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The Sego Lily Trail in Dimple Dell is one of the 4 main trails that traverse Dimple Dell. This trail stays mostly along the middle of the north slope. It features amazing mountain, and gully views, and lovely scrub oak forests. We did the west end of it just a few weeks ago, so I was kind of itching to complete the trail by doing the east end today.
This will pretty much complete the last of the official trails in the park for us. Though, we may revisit some of the other trails to get a more thorough take on them.
Quick Details:
Length: The full Sego Lily Trail is about 3 miles (one way). We did about 3.4 miles out and back to about the middle where we left off last time.
Trail Type: Out and back, connector, loop options.
Difficulty: It’s pretty flat most of the way, with a big climb back up. DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 530 feet.
Restroom: No. The closest one is in Granite Park. However the Bell Canyon Preservation Trailhead is probably your best bet in winter since it is open year round.
Dogs? Yes, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.
Other Info: From this trailhead, you start at the top and there is a semi-steep climb down. Which of course means you have to come back up it on the way back. This can be a little tricky if you are new to hiking.
To Get Here:
Take i15 to 90th South heading east for about 6.8 miles. Turn right on Mount Jordan Road. Follow that for about 7/10ths of a mile and the Mount Jordan Trailhead will be on the right. 3015 East Mount Jordan Road.
The Mount Jordan Trailhead is not paved. But it was not very muddy today with the melting snow and ice.
Updated trailhead sign. It looks a lot more comprehensive than the old one.
Speaking of, man it has been a minute since we have been to this trailhead.
The Trail:
Lots of trail signs. We are going to start along the big wide Dimple Dell Trail (AKA North Rim Trail from here to 13th East) to the right. Left leads to the Sunrise Point Trail, which we just did. You can also add the Muir-Poulsen Historic Home for another quick add on adventure just to the north of here.
There was.. quite a bit more snow than I was expecting today. But, the trail is popular so it is pretty much packed down. I grew up in this area, so you would think I would know that the snow lingers up here more than down in the valley. But this has been a very weird warm and dry winter so I don’t know what to expect at all these days.
The inversion crept in right after the storm. If I had known it was this bad I would have planned to do something higher up! But, we are here, so might as well keep on keeping on.
Continuing along.
The trail split, with one of the new trail markers. I will say, they have definitely improved the area with these new trail markers, but there are still a few more spots that could definitely use one!
This short section is also known as the Sleepy Hollow Trail.
Now, the DOWN.
Mountains above.
After seeing all the snow, I has surprised and happy that it was not very muddy today! Sure a couple small patches, but otherwise it was fine.
Sleepy Hollow.
The gully.
Super sandy trail.
I can hear Dry Creek flowing below.
Mount Jordan.
Last bit of sun.
And… gone. It looks like we will be hiking in the shadow of the mountain now.
The gully again.
Okay, the down was a lot more than I remembered! Oof. We both said this is going to suck on the way back.
More down.
One of the few small muddy spots. Luckily we could just tromp through the snow to the left. It is still within the trail.
Dry Creek below.
The gully.
Down, down, down. Oi.
The North Rim Trail above.
Scrub oak.
Sandy banks.
Nearing the bottom with Dry Creek.
The bottom. Phew! That was about 3/10ths of a mile down. Which means we will have to climb 3/10ths of a mile back up at the end. Oi.
Dry Creek is quite frozen here.
Downstream.
Back to a nice wide trail.
It looks like the creek fans out here.
More scrub oak.
Bottom of the gully.
Major trail split.
One of the new trail signs. This is helpful! So forward it is.
Last time we were here we went left and did the Dry Creek Trail. This is the terminating northeast end of that trail. The other side ends at the Wrangler Trailhead to the west. It stays near the bottom of the gully for the most part. We have done pretty much all of it, in pieces, but we might revisit it again sometime.
Here the trail switches from dirt, to woodchips. This is another frustrating thing about the park, that trail surfaces change even along the major trails!
So from here on, this is new trail to us.
Some open desert.
Last light on ridges around Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Last light on Mount Jordan. I should have taken this as a sign to turn back… but I was on a mission to reach where we left off last time.
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Panoramic.
More trail.
The creek below.
Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Bottom of the gully.
View down.
Continuing along.
First real snowy hike of the season.
Fading light on the mountains.
Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Mount Jordan.
The last bit of light.
4 way intersection… with no sign. I figured forward was probably the way to go, and was correct. Phew!
I am not 100% sure, since again, no sign, but I suspect left is the far east end of the Mountain View Trail? Meh, We will have to redo the trail again to be sure. But this looks to be about the right place for it. We have done a good chunk of that trail, but not all of it quite yet. That trail kind of connects the other 3 main trails.
Big clearing below.
Little bit of a climb.
Mount Jordan.
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Panoramic.
Back to the climb.
Restoration area.
The big clearing again.
The trail.
The other side of the gully.
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Another panoramic.
Fox Point above.
The Dimple Dell Road Trailhead across the way. And the Dimple Dell Wetlands Pond is hiding behind the trees in there somewhere. This is the big elbow, so now the trail will slowly start to swing from south to west.
The trail.
Fox Point again.
Another major junction.
This one is signed.
It even has one of the old trail marker posts too.
Anyway, you want to stay forward. Right is an official connector trail that will take you up to Fox Point and the Dimple Dell Trail.
Fox Point above.
The wood chips stop at that junction, or well, at least on this trail. They continue up to the point. So we are back to dirt on this trail. One of my long time gripes about the canyon has always been that the trail surface changes, even along these main trails. Which among other things, makes it confusing when trying to follow some of these trails.
Across the canyon towards the Dimple Dell Road Trailhead again.
Fox Point above.
Curving towards the west.
Mount Jordan. And I can just make out the edge of Dimple Dell Pond, again obscured by the trees.
The Dimple Dell Road Trailhead again.
The former site of the Dimple Dell Amphitheater.
Heading west now. With a faint sunset.
The gully below.
Again.
Starting to see a little less snow since now we are on a south facing slope.
The lovely hills.
Across the gully.
Sandy Trail.
Another restoration area.
Down into the gully.
Mount Jordan behind us.
Random picnic table. This would probably be a great spot for a picnic actually. It is a good ways away from any trailhead.
Plus the view!
Bridge below. That is on another official connector trail that connects the Dry Creek Trail to the Mountain View Trail.
There are a couple more thin spots, but still not too bad.
Fading light.
Another unsigned trail split. We decided, correctly, that left seemed more likely.
Old fence posts.
Continuing along.
Landslide scar.
Like the other side of this trail, this side is kind of like a gentle roller coaster going up and back down over several ridges.
Along the slope.
Another landslide scar.
Both of them.
Short trail out to a tiny little sub-peak. I was tempted, but we were running out of light and I really was hoping to hit the part that we left off last time. So, maybe next time.
More scrub oak.
Across the slope.
View across the gully.
Mount Jordan behind us.
More trail.
We hit 1.5 miles about here, so we should be close to where we left off last time. So, I decided to push on just a little bit further.
But, It is really starting to get dark. I decided to push on to the next ridge to see if I could recognize the area. Either way, we decided that would be far enough, and we were really pushing it with the light at this point anyway.
Another small sub-peak.
Looking back at Mount Jordan.
View to the west.
Starting back. Wait a minute... Yes! This is exactly where we left off last time! What are the odds? I had resigned to the fact that we might have missed a small section, but nope. I am generally pretty good at recognizing places we have been, particularly this recently, but I think the low light threw me off a bit today. My camera picked up a little more light than my eyes so yes, now this looks familiar.
Image from last time for comparison.
Well, now we just need to cruise back and hope we make it back before it gets too dark.
Double timing it back.
Mount Jordan.
Continuing along.
The gully below.
Behind us, the valley is starting to light up.
The gully again. It is starting to get a little too dark for photos. Oof. But I mean, as far as getting caught in the dark on a trail, this is definitely not the worst one for that to happen. We have headlamps just in case, but my night vision was holding up, so we didn't them them today.
Mount Jordan.
Fox Point at the big elbow.
Which means we are starting to switch from heading east to north.
The Dry Creek Trail Split.
Have you ever been walking in the woods, daylight, dusk, nighttime, whatever and have your hackles suddenly stand up? Yeah…. that totally happened just before here. Could be something spooky, or more likely, my subconscious picked up signs of a predator. So high alert, lets get the hell out of here!
The final climb up and out of the canyon. It’s only about 3/10ths of a mile, but it sure seemed like more.
The gully below.
Ahh, we made it to the top. Phew!
Orion (my favorite constellation) rising over Mount Jordan.
Back to the trailhead. Woo.
Well, aside from screwing up our timing today and getting stuck in the dark, and the long climb at the end, I really, really enjoyed this trail! I am definitely going to have to try again with a little bit more daylight next time. It’s a little funny, I have been kind of avoiding this trail cause I thought I might struggle on it, but nope, I was delighted to find there were no scary steep slopes. We only ran into a few people, so it was nice and quiet. It might be my new favorite in the park. 10 out of 10 squirrels.
As for difficulty, there is a tough climb back up, but it is short. I think it still falls within my DR3 Category.
Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.
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