Random Rambler: Old Little Cottonwood Road

The Old Little Cottonwood Road Trail is a nice easy trail just outside the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. It features great views of the canyon and valley. Honestly, I have no idea if it is the old road into the canyon, or just an old utility road. But hey, it is a nice easy trail to enjoy our mountains.

Our old asses decided we should try ice-skating for the first time in over 20 years yesterday, and are paying for it now. So I really just wanted something easy today.

Quick Details:

Length: About 2 miles out and back, with a short side trail.
Trail Type: Out and back, connector.
Difficulty: DR3. It was a very gentle climb.
Elevation Gain: About 140 feet.
Restroom: No. Closest one I can think of is the Park and Ride lot at the mouth of the canyon.
Dogs? Not sure, due to no sign. But, it is outside of the canyon, so probably fine.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i215 to exit 6 for Wasatch Boulevard/6200 South follow signs for Wasatch heading east. Follow Wasatch east, and then as it curves south. Past Big Cottonwood Canyon. Wasatch will split off, and the road you are on will become N. Little Cottonwood Road. After that point go about 7/10ths of a mile. There is a small pullout on the left/east side of the road.

The Trail:

The small dirt parking lot. It was a little more crowded than I anticipated today.

Short thin trail up to the old dirt road. The thin trail continues up as the Plinko Trail.. I might check that trail out some time, but I don’t think I will like it so, it is not particularly high on the priority list.

Onto the old road.

I really enjoy the view into the canyon!

View uphill.

Birds on the wire.

There is definitely a lot more snow on the north facing slopes than on the south facing one we are on.

Lots of granite boulders.

I am enjoying the alternate perspective of Mount Jordan.

Coming around a bend.

The view up again.

Into the canyon.

View up again.

Back to the canyon.

North Little Cottonwood Road below. It is a bit of a drop off here, but for whatever reason it did not trigger my fear of heights, so that was nice. I guess because it's not super high up.

The canyon again.

With the road into it.

I really like this trail, aside from the noise of the road below. It might have been worse today with all the ski traffic coming down.

Looking back at the valley.

The trail follows the power lines, which is one of the reasons I think it might be an old utility road.

The ridge on the other side.

Panoramic.

This looks like an old pipe support. So, another thought of it being an old utility road.

Continuing along.

Little bit of snow to contend with.

Uphill again.

Large boulders.

The canyon.

The road below.

The best part about double track trails, or what I tend to call old jeep roads, is that if one side sucks, you can just switch to the other side. Today was one of those days where we switched back and forth between sides.

Fun striped rock.

Manhole. Now this makes me wonder if the area was slated for development. Or, it might just be access to the line coming down from what has already been developed?

Continuing along.

Another power line pole.

Weird bush of some sort.

I am actually enjoying this trail a bit more than I expected. Even with the ski traffic noise.

Some trees that have not completely dropped their leaves yet.

The canyon.

Another neat boulder.

The road below again.

The canyon.

Little trail split. We continued following the old road to the right.

It looks like the main trail might be coming to an end… o.0

Yep, that is definitely the end, unless we want to walk along the actual road, which we absolutely do not want to do. But, if you want, it is about 1000 feet or so to the Little Cottonwood Park and Ride lot.

The cliffs on the other side.

Back maybe 150 feet or so is that trail split again. I decided to check out the other (left) side.

Fun tree tunnel.

The forest is a little more thick through here.

Fun ivy.

Hitting more snow.

Random side trail.

More forest.

We can just make out the road through the trees.

I knew eventually we would hit private property, so this isn’t a big surprise. No need to scramble under the fallen trees to get to the property line, I see the sign, this is close enough.

Surprisingly, there appears to be only one property between here and the Alpenbock Loop/Park and Ride lot.

Returning the way we came.

I decided to check out this side trail too, because, why not.

This trail heads uphill. I wasn’t particularly wanting a climb today, but meh.. we’ll go a little ways and see where it takes us.

Scrub oaks that are still holding on to their leaves. There is a term for that: Marcescence.

Continuing up.

Large boulder.

Cliffs above.

Gnarly tree.

Little clearing.

Cliffs on the other side.

Panoramic.

Continuing along.

Up canyon.

Short part that the scrub oaks are really thick.

Last push.

Cliffs above.

Panoramic.

Up canyon.

Panoramic.

Down canyon.

Itty bitty hollow.

Scree field. I am pretty sure the trail probably continues across it and possibly connects to the Alpenbock Loop, but I don’t know for sure, cause I didn’t feel like scrambling over the scree today. Maybe we’ll come back some time. If I figured out where we were on google maps correctly, it looks like it is only an additional 250 feet or so (as the crow flies).

View down canyon.

Cliffs above.

Up canyon.

More gnarly trees.

Down canyon again.

View across the valley. We can see the Kennecott Open Pit Mine across the way.

Heading back down.

Cliffs on the other side. I was keeping my eyes open for mountain goats, but did not see any today. This weird warm and dry winter probably didn’t create the conditions that cause them to come down this far. But, I didn’t bring the binoculars so I don’t know for sure.

The cliffs on this side of the canyon.

Continuing along.

Back to the middle trail.

The road below.

More pipeline supports.

Forest.

More ivy of some sort.

Back to the old road.

More ivy.

Another sewer grate.

Continuing down.

The road below.

Another large boulder.

Following the power line.

Starting to get a bit of sunset.

More trail.

Fun striped rock.

View down again.

The mouth of the canyon.

Continuing down.

Across the valley.

Continuing along.

The valley again.

Kennecott again.

The trail.

Lots of rocks along the way.

Section along a steep slope. Again, it didn’t really bother me today. I suspect the nice wide trail helped.

Big house being built kind of resembles a pyramid at the moment.

With some fields that kind of resemble vineyards. I didn’t think we had any vineyards around here. But, maybe these are part of the La Caille grounds?

Little Cottonwood Creek below.

Around the bend.

Random wire.

The vineyards again. Playing around on google maps, I am like… 95% confidant that these are indeed vineyards. Huh. Who knew? Ope, and here is their website to confirm it. (outside link). I uh,,, kind of want to do a wine and cheese experience now.. but it does feel a little spendy.

Another side trail heading up.

The road below.

Continuing along.

Little bit better sunset.

Zoom.

The trail.

The newer Bell Canyon Preservation Trailhead across the way.

Granite boulder.

One that the trail is slowly uncovering.

One that they attempted to quarry.

Closer view of the drill marks.

Another, of several theories of what this old road is/was is that it might have been the road that they transported quarried granite stones from the Temple Quarry Trail down through here to downtown to build the LD$ temple. But again, just theories. Nothing to back that up at the moment.

More sunset.

Back to the trailhead. Phew! I had one more little adventure in mind that was not too far, here is to hoping we have enough light.

Sunset.

The trailhead again. It looks like the old road continues for just a smidge longer towards a pair of old water tanks. But, meh. On to the next adventure.

I actually enjoyed this trail way more than I thought I would! It was easy, and prettier than I expected. We only ran into 2 other people too. My only gripe is that the you hear the sound of the road for pretty much the entire way, so you know, the escape into nature idea is not so much. However, my back up idea if this was a bust was The Little Cottonwood Trail which is not much better in that regard. Meh… 8 out of 10 squirrels.