Raptor Road

The Raptor Road Trail is a partially paved trail heading up the mountain above Solitude. It features wildflowers, and some pretty nice views. We did not do the entire thing today as it was a bit more exposed than I was anticipating. You have the option to take the Sunrise Lift up to the top, and only walk down. You also can add Lake Solitude, I’m not sure how much extra that will add though. I have never been to the upper area of Solitude so this will be new and exciting.

Quick Details:

Length: It is 2.7 miles one way we did about 1.15, or 2.3 out and back. (None of that includes the walk from the parking lot through the village).
Trail Type: Out and back, or top down with lift.
Difficulty: DR3. It has a few steeper parts, but it is paved for a lot of the way.
Elevation Gain: Not sure of the whole thing, but we did about 500 ft.
Restroom: There are several in the village.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info: The lift is $16.00 per adult. Senior and Junior is $10.00

To Get Here:

Drive about 12.6 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Solitude 2nd entrance. Park, then make your way to the beck of the village.

The smoke blowing in from the west coast has almost completely obscured the mountains from view (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Heading up Big Cottonwood Canyon (PSP).

Beaver dam (PSP).

Beaver lodge (PSP).

Mill D south (PSP).

Walking through Solitude Village.

Base area map. You want to make your way to the village bridge.

The village. They are holding a concert up here today, so it is pretty busy.

The Trail:

Crossing Big Cottonwood Creek.

The trail splits after the bridge, and either way is fine, but I wanted to see the pond, so we went left.

Fireweed.

The pond. It is quite lovely.

Snoozing duck.

From the side.

The sunrise lift. As I mentioned you can ride that up and do the trail top down.

Looking back towards the village. Very swiss alps. It kind of reminds me of Vail. I love the clock tower.

Fun clouds.

Looking across and up canyon.

Across and down canyon.

Geranium.

The road is paved through here.

It’s not the best paved trail, but it is paved.

Lots of yellows.

I think this is cutleaf balsamroot, but am not 100% sure about it.

View down to the lower base and Moonbeam Lodge.

Steeper section.

Wild rose.

Mountain hollyhock.

Mint.

Daisy or fleabane of some sort. I generally just refer to them all as daisies.

Paintbrush.

Fireweed.

More daisies.

View across canyon.

Aspens.

Nice flatter section.

Looking up canyon, towards Guardsman Pass.

Back to the climb.

Back to dirt, and somewhat flatter.

Entering a forested area.

Some more of the cutleaf balsamroot.

Lupine.

Forest.

Paved again.

Paintbrush.

Skyrocket.

More cutleaf balsamroot.

Well, we were just starting to really see some wildflowers, but we decided to call it. The trail is pretty exposed and we were all hot. My friend, who already had hiked top down, informs me the flowers were a lot better near the top.

More skyrocket.

A whitish pink one.

Forest.

Mountains near the top of the canyon.

Geranium.

Guardsman Pass.

Squirrel.

Fireweed.

Fireweed.

Back down to the village.

The pond.

We decided to have dinner at the Honeycomb Grill. A little pricey, but pretty good. It also offers a pretty great view of the mountain.

I did notice a funny, only in Utah menu option. Haha. They passed an asinine law a few years back that if you go to a restaurant and order only alcohol, the establishment must ask if you intend to dine. You know, cause that is much more important than I donno, ANY ACTUAL CRISIS.

I love the clock tower.

Old telephone booth, repurposed to be a tool shed.

The Solitude sign.

Ooof. That smoke from the West Coast is just awful (PSP).

Can’t even see the mountains on the other side of the valley (PSP).

Well that ended up being a fun last minute day. The trail, while being a paved road does climb the mountain! It was a little bit more exposed for the part that we did. But the views were great and the few wildflowers we did see were nice. Going with 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, as I mentioned it is mostly paved, but its got some good climbs. DR3.

Dogs are not allowed in Big Cottonwood Canyon due to it being in watershed.