Rose Creek: Rosecrest Park to Mountain View Corridor

 Rose Creek is a smaller creek on the far south west side of the valley that comes out of Rose Canyon. This section of the trail follows the creek through a corridor between neighborhoods with a couple of parks as well. Starting in Herriman and ending in Riverton, it features the creek, and mountain views. We picked up where we left off last time, and continued following the creek downstream, generally eastwards. We were again wanting something on the easier side. Plus, I am still working on following our creeks as much as I can, so this was a good choice.

Quick Details:

Length: We did about 3.48 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back, connector.
Difficulty: It is completely paved, and mostly flat, with a couple hilly spots. DR2.
Elevation Gain: About 160 feet, on the way back.
Restroom: Both parks have them, but they are closed for winter.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take Bangerter Highway to 13400 South and head west for about 2 miles. Turn left on 5600 West Rosecrest Road. Go about 6/10ths of a mile and turn right into the parks parking lot..

If you want to go to where we did keep going for just a little further past the park and turn right on Bonica Ln. Then right again on Friendship Drive and park at the west end of the park on the road.

Kennecott Copper Mine (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Trail:

We parked on Friendship Drive on the west end of Rosecrest Park since this is where we left off last time.

Looking west, towards where we left of last time.

Heading into Rosecrest Park.

Again.

There are a couple covered picnic tables in this park. Nice.

The creek and Rosecrest park.

The park.

Rose Creek.

Continuing along.

Crossing Rosecrest Road. It is a little busier, but there is a flasher you can activate.

Immediately afterwards you will cross Copper Peak Circle. Which is much less busy.

The creek again. 

It looks like there is a trail on the other side of it as well. I started to think maybe I could make a loop of this section but, it comes to an end shortly. Poop. Well, at least we didn’t try to go down that side first.

The creek has worked itself down into a pretty deep bed through here.

This is probably the most narrow part of this section between neighborhoods.

Flood basin that the local kids have turned into a little dirt bike bowl. Hah! That is good to see because you don’t see it very often anymore. When I was a kid we had huge lots that we made dirt bike tracks in. I am pretty sure they don't exist anymore.

There is an overflow that goes across the trail into the creek.

Then the corridor opens up quite a bit!

Continuing along.

The creek.

The desert weeds are encroaching onto the trail.

Random barn.

Looking behind us towards Rose Canyon. Oh boy, I sure hope we don’t get rained on.

Some greedy homeowner that took a good chunk of the mountainside.

Fun clouds.

It would seem we have crossed into Riverton. I love how all of the cities have their own creative take on their public benches.

Continuing along.

Gloomy clouds.

Goats!

Fun tree.

Horses.

I thought we would need to go right here, but looking around a little more I see we should cross the bridge, then go right. This first right is another neighborhood connector. There are actually a lot of neighborhood connectors to this trail. Luckily, the main trail is pretty easy to follow for the most part. Definitely better than the previous section.

The bridge.

Upstream.

Downstream.

Gloomy clouds.

This part is landscaped like a neighborhood.

Mountains.

The gloomy clouds again.

Neat stone structure. I am not sure if it really counts as a bridge, it's more of a culvert with the brick structure around it.

Crossing Morning Cloak Way. Not a very busy road either.

Another bridge.

Upstream.

Downstream.

Moody clouds.

More manicured trail.

Well… this is a weird angle of Steep Mountain, Point of the Mountain, and Mount Timpanogos that I am absolutely not used to. It looks super weird from here.

And Corner Canyon. Super weird from here.

Moody clouds again.

The creek.

Mountains and clouds.

Panoramic.

Another fancy culvert.

Mount Timpanogos has a cloud friend.

Panoramic.

Weird sidewalk split. Since we were following the creek, I thought we should take the left fork to stay next to it. And well, that did work…ish. However, if you want a dedicated crosswalk and paved trail, head right. It only veers away for a quick second.

Looking back after we crossed Monarch Meadows Parkway. It is 2 lanes both ways with a median, but it wasn’t too bad of a crossing for that size of a road.

The creek again. I took a minute to consult my phone to figure out where we are supposed to be and I figured we were not far off course. Just a little bit more west and we should hit the trail again.

Little bit more sidewalk along the parking lot for Monarch Meadows Park.

Here I see what we were supposed to do, just a smidge to the south there is a crosswalk. Meh, now we know.

A little bit of grass before hitting the paved trail again.

A large field in Monarch Meadows Park.

Mountains.

Clouds.

Steep Mountain and Mount Timpanogos again. It still looks super weird from here.

Bridge.

About here we hit 1.5 miles. Generally when we have no specific destination and are just following a creek or whatnot, my goal is about 3 miles out and back. However, I peeked at the map and could see we were pretty close to Mountain View Corridor, which I was pretty sure was a dead end, but wanted to see for myself. So, we pushed on for just a little bit. I would feel pretty dumb if we turned back here only to come back and only be able to do that little bit.

The bridge again.

Downstream.

Upstream.

Corner Canyon again.

More overgrown trail.

Cell tower.

Water tank.

End of the line. Well, almost, this appears to be a utility access road, we were able to follow it just a little bit more.

Then we hit Mountain View Corridor. The divided 2 lane each way highway is not something that I am going to attempt to Frogger across. Honestly, I am a little surprised it is just open like this, right next to neighborhoods and even a park, but I guess it is a utility access road and all.  It does look like we can pick up the trail on the other side, but again, not going to attempt to cross here. I am just spit-balling here, but it would appear the city has left the option of putting a bridge in here.

Also, upon reviewing the map again, it looks like the Mountain View Corridor Trail is on both sides of the road as well. So, I guess this is also a connector to the west side of that (which might explain why it is open). I kind of want to explore that trail a bit, but it seems to be right next to the highway the entire way, so I am not sure how much we would enjoy it. Meh, time will tell I suppose. But honestly, I do not currently have a shortage of paved city trails to explore.

Panoramic.

Alright, heading back. This ended up being about 1.67 miles.

Looking upstream.

The water tower and the old access road.

The utility room for the cell tower.

Overgrown trail.

Rose and Yellow Fork Canyons.

Back to the lower bridge.

View upstream.

We decided to head towards the restrooms and just b-lined it across the field. I figured it wouldn’t take us too much off course. Unfortunately we found that they were closed for winter. So, a slightly uncomfortable hike back to the car so we could find a gas station. Not unexpected for this time of year, just a little disappointing.

Mount Jordan.

Fun clouds to the west.

Climbing out of the park.

Crossing over Monarch Meadows Parkway, where we should have on the way down.

Back to the main Rose Creek Trail.

Fun clouds.

Continuing along.

More fun clouds.

Starting to get some sunset.

Middle bridge.

Cute rainbow lights.

Crossing Morning Cloak Way.

Sunset.

Continuing along.

More sunset.

The creek.

Sunset.

I love when the sunset is so good it lights up the other side of the sky as well. Just another reminder to look behind you once in a while.

Closer.

Back to the west.

The upper bridge.

Sunset.

Passing by the farms again.

The big barn again.

The creek, and the last of the sunset.

Rose Canyon.

Dirt bike trails.

Crossing back into Herriman.

Continuing along.

Gloomy clouds.

More towards the east.

The flood basin again, with the dirt bike trails.

The creek.

Wow! Look at these decorations!

It’s almost as impressive as the Tree of Light.

Crossing Copper Peak Circle.

The pretty lights again. They either have wayyyy more patience than I do, or hired a professional.

Cute snowflakes along the fence.

The final street crossing at Rosecrest Road. As I mentioned earlier, there is a flasher you can activate to alert drivers you are there. But, beware, quite a few Herriman drivers don’t give a crap and plowed through right in front of us. So, you know, don’t cross until you confirm they stop for you.

Down into Rosecrest Park.

The big field.

The creek.

Upstream to the west.

Downstream to the east.

Cloud scraping the top of Mount Jordan.

Clouds.

Nearing Friendship Drive where we parked today.

The trail does keep going to the west, but we have already done that segment. So, off to find something for supper.

The other side of that decorated to the nines house (PSP).

The fun Herriman light pole decorations (PSP). I love how each city has their own spin on these.

That was fun! We needed another easy trail today, and that absolutely fit the bill. Plus, I crossed another section of the creek off. We didn’t see too many people either, which was nice. Aside from that final street crossing, the trail was pretty strait forward and easy to follow, even with all of the neighborhood connectors. Lastly, I enjoyed the wider corridor between the neighborhoods so it didn’t feel so intrusive. 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is completely paved, and mostly flat, with a couple slight little hills. DR2.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.