Mehraban Wetland Park

 Mehraban Wetland Park is a small park in Draper. It features, well, some wetlands as well as 2 nice ponds, and a nice little forest. It’s one of those great little parks that almost makes you forget you are in the city. We’ve done it before, but were at the nearby Petco to take the pups to see Santa, and since it was nearby we decided to make another visit.

Quick Details:

Length: About a mile out and back.
Trail Type: We did a loop de loop de loop today, but there is a double balloon option as well.
Difficulty: It is paved and easy going up to the first pond, DR2. After that it is hard packed and flat DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 32 feet.
Restroom: no.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

From i15, take the 114th S exit in Draper. Head east. Turn right on 7th east. Left on Meadow Wood Dr. Right on 820 E. That will curve to the left and become 11725 S. Then it will curve to the right and become 880 E. Just before it curves to the left again you will see the signed turn off on the right.

The Trail:

Trailhead kiosk.

Entering the park.

Excited pups.

Forest.

Wetland.

These little “Kenny the kingfisher” signs are new. They are cute! This one is about a welcome native: rocky mountain bee plant.

More forest.

Weird tree.

More forest.

A dry stream bed.

More knowledge from Kenny the kingfisher. This one is about a welcome native: crack willow.

It’s funny they named her Kenny, considering a female is depicted here. Males do not have the brown belt.

Continuing along.

Invasive weed: scotch thistle.

Fun fact, this is a good spot to see a kingfisher, so it's awesome it was used for these signs. Sadly we did not see one today.

Welcome native: Big sagebrush.

More forest.

Welcome native: River birch.

Invasive weed: Russian olive.

Eventually you will come to a crossroad. Left will get you to the ponds.

Welcome native: Box elder.

The first, smaller pond. If this one has a name it is not on the map.

The ducks coming to greet us. Sorry friends, again, we did not think to bring any treats. General reminder: bread is bad for them. There is a sign I will post soon that explains what is better.

Pretty larger grey duck.

The pond again.

Sign about the benefits of a wetland.

Neat old windmill.

Nice dock.

The pond again. It is about here that the pavement ends.

Bridge across the wetland leading to Sunset Pond.

Wetland.

The other side. It looks like there might have been a fire.

Sunset Pond.

Pollution Solutions.

Sunset Pond also has a nice little dock.

View from it.

Ducks on the ice.

Panoramic.

Sign advising not to dump domesticated animals here.

We decided to walk around counter-clockwise.

The pond again.

Welcome native: Woods rose.

I am a little amused that one of the ways the sign suggest to help this plant is to trample on the phragmites because they steal water and block the sun.

Backing up to see the woods rose.

The pond again.

Welcome native: Golden current.

I stepped back again, but I can’t say what might be the golden current right now. I am guessing the plant to the left but I have no idea.

The trail gets pretty thin at the north end.

The pond from the north.

Again.

Invasive weed: phragmites. The sign recommends trampling, spading, digging up and hand pulling. I was starting to wonder if they were going to address these. Also, I wonder if the sign is helping to remove them at all.

Phragmites. 

Nice bench to enjoy the pond. Not sure what the box chained to it is.

And what a view it has! Mount Jordan above Sunset Pond.

Panoramic.

More ducks.

The trail is still kind of thin here on the west side of the pond.

Mount Jordan and some phragmites.

The trail widens out at the south end of the pond.

Welcome native: Coyote willow.

Taking a step back, again, not sure if those are what the sign is depicting right now.

The pond from the south end.

More ducks.

Back to the dock.

Because who doesn’t like random dick graffiti.

Back to the bridge across the wetland.

Back to the smaller pond.

Fishing regulations, duck feeding, and no littering.

Closer to the duck feeding guidelines. I love that I am seeing these signs near waterways more and more. It says:

Thank you
for not feeding us bread

Bread makes us ill as it does not contain the
right nutrition or calories that we need to keep
us warm in the winter.

Rotting bread pollutes our water and causes
nasty surface algae which kills our fish and
gives us diseases.
It also makes out water smell.

We do like:
Cut Seedless Grapes,
Cooked Rice, Birdseed,
Peas, Corn, Oats
& Chopped Lettuce.

So, there you have it, the best options to feed the ducks. We try to have a baggie of oats on hand for when we end up at places like this, but not always.

We decided to do the quick loop around this pond as well. Note, it is not paved either.

More ducks.

Minor obstacle.

Wetland to the west.

Duck in the path.

The pond.

Panoramic.

The south end.

Looking north.

The pond extends into a neighboring private property that the geese appear to love.

Another little dock.

View from it.

Heading back along the east side of the pond.

The pond again.

Panoramic.

Questionable fishing bench.

More ducks.

Back to the main crossroads. Normally I return the way I came to the right, however this time I noticed a trail in the beginning that would make a full loop de loop de loop so we went left.

Wetland Web of Life.

Welcome native: Cottonwood.

This trail appears to be a neighborhood connector.

Wetlands.

The somewhat faint trail back to the parking lot.

Wetlands.

Rejoining the main trail.

Back to the entrance.

Well that was fun! The pups had a great time. We saw a few people, but not a lot. We didn’t see any kingfishers today, which we guessed was probably due to the ponds being mostly frozen. But it was a nice little walk to add on to our Santa adventure. 8 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is paved to the first little pond so DR2 for that. The loops around both ponds are not paved, but pretty flat and easy DR3.

Dogs are allowed, but should be leashed at all times.