Wheeler Historic Farm Park

Wheeler Historic Farm Park, or probably better known as Wheeler Farm is a Salt Lake County park that features picnic tables, a pavilion, playground, green space, some woods, a creek, and of course a working farm. I was kind of surprised to learn this was a county park, I always thought it was a private farm that decided to monetize by opening to the public. Its been owned by the county since 1969! Wow. Well, I haven’t been here since I was a kid, and once when they did the haunted woods in my early teens, so I obviously didn’t really know. But I love learning when the City or County comes in and saves something for all of us to enjoy. See recently Allen Park.

Anyway, with the weather being kind of hit or miss I wanted something not too far, and that would be easy to dash back to the car if needed, so I thought we would come check this out today. We planned on doing the outer loop. We ended up doing about 3/4 of that, and then wandering around the old historic buildings.

Quick Details:

Length: There are a number of trail options of varying length. We did about 1.7 mile loop. The outer loop is about 1.6 miles.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop, balloon, depends what you do.
Difficulty: DR3. It was pretty easy going.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: Yes, several.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to exit 9. head North to the light. Turn left (West) on Winchester (6600 S). Turn right on 900 East (heading North again). Turn right into Wheeler Farm.

The Trail:

We picked up the outer loop at a spot we noticed on the way in between the south entrance and the parking lot.

Even before we hit the back wooded area, its kind of pretty.

There is a really epic playground to the left here called the Playground Fort that was completed in 2011. I didn’t take a picture because, well, I tend to try and avoid taking pictures of things when there are children on them. Even though I have an app that can remove them, I just don’t want anybody getting the wrong idea.

We decided to bring the pups today since the temperature was pretty mild, and we were planning a pretty short loop. One overheats easily, the other can’t handle too far, and they’re both wusses about the cold. So I have to be picky about when they come with us.

Entering the back woods, with the mountains peaking up behind them.

Since the original plan was to do the outer loop, I just kept taking all the forks to the right. Like I said, there are a lot of trail options.

Large fallen tree. Possibly due to the September 2020 windpocolypse (external link).

Little thinner trail, but still clear.

Little Cottonwood Creek below.

Random hammock.

The creek again.

The Jordan and Salt Lake City Canal.

Which is what we used to get across the creek. Now that I am looking at the map, I think we missed a turn off to loop back. So uh, we kind of winged it for a minute.

Little Cottonwood Creek, downstream.

Upstream.

Closeup of the old dam.

Eventually we found our way back to the main outer loop.

I found this sign about the canal. You can trace that back all the way to the Jordan Narrows.

Thick woods.

Oh, this connects to the Murray Canal Trail. That appears to be a 3.1 mile out and back trail. Might have to add this to the list of trails to do on icky weather days.

Wheeler Farm welcome and rules.

More woods. I am actually a little surprised how wild it is here. It is nice to see.

Another side trail.

Again, keeping to the right.

Neat old farm equipment.

Back into the woods.

Looking up.

Little Cottonwood Creek again.

More forest.

Another large fallen tree.

Some kind of enclosure. I am guessing this is where they do the pony rides?

Picnic area.

Another contender for where they do the pony rides.

Neat old bridge.

Old box elder tree.

More farm equipment.

Little Cottonwood Creek sign.

The creek appears quite empty here.

The old box elder tree again.

Crossing the old bridge over Little Cottonwood Creek.

Ah, I see what is happening with the water in the creek. It appears to be diverted to those ponds and then back out here. I imagine this is only dry through here during really low flow along the creek.

The other side.

Entering the old historic area.

The Ice Ponds.

Peacocks. Actually, considering the short tails, I am thinking these might be peahens.

Super pretty birds.

The ice ponds again.

Excavated circa 1900, restored 1984. Cool.

Peahen.

I took this picture ironically seeing as the creek is currently barely a trickle. However, in run off months it really is swift and dangerous, hence the sign.

The creek with a little more water.

Old cabin next to newer cabins.

Old farm equipment.

Horses. My original plan would have had us go to the right and around these pens, but, since it has been so long since I have been here I decided we would wander around the old buildings.

Oh neat. They have partnered with the Granite School District.

More horses.

More old farm equipment.

Some of the old buildings.

So, to make a quick summary of a long history: Wheeler Farm was established in 1853 by Joseph Hammond. It exchanged hands a couple more times and in 1887 the farm was sold to a daughter, and new son in law Henry Joseph Wheeler. They owned and worked the land for the next 56 years until in 1943 Henry Wheeler Sr died. The farm was sold to Sterling Furniture Co and its president Richard Madsen. He ran a cattle ranch.

in 1969 Salt Lake County purchased the farm, planning to remove all the structures. In 1974 the Junior League of Salt Lake proposed a plan to preserve the structures and create a living historical farm. In May of 1976 the farm opened to public.

That’s a very brief summary of the history you can read more on the county’s page (external link)..

Self captioned. haha.

Cows.

Turkeys.

This is the first time I have ever seen a turkey, wild or domesticated, displaying it’s tail. Neat.

Peacock.

The peahens decided they wanted to hang out on the roof of a nearby pen.

I loves them.

Chickens.

Outhouse. Built in 1900 (or earlier). Exterior restored in the 1980’s.

Blacksmith shop.

The northern ice pond. These ducks are definitely fed.

Southern ice pond.

North pond again.

The Ice House. Original built early 1900’s. Replica built in the 1970’s.

FYI: Here is where one of the restrooms is located.

Summer House. Built 1934. Restored 1985.

Main residence I believe. I did not find a sign for this one.

Activity Barn.

Fun directional sign.

Fun tree stump carvings.

Moody skies.

The front of the Activity Barn as we were leaving.

Well, that was a fun little loop, and trip though history. My 3/4 of the outer loop and trip around the buildings actually made a longer trip that I was planning. The outer loop was pretty quiet, but as you can imagine the inner section around the buildings was a little busier. There is still a lot of stuff we didn’t explore today so I may need to come back some time. Going with 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty. The outer loop is mostly flat and like paved. The inner loop around the buildings is pretty similar as well. DR3.

Dogs are allowed, but must be leashed, and must be kept from the animals.