Crestwood Park

Crestwood Park is a nice community park located in Cottonwood Heights. Aside from the standard fun park amenities, it features a lovely trail in the gully created by Little Cottonwood Creek. As far as in the city trails go, this one is pretty nice and offers great views of the mountains. Avalanche conditions were considerable today so we decided to stay out of the mountains.

Quick Details:

Length: The inner loop is a mile. The extended loop we did, plus the walk to and from the parking lot became 1.5 miles.
Trail Type: Gravel and dirt. Loop.
Difficulty: DR3. Flat, like paved, super easy.
Elevation Gain: About 52 feet (when doing the extended loop).
Restroom: There appear to be flush toilets. Not sure if they are open in winter.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.

To Get Here:

Take i215 to the Union Park exit. Head south on Union Park Ave. Turn Left onto Creek Rd. Turn Left onto Keswick Rd. Take that to the T on Siesta Dr. It is on the other side of it.

The Trail:

The trail starts next to the road on the east side of the park.

Crossing over Little Cottonwood Creek.

I would put money on guessing the area was originally slated for development but was stopped for whatever reason. Basing this on the road continuing out towards the area.

We took this trail out to the west next to the creek. If you want the shorter mile loop, keep heading north until you see the sign.

The community park section looks really nice. Considering the size of the houses in the neighborhood, I guess that is not a surprise.

Looking at the map, I don’t think this is officially part of the trail system, but lots of people seem to use it. Plus it is next to the creek.

Now we are on the loop. Neat old bridge over Little Cottonwood Creek.

Again.

Nice wide gully through here. The houses are high enough that it feels a little more wild than some gully trails.

The creek.

I am happy I glanced at the map before our trip today and knew of the inner and outer loops. Want the shorter loop? Generally hang right. Want the longer loop, generally hang left. That is if you are going clockwise like we are today.

Partially frozen creek.

Last view of Little Cottonwood Creek as it veers left and we veer right.

Another one those random log structures. I’ve seen these randomly over the years, but I swear this year there has been an uptick. 2020 man.

As the trail looped back to the east we got a lovely view of the mountains.

More of them.

Not the most exciting trail, but at least we are still getting some exercise. I kind of wish we had brought the dogs with us today. This would have been a good one for them.

More mountain views.

Holy tumbleweeds Batman.

The best part of this trail is the view of the mountains.

Little bit of light peeking through the gloomy skies.

Playing light on the mountains. Also, we seem to have connected to the main inner loop again.

More mountains.

The inner loop in nice packed gravel. Pretty close to paved.

Looking to the west again.

I think we are nearing the eastern end of the loop.

Yep. Looping back to the east now.

Open clearing.

Starting to hit a wooded area as the trail loops back to the west.

More forest.

Looking up.

There is just something nice about bare trees against a gloomy sky.

More forest.

Looking back towards the mountains.

The clouds are low enough to obscure some of the peaks.

Snowy path.

The creek again. Looks like someone created a makeshift bridge to connect to a random side trail. Possibly leading to a private residence.

Looking downstream.

The trail follows the creek for most of the rest of the way.

If you want to just do the main inner loop, after crossing the creek, keep walking until you see this sign.

There is also an Orienteering Course here. We saw something similar to this on the East Mountain Wilderness Park..

Heading back over the bridge.

Little Cottonwood Creek again. Looking upstream.

Some nice sunset (PSP).

With the Midvale holiday lights.

Eh. That was an alright trail. It offered some great views of the mountains, and it was nice to explore a little lower down on Little Cottonwood Creek. However, it was kind of a meh gully. Also, it was not too terribly busy. Maybe I should come back on a warmer day with the dogs. going with 7 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, this was almost completely flat and most of it was hard packed gravel. Going with a super easy DR3.

Dogs are allowed, but must be leashed at all times.