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The Rose Creek Trail follows Rose Creek as it winds its way through Herriman. The trail features a creek, some forest, and a nice view of the mountains. As far a city trails go, this one isn’t too bad. A little close to some peoples back yards, but not so bad. I will say though that I think this trail is lacking in directional signs to help keep you on the path. I was able to deduce which fork to take some times, and other times I had to pull up google maps to help me out. Thank goodness for modern technology that we all have GPS maps in out pockets!
After our adventure up Yellow Fork Canyon last week I noticed this pond and trail system again, so I thought we would come check it out today. By the way, Yellow Fork Creek joins Rose Creek at that trailhead. Then there is a lot of private farm land that the creek works through so this is as far west as you can follow the creek until the canyon again.
Quick Details:
Length: We did 3.5 miles out and back today, but the trail did continue to the east.
Trail Type: Out and back, connector.
Difficulty: DR2.5 It is fairly flat and mostly paved. But there was a short unpaved spot near the beginning.
Elevation Gain: We did about 220 feet today.
Restroom: Yes, it was even open today! Not sure if it is open year round, or if its due to the warm/dry winter. However I have noticed government tends to have a hard start and end date for seasonal things.
Dogs? Yes, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.
Other Info:
To Get Here:
Take Bangerter Highway to 13400 S. Go west about 3 miles and turn left on 6400 W,/Rose Canyon Rd. .6 miles later turn right to stay on Rose Canyon Rd. Go about 7/10ths of a mile to The Cove at Herriman Springs which will be on the left.
The trail will be at the southwest corner of the parking lot.
To avoid the non paved section: Go around Cove Pond to the west, then pick up the trail off of Butterfield Park Way using sidewalks. We found No Parking signs along Spring Canyon Dr. but we did not drive down Butterfield Park Way. So maybe you can park on the street there at the (current) far west side of the trail
Ruh roh! Those are some ominous looking clouds (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)). We ended up getting a little sprinkled on, but not enough to be a concern at all.
Kennecott Copper Mine (PSP).
The skies look nice over Rose and Yellow Fork Canyon’s (PSP).
Area rules.
The Trail:
It starts paved, and right off the bat you have a split. Right will lead towards the pond. Left leads to the trail.
Then, for no reason at all it is unpaved for a minute.
It is pretty hard packed, and only about 250 feet to the bridge, and the start of the paved trail. But there is a small hill to go down. So, again, maybe not quite ADA accessible.
Rose Creek.
The first of 3 bridges. So general rule of thumb on this trail, always take the fork that crosses the bridge.
Upstream.
Downstream.
I’m not sure if this is part of the springs, or if it is just storm drainage heading down to the creek.
Heading down. The trail is against some backyards through here.
The little creek below. It is quite little, but you can still hear it gurgling and bubbling for most of the way.
Oaks with a little structure of some sort in there.
Trail split. Right appears to be a neighborhood connector, so left over the bridge we go.
Crossing the bridge.
Upstream.
Downstream.
The creek again.
Mountains to the east.
Mountains to the west. Oh Boy, that storm appears to be moving in on us pretty fast.
Mountains to the east again.
Moody clouds.
Twin Peaks, Lone Peak, Box Elder Peak, and the south tip of Mount Timpanogos.
Here is one of the spots I had to pull my phone out and look at the map to figure out which way to go. Left appears to be the neighborhood connector, and right the trail. As I mentioned before, always cross the bridge.
The bridge. There is a little pocket park on the other side which is not named.
Downstream.
Upstream. You know this always has me curious about which names stick when 2 creeks combine. Yellow Fork Creek seems like the larger of the 2, but Rose Creek is what got the name downstream after they combine. I am sure there are many reasons why that may happen. I suspect often, and possibly here the creek is named by someone, then it was found further up probably by someone else and given the same name. Again, that all just a theory I have no idea.
Some deer trails on the other side. There are a LOT of deer in this part of Herriman so I am not surprised to see their trails.
A little close to some backyards again.
More moody clouds.
Downstream.
First road crossing at 6400 West. There is a flashing light signal you can activate to alert cars that you are crossing here. Its not a very busy road either.
The creek.
Mountains and moody clouds.
Passing by some sort of city owned property where they are currently storing their snow plow fleet. All of which have some fun whimsical names. Here are Snow Diggity and Han Snowlo. There was also Snow Force One and a couple other fun names. I love when the government decides to allow a little bit of whimsy.
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Random pile of old cars. They all appear to be possibly the same model? Like, one full one, and 4 just cabin pieces. Weird.
Again.
Downstream.
Here the asphalt trail connects to a concrete trail next to W & M Butterfield Park. It also starts to stray away from the creek for a minute.
I am enjoying the moody clouds today. Here we did start getting sprinkled on a bit and considered turning back, but it stopped eventually so we kept going.
Old farm equipment.
Back to asphalt.
Old farm buildings.
More moody clouds.
Pony on a small farm.
This part of the trail is a little haggard looking.
More fun clouds.
Then, at Mirabella Drive the trail appears to just stop. I thought it might connect again a little to the north where the creek was, so I pulled out my phone to confirm that, and was correct woo.
Again, you know, a sign would actually be quite helpful here, Herriman.
If needing ADA access, it would be best to cross here.
You have to walk about ~560 feet down the sidewalk along Mirabella Drive, to just north of Emmeline Drive.
Here you will find a cutout out through the park strip like you would a regular crossing, but there is no crossing markings at this time. Luckily, Mirabella Drive is not very busy.
Then the trail picks up again. Closer to the creek again.
The creek emerging from under Mirabella Drive.
The creek and the trail.
More fun clouds.
Continuing down. Somewhere around here my pedometer app pinged 1.5 miles. I pulled out the map again and determined the next big crossing was not much further, so we decided to continue out to that.
More fun clouds.
Continuing down.
I love that each city has their own fun design on their benches. I learned of this passing through a lot of them along the Jordan River Parkway.
The next street crossing was at Friendship Drive. I noticed Autumn Dusk Park just before here and thought that might be a good option to park and continue the trail on another day, but now that I am looking closer, there does not appear to be a parking lot. So, I guess next time we will park along the road here, or if we have to then just on the other side of the road is Rosecrest Park.
I am not 100% sure how much further down the trail goes, but it looks like it continues down to at the very least Mountain View Corridor. So, I am willing to come back and check out the next section, even if it looks like it might just end at some point.
Heading back up.
Moody clouds.
The creek.
Back to the crossing over Mirabella Drive again. See, no crossing, but there is a cut out like there should be one. Well, on one side anyway haha.
~560 feet south later, the trail resumes to the west.
Short haggard section.
Well, I thought we might see some deer along the trail today.
Hello cuties!
Woo, lots of them.
I can make out one buck. He sure has quite the harem.
They couldn’t decide if they wanted to stare at us, or run away.
Back to the pile of old cars.
The gully.
Some more deer friends.
Back to the city property. Building full of salt.
They kept running away in the same direction that we were walking.
Eventually they figured that out and stopped to let us pass haha. I tried not to linger too long so they knew we weren’t chasing them.
The creek below.
The storms are kicking up a bunch of dust. So much it almost looks foggy.
The little gully.
Crossing at 6400 West.
The gully.
Deer trails.
The lower bridge.
Upstream.
Downstream.
Continuing up.
Middle bridge.
Downstream.
Continuing up.
The upper bridge.
Back to The Cove at Herriman Springs.
The pond at The Cove. We planned on seeing it on the way back, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be so dark. However, on the plus side its less crowded now.
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Panoramic.
Well, as far as city trails go it’s not too bad. The creek, which is very small, still makes a nice gurgling noise for most of the way. The mountain views are nice, and it’s not busy at all. We only passed a few people. My only big complaint was the lack of signage to help keep you on the trail. 7 out of 10 squirrels.
As for difficulty, it is mostly paved, with a short ~250 feet of hard earth with a short hill, however that can be avoided as well. so, DR2.5
Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.
