Wheeler Farm

 Wheeler Farm is a county owned operating farm in Murray. It has a pretty good network of trails with Little Cottonwood Creek flowing through the middle. The trails feature great mountain views, forests, gardens, the creek, historical buildings, farm animals, and old farm equipment.

Wheeler Farm was first purchased in 1853. It exchanged hands several times. The County purchased it in 1969, and opened it to the public in 1976.

Some friends and I have been doing weekly nature walks and this is one of the ones we like to do pretty regularly.

Quick Details:

Length: We did about 1.5 mile loop today. There are longer and shorter options.
Trail Type: Loop
Difficulty: DR3. It is pretty flat, and like paved.
Elevation Gain: About 16 feet.
Restroom: Yes, several.
Dogs? Yes, Leashed. Pleas clean up after your furry friends.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to exit 9. head North to the light. Turn left (West) on Winchester (6600 S). Turn right on 900 East (heading North again). Turn right into Wheeler Farm.

We started from the east side of the parking lot today through the Central Lawn.

The Trail:

Amazing mountain views.

There is a little pond area along Little Cottonwood Creek. But uh… It appears to be missing quite a few trees.

From 2023.

I am sad that the trees are gone, but I do like the little beach that is here now.

Flax.

The creek and some Canada geese.

Ducks and ducklings.

Ducklings and geese.

More ducklings. Not sure why they split up haha. I think mama got them rounded up in the end.

Little dam. The creek was used to fill the Ice Ponds on the other side of the dam.

Continuing along the loop.

Again.

Mountains.

There is a little wetland back there.

Continuing along.

Little dam.

Little Cottonwood Creek.

The dam again.

The Jordan and Salt Lake Canal. I walked along that a few days ago quite a bit south on the Dry Creek Trail.

Lovely forested section.

Welcome sign..

I found another one of the cutesy poems about cleaning up after your dogs.

Pretty field.

Continuing along.

Fields and the Activity Barn.

Stink weeds, as we call them. Or purple mustard.

More trees.

You can do a shorter loop by going left here. We went right skirting along the east edge of the property.

More trees.

Now the trail swings back to the west.

There is a short extra loop that swings back to the north again.

It goes around this pen. I suspect this is where they do pony rides, or something similar.

Pretty forested area.

This looks like annual honesty, or money plant. But it is white?

Again.

Little Cottonwood Creek.

Downstream. From it it flows towards Murray Park.

Upstream. From down from Crestwood Park.

Forest and creek.

Old farm equipment.

The Lightning Tree. It was hit by lightning twice, and still thrives.

Crossing the creek.

Downstream.

Upstream. You can also see the water coming out of the Ice Ponds.

Old house of some sort.

The Ice Ponds. Excavated c. 1900. Restored 1984.

Into the little farm area.

Chickens.

Big ol bunny.

Baby cow feeding.

Peacock.

Chickens.

Sheep.

Peacock again.

He turned around.

A peahen made quite a dramatic entrance that startled us a little bit.

Turkey.

Goat.

More goats.

Ahhh!!! There are itty bitty little piglets this time.

And they have the zoomies!

Back to our walk.

The creek again.

They have added some fencing in along the creek here. The sign says it is for a restoration area.

Pony.

Donkey.

Old buildings.

Old equipment.

More old buildings.

Equipment Barn.

Inside.

Adorable tractor train cars.

The milk barn.

Inside. I was hoping to find an owl, but instead found a bunch of pigeons.

Barn and Milking parlor.

Built c. 1910. Burned (by arson) 1973. Restored 1981.

Also it appears you can pay to milk cows here Monday through Saturday.

The parlor I think.

Another old building.

Farm House.

Built c. 1898, restored in 1979.

Cows.

The front of the Farm House.

There are a couple more historic buildings through here that we did not see today.

The Activity Barn.

Neat totem poles.

Mountains.

The Activity Barn again.

Well, that was a fun little walk with our friends. It is a really fun mix of nature, and history. Lovely forested areas, creek side areas, and well, farm areas. It’s a little busy, but it is a large property so everybody is pretty well spaced apart for the most part. 7 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is fairly flat and like paved for most of the way. DR3.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.