Scenic Drive: East Canyon

 East Canyon is a smaller canyon that connects Parley’s Canyon and Weber Canyon. It features some incredible fall color, as well as 3 pretty reservoirs amongst some pretty mountains. I have been seeing some pictures of it recently so I decided to come check it out today. Since this is a scenic drive, most of the images will be Passenger Seat Photography (PSP) shots. Landis drives, I take pictures.

Scenic Drive Details

Length: It is about 29 miles from the exit from i80 to i84 near Henefer, The full loop (up i80, across East Canyon, down i84, down Hw89, then i15 to i80)  is about 98 miles, plus whatever extra is needed to get there and back. There are shorter options too.
Time Needed: About 2 hours for the full trip, plus whatever exploring you do.
Road Conditions: Paved, 2 lane rd.
Summit: About 7447 ft.
Restrooms: There are pit toilets at the Big Mountain Summit.
Interesting Things:  Little Dell Reservoir, East Canyon Reservoir, some historical markers.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Head up Parley’s Canyon and take exit 134, signed for East Canyon, head left under the freeway and follow the road up.

The Adventure:

Entering Parley’s Canyon (PSP). Have I mentioned I hate Parley’s Canyon? Well, I do, with a fiery passion. Luckily I only had to deal with it for a minute.

There are some nice patches of color though (PSP).

Before long we were on the road leading to East Canyon (PSP). I missed Mountain Dell Reservoir to the left here. It seems it is currently drained anyway though.

Not much further up is the dam for Little Dell Reservoir (PSP).

Little Dell Reservoir (PSP).

There is a day use fee area for Little Dell Reservoir ($5.00 if I remember right). However there was a pull out just afterwards. It had several ‘No parking’ signs, but we figured as long as we didn’t stray from the car we could stop for a minute. Nice view in a canyon above.

Small side canyon.

Little Dell Reservoir.

Panoramic.

Back on the road (PSP). The side canyon.

Looking up canyon (PSP).

Some color (PSP).

We found a pullout to enjoy some color.

Unfortunately the marker is missing it’s plaque. I do know this is above Affleck Park.

There was a little trail back into the trees so we thought we’d explore some color.

It was quite colorful back here.

Super pretty.

More color.

It looks like this trail would lead us, very steeply, down to Affleck Park. We decided not to pursue it any further.

Color.

Neat rock formation.

More color.

Some pale color.

Back up to the pull out, with some color downcanyon.

Better view of the rock formation.

Back on the road (PSP).

I didn’t get any shots of the switchbacks here (PSP). I did not like the first one very much, but I have managed worse.

There is a pull out at the top of the first and worst one, that offers some nice views.

Colorful hill.

The view back down the canyon. I think this might have been the best view of the day!

Panoramic.

The view again. Wow!

Hillside.

Down again.

Another panoramic.

Back on the road and enjoying the color (PSP).

More color (PSP).

The upper switchbacks weren’t as bad (PSP).

Before long we reached the Big Mountain Summit, which offered another amazing view down.

Panoramic.

Rome radio tower of some sort. Definitely not cell towers as we didn’t have much of a signal.

Looking down the other side.

Some color.

The radio tower again, and I think Big Mountain? Or I guess a subpeak of Big Mountain.

More radio towers. I thought this trail just lead to those, but I guess there is a trail back there that leads to Joanie’s Meadow? Might have to check that one out some time.

Historical Marker.

It appears early Mormon pioneers came through here, but not before the Donner Party did a year before cutting a trail from Modern day Henefer to here.

It is also part of the Great Western Trail.

We decided to check out the north section of the Great Western Trail/Mormon Pioneer Trail here, since Last time we went south. You can see more of our adventure here.

The view to the south again.

Another panoramic.

Big Mountain Summit sits on the county line between Salt Lake and Morgan.

Back to the drive. Heading down from Big Mountain Summit (PSP).

More color (PSP).

Coming down from the summit heading north is not bad at all (PSP).

Lots of splashes of color (PSP).

Fun pointy boulder (PSP).

Streaks of color on the hills (PSP).

Heading down is not so bad (PSP).

Best shot on this side of the summit (PSP).

Some nice yellow (PSP).

Cows (PSP).

First glimpse of East Canyon Reservoir (PSP)

Better view of the south end (PSP).

Taylor Hollow (PSP).

Back to the reservoir (PSP).

The dam on the other side (PSP).

The wider part of the reservoir (PSP).

The northern tip (PSP).

So, our original plan was to head towards Morgan, and well, we expected to see a sign saying Morgan <-- instead we just saw a sign for East Canyon State Park <-- so we assumed it was only for the park. It did also say 66 <-- 65 --> (now I understand meaning HW’s 65 and 66) so, I guess that is my bad. Anyway, we missed our turn and headed towards Henefer instead. Not huge detour at all. It only appears to have added about 6 miles to our original plan. Oh well, next time!

However, if it is color you are after, it might be best to turn around here and head back.

Cows on a hill (PSP).

I did not anticipate hitting Summit County today, but here we are (PSP).

The route between East Canyon Reservoir and Henefer is kind of well, meh (PSP).

Red hill (PSP).

Approaching Henefer (PSP). We resumed our original plan of heading down i84. However if you want a shorter loop, head east towards Echo (which is also neat to explore) and you can hop back onto i80 and return via Parleys Canyon. Or you can head west down 84 and return to East Canyon through via Morgan for another shorter route.

Sheep and mountains (PSP).

Neat old cabin (PSP).

Fun peaks as we head towards Weber Canyon (PSP).

Our unexpected detour allowed us to see some of our favorite geological formations in Weber Canyon (PSP). Weber Arch.

The Devils Looking Glass Arch (PSP).

Old train bridge (PSP).

Devils Slide. There is a pull out to check this out.

View down canyon.

Up canyon.

A mini Devils Slide (PSP).

A neat little alcove (PSP).

Heading down Weber Canyon (PSP). I much prefer going down this canyon vs. Parleys.

We took a quick break at the mouth of the canyon where I found one of the very abundant sunflowers that grow all along the sides of the roads this time of year.

Moon over the mountains.

We took hw89 back south (PSP). They have removed all of the lights and made it a freeway through this section, it is quite nice!

More roadside sunflowers (PSP).

Color on the mountains (PSP).

Eventually we i15 which is well, fairly boring (PSP). The new bridge for the West Davis Corridor is coming along nicely.

Nice little sunset (PSP).

Downtown Salt Lake City (PSP).

I love our mountains (PSP).

More sunset (PSP).

Well, that was a fun drive. we made it a little longer than it needed to be, but hey we saw some fun stuff in addition to some stunning fall color. Last time we did this drive I was not terribly impressed, but we got some more color today so I guess I liked it better. 7 out 10 squirrels.