Dry Creek: Monroe St. To Jordan Gateway

 Dry Creek is a small creek on the south end of the valley that comes out of Bell Canyon and Dry Canyons. After flowing through Dimple Dell there is a small improved area down to Fashion Place Mall. Which is where I left off last time. So today with a bit of free time on Thanksgiving, I decided to come back and see how much I could follow downstream from there. This was absolutely my least favorite section, but hey, I “followed” the creek a little more.

Quick Details:

Length: Depends on how crazy you are. The official part is about 8/10ths of a mile out and back. I did a crazy scramble which ended up being about a 2.8 mile balloon.
Trail Type: Out and back.
Difficulty: DR2 for the main part, DR4 for the crazy part.
Elevation Gain: eh… ~40 feet.
Restroom: No. There are some in the mall if you really need it.
Dogs? Dogs are allowed on Sandy City sidewalks, leashed. But, they probably wouldn’t enjoy the end part.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to 106th South heading east. turn left on 120 West. Go left along Mall Ring Road for about a half mile (it becomes Monroe St). Turn Right on Mall Ring Road, find parking.

I just parked in the mall parking lot in the northwest corner.

The Trail:

Where we left off last time. Unfortunately the creek is now as dry as it’s namesake. If I were to do it all over again, I would just add the short section downstream I did today, to the part I did last time.

City signs.

From here we are going to follow the creek downstream to the west.

Crossing Monroe Street. There is a signal you can activate to alert cars of your presence. It’s not a super busy road, but it is still there to help keep you safe.

Dry Creek heading downstream.

Following the creek.

This part is currently next to an empty lot.

But it looks like they have plans to develop it.

The creek.

Continuing along. I am not particularly thrilled with the noise of i15 right next to the trail.

Where the creek flows underneath i15.

Again.

i15.

Random debris.

Continuing along.

I am not sure what the random cement line to the left is. However, I kind of suspect it might be to represent the creek in a sort of cultural daylighting? I have no idea though.

Also, I suspect this little path is not used very often. Maybe by some employees of the random business park, and well, weirdo’s like me.

Another field.

With a big spooky tree.

The clock tower of Sandy City Hall.

Little Cottonwood Canyon. It looks a little weird from this vantage.

Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Panoramic.

A sad little smokers shelter. I definitely do not miss the bad habit, and having to find sad little spaces like this to indulge it. 5 Days short of a year free! Yay!

Hale Center Theatre. We have been meaning to come see this theater, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Maybe sometime soon.

At about 4/10ths of a mile I reached Sego Lily Drive AKA 10000 South. Hindsight being 2020, I would just turn back here. The next segments are…. really meh.

Bonus Content: Exploring currently unofficial trail.

I would hope that the city eventually builds something more official through here but for now it is not.

But, I was exploring! So down 10000 south I went hoping to connect to the creek again.

Under i15.

The intersection of 10000 South and 300 West.

Which brought me into South Jordan.

Little pond.

Now on the north side of 10000 south.

Crossing over some train tracks.

I wonder why the west line is raised while the east line is not. Random.

It looks like South Jordan has been honored with a Tree City USA award by the Arbor Day Foundation for 16 years. Woo, go South Jordan.

I guess I should have stayed on that side for a little bit to see some more of the creek but, meh.

Then we will cross over Jordan Gateway.

Then it flows into a vacant lot behind a business complex.

Here you have a choice between wandering through the vacant lot, or follow the sidewalk, then go through the parking lots. Since I did not see any 'no trespassing' signs, I opted for the former. I would recommend just doing the latter. This part was… a bit of an adventure. Plus, I am not sure if I was supposed to be in it.

Wandering under some power lines.

The creek.

Then the brush got pretty thick, and I sure didn’t feel like fighting it. But I had a sudden lightbulb moment. I figured it might be less next to the wall there, so I wandered back that way.

I found a faint old jeep trail to follow. Woot.

Continuing along.

The creek.

Tromping through.

Some old fence posts.

A huge patch of phragmites.

Again, I figured if I stay near the wall….

Phragmites.

As far as the eye can see.

Well, now it is getting too thick for me. So, I turned back.

Lots of phragmites.

It looks like some sort of storm water drains here, which is probably why the phragmites are so happy here.

I found a thin trail to follow.

Then another old jeep trail.

On the other side of the big phragmite patch.

Mount Jordan.

Then another thin trail.

Low clouds.

Again.

I made a mental note of this opening as a possible emergency egress.

More low clouds.

There was a split one went up, one went down. I chose up. But here is the view down.

Mountains to the west.

Maybe the lower option would have been better haha.

A very, very old looking “fence” with a huge hole in it. Normally I wouldn’t cross a fence line, but it really looks abandoned… spoiler alert: it is not. Whoops.

Ruins of some sort.

Mess of trails through some thick trees. I had to kind of crouch walk through here.

I wonder what that could have been.

Still struggling through the thick trees.

Yes, gross. But I figured the amount of poop I am seeing meant the area was actively in use.

Ah, finally out of the trees and into a little clearing.

Dry Creek.

Which now has water. Dry Creek is weird. It is diverted quite often, so you have lots of dry sections, and then random flowing sections again. Super weird.

Wait.. what.. fuck! I seem to have wandered into an active farm. As far as I know we do not have random wild horses in the valley. Fuck fuck fuck I feel absolutely terrible. So now to scramble back out of here before someone starts shooting at me.

But first a closer shot of the pretty horses.

The creek again.

Their fence is a little more substantial down here and I don’t see an easy way through here. Crap. I guess I will follow it back to the opening I used earlier. This sucks.

Back though the hole. I guess it is too small for the horses which seems to be why they haven’t bothered with it.

The beginning of a sunset. Now that I am outside the fence I feel a little better. If the property owner sees this, my sincere apologies! I learned a lesson I should have already known today.

A proper sunset. Nice!

Again.

Again.

My little emergency egress. It was a tight squeeze, but it did get me out of the overgrown area. I was happy to not have to deal with that anymore.

Now I am just going to walk back along these back parking lots.

Fading sunset.

The giant patch of phragmites.

Continuing along.

More fading sunset.

The open space below.

Last of the sunset.

Closer.

The moon.

Some trees with a little bit of color hanging on. I previously scrambled across Jordan Gateway since it is not a busy road, at least not tonight.

Heading back up 10000 South.

The railroad crossing again.

The little pond again.

Through the fence. Quite a few waterfowl hanging out here.

Back under i15.

The Hale Center Theater again.

Back to the official trail again.

Spooky tree.

The very last of the sunset. Phew, I think I will be done before total dark.

Almost to the end.

Mountains.

The creek bed.

Fancy lights on either side.

Matching lights on the other side of Monroe Street.

The developed park area again.

Well, that was not the most fun adventure in a while. The official section was fine, hindsight, I would have just added that on to the previous section and called it good. But, I didn’t know. So, it is what it is. The official section, eh, 6 squirrels. The next section along the roads and of course the wild, undeveloped section, 0 squirrels. I didn’t care for it at all. There is one additional section along Dry Creek that I have identified as possibly doable. I have a feeling I won't like it much better. But, I am on a mission to complete the creeks!

As for difficulty, the official section, paved, and flat. DR2. The wild section, while pretty flat, was quite wild and overgrown, and did require some wayfinding and blarg. DR4.

 

Dogs are allowed on Sandy sidewalks, leashed (please clean up after your furry friends). The wild section would probably not be the best for them, but use your own discretion.