Eccles Wildlife Education Center and Nature Trail

The new George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Wildlife Education Center at Farmington Bay located on the Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Reserve is a fun little nature center in Farmington. The new building is great, and replaced a previous temporary Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Center, I always just referred to it as the GSL Nature Center, but I guess we can go with the Eccles Wildlife Education Center, cause the full name is a bit much. Anyway, the new visitor center focuses on the wetlands and the birds who make them home. There are 3 easy trails to do: The Nature Trail (formerly called Farmington Creek), Glovers Pond and The Upland Trail. We have done all of them several times, but this is the first time I have visited the new Education Center. Honestly, that was a surprise. I didn’t expect it to be open today.

Quick Details:

Length: About 1.6 miles
Difficulty: DR2. Flat, boardwalks and like paved.
Elevation Gain: n/a
Restroom: The new education center has flush toilets, and they still have the pit toilets I imagine in case the center is closed.
Dogs? No longer allowed on this trail, I will have to check the other ones out again, they used to be allowed in the winter.

To Get Here:

To get here from the south, take i15 toward Farmington. Take exit 322. Take the first right and follow it around the curve to the frontage rd. Turn right onto Glovers ln. Drive 1.6 miles to 1325 w, and there is the small parking lot on the left before the gate. If the Education Center is open the gate will be as well and you can drive right up to it. If not, you can park here and still hike around by going through the access opening.

The Education Center:

The new building looks similar to the style they used at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve.

The main building is the one to the right. The left buildings appear to be for class presentations and such, and were locked.

Stuffed bald and golden eagle.

A great horned owl and some kestrels.

Other birds you might see here. They also have a bunch of binoculars in front of a huge window overlooking some ponds.

Out back there are some telescopes as well.

Eh, the new center is really nice, but not much to it. I know they do a lot of education programs for kids though so I am probably not the target audience.

The Trail:

TH Sign. If you aren’t up for 1.6 miles, you have a pair of super short options.

Super flat, wide and well groomed trail. They say it is wheelchair and stroller friendly as well.

First little bridge.

First trail-split. The right fork is a short ~1/10th of a mile spur out to a blind overlooking the pond.

Little boardwalk.

Blind.

It’s a little bit of a challenge to take a picture through the netting, but doable.

Lots of ducks, coots, and other waterfowl.

Oh cool. Visits to Hogle Zoo supported the camouflage netting.

Back on the trail, a nice view of the mountains.

Little pond.

The next trail split will take you to another pond overlook. This spur is quite a bit shorter.

The next blind.

It’s easier to get pictures from this one without the netting.

Alone, this trail is about .26 miles. If you do both, it about .49. Plus .26 back (.75 total). Or, you can just keep following the full loop and only add about 3/10ths of a mile with the extra overlooks.

You don’t have to walk out to the blinds to see the pond as the trail goes by it, and even across it eventually.

Bridge across the pond.

View from the bridge.

American coot.

The pond from the other side.

After the bridge the boardwalk continues from quite a ways over the marshland.

Little bit of color down here.

Cattails.

Bridge over Farmington Creek.

Farmington Creek.

More boardwalk.

Pond scum.

End of the boardwalk, back to hard packed dirt.

The mountains again. That looks like Davis Creek.

 

More color.

Fun clouds.

The trail again.

I was just starting to think that I am not having the best luck today. I almost always see at least a hawk out here…

Kind of far away, but hey I saw one.

Another bridge over the outlet.

Looking back at the main pond. You can just see one of the blinds back there.

Little bit more color.

Yay, another hawk! Or maybe the same one as before, either way.

Flying out over Goose Egg Island.

Goose Egg Island again. You can reach that from the nearby Farmington Bay WMA or from the Upland Trail near the Education Center.

The pond again.

A couple hawks in the distance.

Hawks and other birds.

The last bit of the trail follows this canal.

Getting near the Education Center again.

Looking back towards the mountains.

Indian Annie Rock is a little terrifying in with this lighting.

The hawk again.

The Great Blue Heron nesting poles. This can be seen better on the Glovers Pond Trail. Also, from my experience has more activity in winter.

Quick shot of Antelope Island form the Education Center.

The newly renamed Nature Trail is always a fun, easy delight and didn’t let me down with seeing a hawk today. I only ran into 2 other groups, so it’s a nice quiet stroll as well. Not as much bird activity as I would have liked, but not a complete dud either. This is really a great winter trail option with it being flat and easy and the birds seem to be more active. also, there isn’t a lot of shelter from the sun so it’s not a good hot summer day option. ending at 7 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, this is wide, flat, partially boardwalk trail with no elevation. DR2.

Dogs are no longer allowed on this trail, so be sure to leave Fido at home.