Lower Corner Canyon to The Crossroads

 Corner Canyon is a great trail system in Draper that has tons and tons of trail options, as well as several access points. The lower canyon is a nice wide and easy trail. It features a lovely mixed forest, mountain and valley views, and a creek. I generally choose this trail on days where we are getting a super late start as it is one that I am not as concerned about being caught on after dark, and of course, today was no different.

Quick Details:

Length: About 2.2 miles.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop and connector options.
Difficulty: Super mild climb. DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 400 feet.
Restroom: Yes, flush toilets that appear to be year round. Well, they were open today anyway.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

To get to the Andy Ballard Arena Trail head:

Take i15 to the Bangerter Hwy exit and head east. Go about a half mile and turn left onto 13800 S. Take that 1.7 miles it will curve to the north. Turn right on 1300 E. Immediately turn left on Highland Dr. Go about .4 miles and turn into the parking lot. You want to park near the northern end.

Look for the tunnel under Highland Drive. The trails on either side will get you down to it.

Point of the Mountain (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)). Fun fact, the newest theory for this geological abnormality is that is was a gigantic landslide. From what I can tell, they are still trying to confirm that, but it makes the most sense. There is no other explanation for the random east/west range against the north/south fault. If confirmed, it will be the largest known landslide on the planet.

Corner Canyon with Box Elder Peak above (PSP).

The Trail:

The Corner Canyon sign.

Heading down towards the tunnel under Highland Drive.

The trail that leads to the tunnel under Highland.

Super short trail down to the tunnel.

Corner Canyon Creek is dry here.

The tunnel under highland.

Inside.

The creek bed again.

Up canyon.

Fun spooky tree.

Fun sunset color.

The lower creek crossing. Still dry.

Continuing up.

More sunset.

Continuing up.

Access to The Jungle Trail which is a super fun little trail.

The middle creek crossing.

Upstream.

Downstream. There is a little bit of water in it now. I wonder where it is diverted further downstream.

Some water damage. I believe this is leftover from the epic 2022-23 winter.

Fun clouds.

Spooky forest.

Some kind of water processing thingy.

Forest.

Fun tree.

Poison ivy warning. I am now up to 3 places I have seen warnings for poison icy, here, Hidden Hollow, and the Six Bridges Trail in Red Butte Garden. I have been super lucky and actually have not seen it myself yet. However, these are trails that I tend to do in the cold months so… that might be why.

There is another caustic plant pictured here though, Myrtle spurge. It can cause rashes and burns too. Landis wondered why there aren’t any signs about those nasty plants. The only thing I could think of is that it is everywhere, so that would be a lot of signs!

Continuing along.

The upper creek crossing.

Quite a bit more water in the creek here.

The canyon.

The Silica Pit above. 

We hit a mile, which was the goal today, since we got a late start. But, we were super close to the crossroads, so I pushed on.

The crossroads. The Lower Corner Canyon trail continues up forward from here. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail crosses through, left to right. The Rush Trail, which is a downhill bike trail, to the right of the sign.

By the way, no dogs above this point.

The Silica Pit again.

Burnham Gorge.

Whelp, this was a good destination for the day. It is getting dark, so we should head back.

View down canyon.

Just a reminder, the Lower Canyon Trail is a shared use trail. When heading downhill, fast downhill bikes on the right, everyone else left. It is super counter intuitive, hiking on the left but, it helps prevent you getting hit by a cyclist.

The high visibility sign is new though.

The upper creek crossing. Also, the top of the Jungle Trail to the left.

Lovely spooky forest.

The hills above.

Big trail split. Left heads back to the trailhead. Right leads to the Carolina Hills Trailhead, and the Sweet Caroline (bah bah bah)Trail.

The valley lighting up.

Now we can see The Claw below.

Fun lights on that large tree.

The valley again.

Again.

The Claw again.

Back down to the tunnel under Highland Drive.

Inside.

You can see the debris from where the creek overflows into it sometimes.

We can see Draper City Park all lit up below. We will be checking that out next.

Little bit of leftover sunset.

The valley with Draper City Park to the right.

A little closer.

Panoramic.

The Claw again. It is lit up and changing color for their Lantern Festival which we plan to visit soon.

That was a fun little hike. Super easy going, but pretty all the same. A good trail for this time of year with the possibility of getting caught after the sun goes down. We only saw 1 other person today, which was a bit of a surprise, we usually see at least a few people on this trail! Anyway it was a good adventure. 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is an old dirt road, so it is wide, and well graded. DR3.

Dogs are allowed, leashed below the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, so don’t go above the crossroads with them.