Little Cottonwood Trail

 The Little Cottonwood Trail is a great trail the follows along the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon from the mouth of the canyon all the way up to Tanners Flat. we did not go that far today, just up to the old pavilions site.

Quick Details:

Length: We did about 3 miles out and back, but it continues above.
Trail Type: Out and back, point to point option.
Difficulty: DR3. Its a climb, but it mostly gentle.
Elevation Gain: We did about 550 feet.
Restroom: Yes. Pit toilets at the trailhead.
Dogs? No. Little Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to the 90th south exit and head east. keep going up past where 90th becomes 94th. Just a smidge past Wasatch, 94th will connect to Little Cottonwood Canyon Rd. The trailhead is on the right, just before the stop sign for that.

The Trail:

Trailhead sign.

Cliffs to the south.

To the north.

To the south again. I love the cliffs in this canyon.

Looking up canyon.

The creek below.

Short section of trail that passes through a neighborhood. Follow the signs, left fork, right fork.

Cliffs again.

The trail picks up again at the end of the power plant. You will pass by a few more cabins, and then it is wild again.

Into the woods!

Mountains.

Little clearing.

More forest.

Little double waterfall.

The lower bridge.

This is sad to see this time of year. I wonder what run-off will look like.

First patch of snow.

After the first bridge the forest become much more coniferous.

The creek again.

More forest.

More snow.

More forest.

Moon rock.

The butterflies are coming out.

Another twin waterfall.

Dam waterfall.

Big boulder the creek is flowing over.

A little upstream.

More lovely forest.

Another patch of snow.

Restoration area. There used to be an old, old pavilion here, that me and my friends used to hang out at all the time when we were teens. My friend group didn’t tag the area, we just hung out here. But I know other groups tagged the area, even way back then, and it just continued to get worse as the years went by so I understand why they tore it down, its just kind of a bummer to see it gone.

This was my intended destination today, but we decided to keep going for a little bit.

Wow. They are really serious about this restoration project. An individual could be fined up to $5000 dollars, and spend up to 6 months in jail.

The graffiti extended beyond the pavilion to the boulder field. Its nice to see they were able to clean that up as well.

Pretty forest.

More, and I am not sure what kind of bird I accidentally captured.

The creek again.

Looks like they are doing some maintenance on the pipeline.

Starting to run into more snow.

I was trying to push on to the upper bridge, but meh. we were done, so we turned around.

Heading back down.

Pretty trail.

Mossy rocks.

Little side stream.

The pipe. My friends and I used to cross the creek on this thing. Eep.

Mossy rock, with signs of attempted quarrying.

Back down to moon rock.

Neat family tree.

I managed to eek out just enough to see the tips of the falls, but couldn’t find a way across the creek without feeling like I’d fall in. a) Its cold enough that that would have been extremely unpleasant. b) This is watershed, so I shouldn’t be in the creek anyway.

Back to the twin falls.

The creek.

Big boulder that they appear to have desperately tried to quarry.

Cliffs on the north side.

Back to the lower bridge. Some of these boulders are just amazing.

Another twin falls.

Actually its a quadruplet falls.

Giant boulders.

3 of the 4 falls. You can see the splash area of the 4th one on the right.

Longer exposure.

I love how clear the water is.

Downstream.

3 of the falls.

The creek again.

Looking back towards the falls.

Another butterfly. Not confidant in my idying skills at the moment.

Trees and cliffs.

Other side of the canyon.

Cliffs to the south.

The creek again.

Cliffs to the north.

Down canyon.

Cliffs to the north.

Another butterfly.

Cliffs to the south.

Almost back to the trailhead.

I just love the cliffs in the canyon.

A couple of turkey vultures.

I spent some time looking for mountain goats at the mouth of the canyon, but could not find any today. I think they have probably moved up the higher elevations.

I really enjoy this trail, and we do it fairly often. We always tend to find something new and exciting every time we do it. It was surprisingly not very busy today, and only a handful of bikers to dodge. 9 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is a bit of a climb, but it is gentle. DR3.

Dogs are no allowed in Little Cottonwood Canyon due to watershed rules. Be sure to leave Fido home.