Parleys Trail: Hillcrest Park to Mouth of Canyon

 Parleys Trail is an 8~ mile trail that goes from the mouth of Parleys Canyon down to the Jordan River Parkway. This section of the trail offers some great views of the mountains, and the valley bellow and passes by 2 parks. We have slowly been making our way up from the Jordan River and I was happy to do this final section up to the mouth of the canyon. We have done a good solid chunk of this section before, but not all of it. So it was kind of fun to finally complete it. Overall, Parleys Trail has not been my favorite trail, but it is nice to have a mostly sectioned off pedestrian/bike trail from the river to the canyon. This section is mostly along the freeway, but after the previous section we learned our lesson and brought earplugs today so it wasn’t so bad.

The mouth of Parleys Canyon

Quick Details:

Length: It was about 5 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back, connector.
Difficulty: It is completely paved, but there are some steeper grades along this part. DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 650 feet.
Restroom: There is one in Tanner Park but I am not sure if it is open in winter.
Dogs? Yes, leashed at all times.
Other Info: I highly recommend earplugs for this part.
Cities: Salt Lake City, Millcreek.

To Get Here:

Take i80 to 13th east then head south. Turn left on Stratford Ave. Follow that all the way to about 20th east to Hillcrest Park on the left.

I thought this was a public park, but the parking lot is for the church next to it and has a sign saying parking for the church only. So, we found a small section that we could park on the street next to it.

Mount Olympus from the freeway (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

A winter wonderland along Stratford Ave. (PSP).

The Trail:

The bridge over 20th East.

Where we left off the trail last time.

Crossing the bridge over 20th East.

20th East below.

Mountains above.

For a minute we have a sound wall between us and i80, but that is not consistent

It is a pretty post storm winter day.

Now the sound wall is on the other side of the trail. Very happy I thought to bring earplugs!

There is a golf course on the other side of the freeway.

Mountains.

Tunnel under the 23rd East exit ramp.

Inside.

Mountains.

Bridge over the 23rd East on ramp.

Connector trail to the right, we want to stay left.

More freeway adjacent walking.

Panoramic of the mountains to the northeast.

You can see Ensign Peak from here.

At just under a mile we reached Tanner Park.

More mountains.

Hitting a steeper grade.

Well that is a little disconcerting.

Adjacent to Tanner Park is Parleys Historic Nature Park. Which has some off leash dog areas. It's unlikely but be aware a random dog could wander up to the trail, which is specifically on leash only.

Parleys Creek.

Continuing up.

Flag on the other side of the gully.

Wooo winter!

More mountains.

The only remnant of an old aqueduct that came through here.

Dudler’s Wine Cellar. Dudler’s Inn was around here somewhere, and this is all that remains of it.

Info signs about it.

Continuing along.

The run off off a spring going down the hill.

Upstream.

Parleys Historic Nature Park again.

Information signs.

Looking back towards the upcoming sunset.

Mount Olympus.

It’s not as obvious as usual today, but there is a formation on Grandeur Peak that always looked like a seahorse to me.

Parleys Historic Nature Park below again.

Continuing along.

The nature park below again.

Where Parleys Creek emerges from underneath i80 and i215.

The final climb. Oi.

Parleys Nature Park below.

The view behind us, out west.

First look into Parleys Canyon.

The bridge over i215.

Inside. I thought I would struggle on this bridge, but it is sturdy and well encased. The high speed traffic whipping by below is a little unnerving though.

i215 below.

About halfway.

Suicide Rock below.

Better view.

Parleys Canyon. Somewhere around here we cross from Salt Lake City into Millcreek.

The bridge over the i80 on/off ramp.

Said ramps.

Fun rock layers.

The final push.

Woo! We made it to the far east end of the trail at the Grandeur Peak (face) Trailhead/Bonneville Shoreline Trail. That section ended up being a little bit longer than I had planned, but not too bad. Alright, time to head on back.

The valley below.

Downtown SLC in front of Antelope Island.

Back over i80.

Looking into Parleys Canyon.

We want to take the bridge over i215 to stay on the trail. Left will take you north along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and also to Suicide Rock.

Also, we are back in Salt Lake City now.

Heading over i215.

Heading back down.

Parleys Canyon again.

Starting to get a bit of sunset above Parleys Historic Nature Park.

Parleys Creek.

I like these older signs up here.

Little windy section.

Grandeur Peak again.

The park again.

I like these super old trail markers too.

Little bit of sunset.

The old aqueduct again.

Looking back at the mountains.

More sunset color.

Snow covered trees.

More color.

Grandeur Peak again.

Panoramic of the mountains.

Another old sign.

More color.

Random art.

One final hill to climb to get us out of the park.

Parleys Creek again.

One last look into the park.

Of course when the sunset really fired up I did not have the best vantage.

Another old trail sign.

Little more color.

Back to Tanner Park.

Next to the freeway again.

Back to the bridge over the 23rd East on ramp.

Inside.

The tunnel under the 23rd East off ramp.

Antelope Island.

Short nice section.

The bridge over 20th East.

Back to Hillcrest Park.

This section of the trail was alright, but next to the freeway for a lot of it. That was a little better to handle since we were smart enough to bring earplugs today but it is still not great. However, I am happy to finally complete the trail! We managed to split it into 4 sections pretty cleanly, with this last section being a little longer. This part was pretty quiet today and we didn’t pass a lot of people, which is always a plus too. 7 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is completely paved, but there are quite a few steeper grades so I am going with a DR3.

Dogs are allowed, but should remain leashed at all times. Parleys Historic Nature Park has a lot of off leash areas but this trail is not part of them. But, be aware an off leash dog could wander up to the trail.