Silver Fork

 Silver Fork is an exceptionally beautiful side canyon near the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Tre trail features beautiful mixed forests, wildflowers, a creek with a few pretty waterfalls and a mine. This is another one of our regular trails that we tend to do at least once a year.

We both took the day off to have a nice 4 day weekend, so we thought we would get one last trip up Big Cottonwood before the 2 constructions projects in the canyon start on Monday.

Quick Details:

Length: It is about 1.15 miles to the mine from the upper trailhead. We explored a little further and did 2.77 miles out and back, and the trail kept going.
Trail Type: Out and back.
Difficulty: DR3. It is a pretty gradual climb.
Elevation Gain: We did about 660 feet.
Restroom: No. The closest one is at the Solitude Moonbeam Lodge.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Drive approximately 12.2 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon and turn right into the Solitude Moonbeam Entry. Head to the far west end (down canyon) of the parking lot. Continue up Church Road for about a mile to the upper trailhead. Just be aware it is a thin 1 lane road on a really steep slope.

If you are squeamish and don’t want to do Church rd, by car (like I usually am) just park at the west end of the Solitude lot, and follow the trail west. This will add about 3/4 of a mile each way.

Heading into Big Cottonwood Canyon (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Mill D (PSP).

The beginning of Church Rd is dirt (PSP).

However, before long it is paved (PSP).

Very narrow road (PSP). However it is pretty.

Meep (PSP).

The last section of the road is not paved either (PSP).

There is a very small parking lot at the end that looks like it would fit about 4 cars or so. I got a picture on the return trip.

The Trail:

Geraniums.

Pretty mountain.

Forget me nots.

The beginning of the trail. The no cars sign has been knocked over, but yeah. You probably don’t want to drive beyond the parking area anyway.

More geraniums. The wildflowers are definitely popping on this trail right now!

Pretty forest.

Aspens.

Columbines.

A white geranium.

Another columbine with a slight hint of blue.

Some peas of some sort.

Just a smidge past a 10th of a mile we reached the original trailhead. I wonder how long ago it moved back.

With the trailhead kiosk. It says it is 3 miles to the west bowl, but we have never made it quite that far, and didn’t today either. Maybe one day.

Another columbine.

Pretty forest.

Pretty yellow flowers.

More columbines.

The creek crosses over the trail here. It was a pretty easy crossing.

A pair of little waterfalls.

More forest.

Bluebells.

A bunch of columbines.

Little closer.

More peas.

More forest.

Geranium.

Paintbrush.

A little patch of them.

Oh man, the random old outhouse has been damaged. We couldn’t tell for sure if it was vandals or nature.

So aside from the fact that I am pretty sure this outhouse is no longer serviced… it uh, wouldn’t provide you any privacy anyway.

White geranium.

More forest.

Another columbine. They are just all over the place up here!

Okay, this seems awfully early to start changing.

Pretty purple flowers.

Pretty penstemon.

The creek.

With the first big clearing.

More geraniums.

Paintbrush.

Pretty white flower. I am pretty sure it is a Jacob's ladder.

Penstemon.

Paintbrush.

Western cone flower.

Penstemon and geraniums.

The trail.

Paintbrush.

Skyrocket.

Again.

A geranium leaf starting to change.

Some kind of mint.

Starting to be able to see some peaks.

A waterfall below. I don’t really see anyway to get a better view of it.

Continuing along.

The creek.

I am not sure where that trail leads.

The creek fanned out into 3 separate streams here.

More forest.

Hitting some aspens.

Geraniums.

A white one.

More aspens.

More geraniums.

Yellow flowers.

Jacob's ladder

More forest.

Cow parsnip.

Paintbrush.

Geranium with an interesting beetle. This is more like it! Today has been strange in that I saw so many geraniums without a random beetle. I swear like 9 out of 10 geraniums have a beetle in them!

Columbines.

Yellow flower.

I believe these are the Honeycomb Cliffs.

Trail split. We always take the wider 2 track trail to the left, which will take us to the mine.

Paintbrush.

Up to the second big clearing. This means you are close.

A geranium with a different beetle.

View up canyon.

Geraniums and paintbrush.

Panoramic of the second clearing.

The trail turns to beach like sand through here.

More paintbrush.

Pretty yellow flower.

The creek.

Geranium with another random beetle.

Paintbrush.

Penstemon.

Red, white, and blue. Perfect for the holiday weekend.

Some pale skyrocket.

A normal one.

The third big clearing. This means you are really close.

The ridge above.

Pretty white flowers.

Tons of penstemon!

View back down canyon.

The mine.

It has been closed off.

A view inside through the crack in the door.

Looking out.

We found a small patch of snow!

The mine again.

The view down.

I remembered that one time we explored a little further up there was a spot that might have a nice waterfall, so we decided to continue up a little further.

We just have to work our way down and across the creek, then back up. Weee.

Then we have to navigate the stream crossing.

Pipes releasing water back into the creek.

Lots of penstemon.

Colorful mix.

View down again.

Mine tailings.

Pretty yellow flower.

The trail gets a little more rough through here.

Mountain side.

I am not sure if this is a glacier carved canyon, but those do look like glacier scrapes.

Different colored geraniums.

More climbing.

Larkspur.

Peas of some sort.

Penstemon.

Paintbrush.

Peaks above.

Skyrocket.

Paintbrush.

Waterfall in the deep gorge below.

Deep and rocky!

The gorge continuing up.

We could just make out a waterfall so we decided to follow the gorge up to it, which is a short detour from the main trail.

Little better view.

With the creek.

Again.

Closer.

Again.

View down.

Back to the waterfall.

Quick video.

With the granite walls.

View down again.

Back to the waterfall.

Little closer.

Again.

Heading back down.

The creek.

One final look back at the waterfall.

The creek heading into the lower gorge.

We decided that the waterfall was a good final destination so we decided to head on back. But, the trail does keep going.

View down.

The gorge again.

Skyrocket.

The gorge again.

More skyrocket of various shades.

Some yellow flowers.

I found a little overlook that offered a pretty good view of the gorge and the waterfalls in it.

Closer.

Even closer.

The gorge.

Continuing down.

Geranium.

Columbine.

Back down to the mine tailings.

Yellow flowers.

I thought about trying to head up the gorge from here, however it doesn’t look very traversable.

View down.

The mine again.

Inside.

There is a bird nesting in here!

View down again.

Lots of penstemon.

Paintbrush.

Continuing down.

Columbine.

They look like weird aliens before they bloom.

Mountainside.

Some light purple penstemon.

Paintbrush.

Down to the middle clearing.

Geranium with a beetle.

Honeycomb Cliffs.

More geraniums.

Into the woods!

More aspens.

First lupine of the year.

Looks like there might have been an avalanche here.

Geranium with a beetle.

I think these might be immature hollyhocks.

Another geranium.

Down to the lower waterfall.

Big patch of skyrockets.

More geraniums.

Forest.

Cute little yellow flowers.

Paintbrush.

Another paintbrush.

More forest.

Down to the lower clearing.

Columbine with a faint tinge of blue.

Towering aspens.

Looking up.

Back down to the old outhouse.

The recent damage lets you see the old toilet.

More forest.

Big patch of columbines.

More forest.

Down to the creek crossing.

More columbines.

More peas of some sort.

Back down to the gate.

More forest.

For some reason I was suddenly getting Oregon vibes.

Columbine.

Looking up again.

Forest.

Giant dead ones.

Back down to the small parking lot.

Forest and the ridge.

Heading back down the dirt road (PSP).

The fancy new homes appear to have been completed (PSP).

Continuing down the very, very thin Church Rd (PSP).

Super thin! Meep (PSP).

But it is super pretty (PSP).

The last little bit is back to unpaved but it’s not too bad (PSP).

Back to the Solitude Moonbeam Lodge (PSP). We both needed to use the restroom, and luckily the restrooms on the east side were still open. Otherwise we would have driven up to Brighton.

Heading back down the canyon (PSP).

Nearing the mouth of the canyon (PSP).

Hazy valley (PSP).

That ended up being a super fun bonus hike in the mountains! I could not believe all of the wildflowers, and the waterfalls were fun as well. We only ran into one other person today so that was nice as well to just have some quiet serenity in the woods. I want to give it a perfect 10, but I am going to take one for the sketchy thin road up. so, 9 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it was a mostly gentle climb so DR3.

Dogs are not allowed due to watershed restrictions. So be sure to leave Fido home.