Moss Ledge

Moss Ledge is a pretty little waterfall located in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The area used to be a picnic area up until as recently as 2012. I don't know for sure, but my theory is that someone realized that perhaps having a picnic area within a tight canyon with a stream that directly feeds our watershed was probably not the best idea. So now it is just a rocky canyon that leads to a small waterfall. The area is quite pretty and is a great quick add-on trail. I know we have done it before, but I can’t seem to find my post about it, just a couple failed attempts due to closures. Anyway, Landis noticed it on our way up the canyon so we decided to add it to our other adventure today.

Quick Details:

Length: About 4/10ths of a miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back.
Difficulty: DR3, DR6 to get to the upper falls.
Elevation Gain: About 300 feet.
Restroom: No. Closest one I can think of is at Mill B South.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info: The main falls requires bouldering/scrambling, but you can still see some neat falls without doing that.

To Get Here:

Drive about 5.1 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon (or 7/10ths of a mile above the S Curve). They is a small pull on on the left, conveniently located next to Mile Marker 7.

You will see a small waterfall here. The trail is to the right of it.

The Trail:

The small waterfall.

Again.

The creek is apparently in a slide area and brings a lot of boulders down.

Interesting tree.

Lots of boulders.

The creek has flooded over to the trail. It is still pretty easy to stay dry, just pay attention to where you are stepping.

The creek again. Elbow Fork, by the way. Not to be confused by Elbow Fork in Mill Creek Canyon.

Then we come to the narrow rocky canyon. There are some falls just above, and to the left of here, which I will show in a minute. But I guess the main waterfall requires scrambling up and over this. Yeah, not gonna happen.

The creek again.

The lower falls. I swear I remember being able to see something better here, but maybe I am mis-remembering. It does look like there may have been a rock slide recently though.

The creek below.

The narrow gorge.

There is a point you can get to see the middle falls without scrambling too much

Like I said, from what I am seeing online, with a little bit of bouldering, there is an additional upper waterfall. Do so at your own risk.

The creek again.

Lower falls.

It’s a little better on the other side of the creek.

Pretty.

Longer exposure.

Whelp, that was fun, but we should probably start heading back.

Plants growing out of the cliff.

Random plant in a bottle.

The creek again.

Again.

Mile Marker 7 and the parking lot waterfall.

The parking lot waterfall.

Well, that was a fun little add on trail. I am glad we came back to explore it again. Its super short, and not very busy at all. Maybe I will come back during low flow and see if I can muster up the courage to continue up to the upper falls, but either way it is kind of neat. 7 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is a bit of a climb, DR3 to the lower falls. There is some bouldering required for the upper falls so DR6 for that.

Dogs are not allowed in Big Cottonwood Canyon, so be sure to leave Fido home.