Little Valley Loop from Potato Hill TH

 Little Valley is a well, little valley located in Draper. It features a bunch of trails around it, including multi-use and bike only options. I had planned on doing a longer outer loop today but, had to change our plans and we did the shorter loop today. I found the signage to be pretty accurate to keep us on the trails we wanted to be on, however we did miss one turn off that might have been missing it’s sign.

Quick Details:

Length: It is about a 1.34 mile balloon from the Potato Hill TH. You can do a shorter loop from the Little Valley TH, however that appears to be closed at the moment. We did a little bit extra today.
Trail Type: Balloon, loop option.
Difficulty: DR3. There is some climb, but it’s not too bad.
Elevation Gain: About 150 feet.
Restroom: The pit toilets are closed for the season, but they had put in some port o potty's.
Dogs? Eh.. I am seeing conflicting answers on 2 of the official Draper websites, but ultimately I think they are allowed, leashed. Confirmed via TH sign.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

From I15 Take exit 288, or 14600 S in Draper. Go left. Go almost a mile and turn right on Traverse Ridge Dr. About 2 miles later turn left into the small parking lot.

Follow signs for Ann’s Trail, to the east.

The Trail:

Trail conditions: Extremely muddy. Remember if mud is sticking to your shoes, you are causing damage. We did experience a couple muddy spots, but not sticking to our shoes muddy.

You will want to hang a right here towards Potato Hill. Left will take you down the Red Potato Trail which you can make a loop around Potato Hill by joining 2 additional trails. It is also my preferred way to do it.

Potato Hill. You want to go right here. I however decided I wanted to try to the new trail up to the summit which is left here.

Sign for the summit.

The valley below.

Panoramic.

Well, I really wanted to check out the new Summit Trail but the wind was blowing hard enough that it was kind of pushing me around. So, I decided maybe I would try it another day. I have done the old trail before. It freaked me out a little, but I did do it. Anyway, we decided to head the other direction towards Ann’s Trail.

Heading east.

Looking back towards the back side of Potato Hill.

Crow.

We’re heading for the tunnel beneath Traverse Ridge Rd.

Left here will take you down the Potato Hill Trail which will allow you to do a loop around Potato Hill. Or connect can take you to Corner Canyon.

We have reached Ann’s Trail, we want to head right and go through the tunnel. Some of the signs for Ann’s Trail are missing the apostrophe.

The tunnel under Traverse Ridge Dr.

Inside.

On the other side we get a view of Little Valley.

Thank you Salt Lake County!

Deer tracks. I didn’t notice any in the tunnel, but this further cements in my mind that they do use it. We noticed a group getting close to using it last time we were here.

I’m not 100% certain, but I think this is just a run-off pond.

Also, you can just make out in this picture that they have blocked off access to the Little Valley TH parking. I have not been able to figure out why. However there were no signs on this end saying the area is closed. so.. I donno. Our best guess is because it is not paved?

Ann’s Trail going across the mountains.

Little Valley.

Traverse Ridge Rd. above.

Trail split. If you want to do the shorter loop, head right. We attempted the longer loop and went left staying on Ann’s Trail. Spoiler, we turned back before long.

Going across a grassy meadow.

Little muddy section.

Then, snow.

Little bridge.

Over a little stream. I am not sure if this is a full time stream, or if it is just a run off stream.

Snowy forest.

Well, Ann’s Trail started to go along a steeper hillside, not too bad, but with the snow it was slick and I just couldn’t continue. So we turned back, with the intention to see how far we could get along the loop from the other end. I definitely want to try it again though with dryer conditions. The original balloon I wanted to do looks like it is about 1.95 miles.

Heading back the other way.

The little stream.

The Kennecott Mine on the other side of the valley.

Back across the grass.

Back to the trail split. Okay, right will take us back to Potato Hill, so we went left to do the shorter loop.

Into the scrub oak.

More.

It’s a little spooky looking.

More scrub oak.

Looking up.

More snow.

Little picnic area.

Trail kiosk. According to this, A Line Trail and B Line Trail are bike only. So that leaves us with D Line Trail, C Line Trail, and Return/Main Trail which are all multi-use. We decided that we would go down D Line Trail, and come back up using C Line Trail.

B Line and Main Line Trails.

The Little Valley Loop Trail to the left, and the A Line Trail to the right. We stayed left.

More snow.

Potato Hill across the way.

Maple seeds. These look a little different than the ones we have in our neighborhood.

More snow and forest.

Before long we hit the turn off for the D Line Trail. We could have stayed on the Little Valley Loop Trail, but that would have brought us back up to Ann’s Trail. I think I will try that again a little later in the year. So for now, down the D Line we go.

The trails here are instructional mountain biking trails, so there are signs with helpful tips along the way. Also, this sign confirmed that we were correct in our interpretation of the sign that this is a multi-use trail and us as hikers were allowed to be on it.

Draper has done an amazing job in their trail systems catering to hikers and bikers alike and being mindful of signage and safety. Other cities should take note.

More forest.

Looking up again.

More instructional signs.

More forest.

Kind of creepy.

The trail is covered with leaves which makes it a little difficult to ensure we are staying on it, but ultimately we found our way.

More forest.

Again.

More snow.

Another instructional sign.

Then the trail opens up a bit.

Lots of deer tracks.

The hills above.

Potato Hill across the way again.

Before long we have reached the Little Valley Trailhead. There is another little picnic area here.

Nice little marker thanking the people who made these trails a thing.

The dirt parking lot.

Trailhead kiosk, which pretty much matches the one at the other end. Oh, and here we can confirms dogs are allowed, leashed. I guess the one Draper website is mistaken. Or, I assume it defaults to the bike only trails, where they are not allowed.

Main Trail to the right, C Line Trail to the left. We didn’t realize at the time that we could have used the Main Trail so we used the C Line Trail. No worries though it offers more time on the mountain.

Courtesy rules.

Oi. More snow.

Protect the land. Again, if the mud is sticking to you, you are damaging the trail. As I said, we did encounter a couple of muddy spots, but not muddy enough that it was sticking to us.

Back in the scrub oaks.

The tunnel under Traverse Ridge Dr. It is right there! However the trail will take us south of it for a minute.

Another little stream.

Little bridge.

The little pond again.

Another little bridge.

Back into the scrub oak.

Lots of deer tracks.

Another little creek. I am pretty sure the trail we meant to take back up was around here somewhere, but either we missed the sign or there isn’t one, or well, I guess it is just missing is another option. No worries, it wasn't too much of a shortcut.

More forest.

More deer tracks.

More forest. This trail is probably great in spring!

Well, we have reached the top of the bike tracks again.

Now we just need to go back along the Little Valley Loop Trail up to Ann's Trail.

More forest.

Itty bitty little flower coming up. I have no idea what it could be.

More forest.

Before long we reached the Ann's Trail connection. We want to hang a left here to get back to the Potato Hill Trailhead.

Looking back at Little Valley.

Panoramic.

The little pond again.

The tunnel under Traverse Ridge Rd.

Inside.

Another trail split. Right goes down the Potato Hill Trail. forward will get us back to the trailhead.

The back side of Potato Hill.

Back to the trailhead. Forward or left will get you back to the parking lot.

Last ones on the trail today.

Potato Hill again.

Deer legs. Yuck. I'm guessing likely a mountain lion kill.

Potato Hill Trail Head Sign (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Valley below (PSP). You can see The Claw From here.

The Claw (PSP). From the freeway.

We ended the day by stopping by the Cotton Bottom (PSP).  Because I was craving it. I have tried a lot of garlic burgers across the valley, but no one has even come close to the amazing garlic burger at the Cotton Bottom. I don’t know what their secret is, but whatever it is, no one else seems to even come close. Although, the burger is like 4 burgers and it takes me a couple of days to get through it. Landis decided to try their ham sandwich and was delighted to find it was like the ham sandwich he used to get at Arctic Circle, before they discontinued it. So it was a win win. Good beer, good food. I am so happy that Bar X was able to save the place.

All in all, I was not a huge fan of the trail that we did today, but it was nice to get up into the foothills. It was not very busy today, in fact we did not see a single soul once we hit Little Valley. But meh. Not my favorite trail. I might need to return in a month or so to see it as it greens up, and maybe explore more of Ann’s Trail. But what we did I am going to mark as 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it was a pretty gentle climb. DR3.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. However be sure to avoid the A Line and B Line with them. Please clean up after your furry friends.