded it out to about 1.5 miles total. That is, if you can make it around.

It’s a pretty area, and probably better suited to fishing than for a hike. I am glad we explored it, but, losing the trail is frustrating. Kind of similar to what we experienced with nearby Hobbs Reservoir. It was nice and quiet though only ran into a few other people. Still, maybe not worth traveling for. Going with 6 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, like I mentioned, steep slopes, lots of debris, it was tougher than I anticipated so I am going with a DR4.

I am not 100% sure if dogs are allowed, there were no rules against them so I think it’s ok. Use your best judgment.