Random Rambler: Bell Canyon: Lower Reservoir Mid Loop

Bell Canyon is a beautiful canyon located in Sandy. It is just south of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trail features pretty scrub oak forest, nice valley views, and a particularly scenic reservoir. You can also keep going further up to enjoy the creek, 2 waterfalls, and even an additional reservoir (we’ve only made it to the first waterfall though). There are also 3 options to go around the lake. Today we decided to do the middle one.

There are now 3 trailheads for the canyon. The Granite Trailhead off of 90th. The Boulders Trailhead off of Wasatch, and the new Preservation Trailhead also off of Wasatch, in between the other 2. I much prefer the new Preservation Trailhead now due to the better trail option, plus the better amenities offered at the trailhead. This opened in May 2022. Obviously this is a trail we do fairly often.

Quick Details:

Length: About 2.2 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Balloon. Shorter and longer balloon options, loop option, out and back, longer out and back options.
Difficulty: DR4. The first quarter mile or so is a bit rough along rocky switchbacks.
Elevation Gain: About 470 feet
Restroom: Yes with running water even!
Dogs? No. It is considered watershed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take the 90th south exit from i15 and head east up to Wasatch Blvd. Turn right. Go about 600 feet and turn left. Head up the hill. There is a big parking lot at the top, and a smaller lot just below. Each access the trail, but the upper lot is shortest and I have yet to find it full. There is a 3rd even smaller lot, but that looks like it is more for utility/city use.

Heading up to the Preservation Trailhead (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Trail:

Starting up.

Little Cottonwood Canyon.

View north.

South towards the ridge we are heading towards.

But first we have to climb this first ridge. Oof.

The scrub oak is just starting to think about changing color.

The view across the valley. It’s a little hazy today, but we can still see Antelope Island so I guess it’s not super bad.

I feel like this boulder is new.. er well, newly fallen here anyway. This kind of thing makes me a little nervous on these super rocky trails.

Looking down on the new trailhead and Nature Trail (left). You can see the emergency helipad to the left. For life and fire safety.

Panoramic.

Super rocky trail.

I really don’t like this final switchback, but I am able to get myself through it.

The top of the first ridge with a snowy peak above.

The ridge on the other side we have to climb.

Short section of down into the gulch between the ridges.

Another spot I don’t love but can get myself through.

Little bit of color in this little gulch between the ridges.

Rocky trail.

I feel like this boulder is also newly fallen onto the trail.

The elbow where the trail starts back up to the 2nd ridge.

With this neat split boulder.

Some asters hanging on.

There isn’t a lot of color to enjoy so far.

Rocky trail.

The valley.

Downtown.

The trail on the previous ridge.

Better view of the valley.

Panoramic.

Continuing up.

Drill holes from attempted quarrying. You can learn more about that at the nearby Temple Quarry Trail.

More.

Rocky trail.

The valley again.

Downtown.

Another panoramic.

We made it! Phew.

My favorite view is by the outlet, which is to the right. So we headed that way. If you are after the upper canyon and the waterfalls, you want to hang left instead.

But I mean, it’s a super pretty reservoir almost from any angle. Also it looks like it is full again! It’s been a minute since we have seen that.

The valley again.

Panoramic.

The reservoir again. I am glad we decided to do this today. It is super pretty!

Upper Bell Canyon.

Duckies!

Panoramic.

This bench has certainly seen better days.

The upper canyon. You can see the perfect U shape that the glacier carved out.

The reservoir.

Panoramic.

The canyon leading down to the Boulders Trailhead.

Heading down towards the outlet.

Above the outlet, looking towards the upper canyon. Super pretty!

Again.

Panoramic.

The outlet.

Depth marker. It looks like we’re at 12 feet there, which appears to be full. Sweet.

Dry Creek.

Bridge over it.

Again.

The creek again.

Downstream. Where it heads down towards The Boulders Trailhead.

Duckies.

The lake again.

Panoramic.

We decided to keep going around the lake.

Some bright yellow leaves.

The canyon in between what I call The Bell Bottom Twins.

The north twin. You can climb to the top of this one. I have not found a trail up the south one yet.

Mountains above.

Continuing along.

The upper canyon.

Lovely tree tunnel.

Some color.

View south. Lets see, Dry Canyons, Rocky Mouth Canyon, Big Willow Canyon, Little Willow Canyon. Eventually the Bonneville Shoreline Trail will connect from here to Rocky Mouth canyon.

Panoramic.

Looking back towards the south Bell Bottom Twin (as I call them).

Short little spur out to an overlook of Dry Canyons. It's only like... ~200 feet or so.

Some sort of hawk soaring above.

Random hydrant kind of looking thing?

I am totally just pulling this out of my ass, but I would guess this is to help in case a fire breaks out up here? Otherwise, yeah I got nothing.

View to the south again.

Dry Canyons. As mentioned, eventually the BST will connect across them to here.

Panoramic.

Back to the main trail with a view of the lake again.

Better view.

More asters hanging on.

Well, I had planned on doing the middle loop today anyway (Trail C), but I guess I don’t really have a choice as the upper loop (Trail D) appears to be closed at the moment. We never did figure out why.

I’m not sure if you can do the lower loop with the lake as high as it is now. In fact I am pretty sure you can't. I’ve only ever done it when the lake was super low. There is no official trail for that on the city maps.

Into the woods.

The trail is a little more thin back here.

And quite overgrown.

Sadly, so much so that you can’t really see the lake back here.

I think this was the best view of it while back here.

I am enjoying the thick woods though.

Bridge over the creek.

Again.

The creek.

Again.

Thimbleberry leaves.

Closer.

Pretty forest.

Ferns.

Squirrel friend.

More pretty forest.

Little bit of color.

More ferns.

Aspens.

More asters.

Sagebrush.

More color.

More forest.

Long bent tree.

Continuing along.

Forest.

More drilled granite.

Full of water.

Super sick looking trees.

Pretty forest.

More drill holes.

Pretty deep!

The end of the forest.

Back to the main (A) trail, and the closure sign. I guess they are doing construction up above here. I couldn't find any more information.

Heading back down.

Lovely color.

Continuing down.

Starting to be able to see the lake better.

Better.

Surrounded by color.

Panoramic.

Nice reflection.

The trail down is next to this watershed sign. Make sure you don't take the old access road down, that will lead you down to a neighborhood.

The valley below.

Panoramic.

Looking back at the trailhead. You can see the emergency helipad to the right here. If you look closely you can see the windsock.

Continuing down.

Oak leaves.

Drill holes.

Growing some grass.

The trail.

More drill holes.

View below. That bluff is Granite Park where the East Dimple Dell Trailhead is located.

The trail up to the next ridge.

View down again.

Continuing down.

Split rock at the elbow.

Then we have a quick climb back up the other ridge.

Looking back towards the ridge we just came down from.

Rocky trail.

Fun quarried boulders.

Continuing up.

The little gulch between the ridges.

Top of the ridge. Now we just need to head down the switchbacks on the front.

Scrub oak.

The switchback I don’t like.

Looking back at the parking lot and nature trail. You can see the helipad to the left now.

View to the north.

Parking lot again.

90th South and Wasatch.

Looking back up the ridge.

More scrub oak.

The other ridge.

This trail has really good signage, however I feel like they could really use one here saying “ “Preservation Trailhead <--- Granite Trailhead -->” I swear every time we do this trail we encounter at least one lost soul who can’t figure out how to get back to where they parked.

Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Looking back towards the ridge from the parking lot.

Heading down to the lower parking lot (PSP).

Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The lower lot pavilion and restroom. We noticed some new signs here so we thought we’d check them out.

Wildfires and Fire Prevention.

Google says this is a Western conifer seed bug.

Bell Canyon Trails.

We did Part of A, a smidge of B, and all of C today. The upper loop I mentioned adds D.

I am not 100% sure I like the way they parsed out the trail. But, I get it its a little rough with 3 trailheads reaching the same places so I'm not sure what they could have done differently, except maybe adding point to point distance between junctions.

LID Bioretention Cell.

Which is a fancy name for a way to filter storm water away from parking lots.

Animal dangers.

This one doesn’t have a sign yet… or it was stolen.

Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST). As I mentioned, the section between Rocky Mouth and here is not complete yet. North of here doesn’t appear to be complete yet either. But, one day when complete it will go all the way from the Idaho border, to Nephi.

Watershed rules.

Little Cottonwood Canyon again.’

We got a nice early start today for once, and did a shorter trail, that isn’t a longer drive so we actually had some extra time before dark for once! So we decided to drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon. But I think I will put that in a separate post.

Anyway, I love the lower reservoir! It is a super scenic reservoir super close to the valley and not too rough to get up to see it. It’s a busy trail but it wasn’t too rough today, plus there is a whole lot of trail to spread out on. Going with 9 squirrels today for the rough part and the construction.