Random Rambler: Ferguson Canyon

Ferguson Canyon is a little canyon next to Big Cottonwood Canyon in Sandy. The trail features a lovely forest, wildflowers, a creek, and steep cliffs (which offer some popular climbing crags). In the spring time there is also a little waterfall to enjoy.

For our bonus day off I couldn’t decide what to do really, and then I remembered this trail. It has been a good couple of years since we have done it so what the heck, lets do it again!

Quick Details:

Length: It is about 2 miles to the overlook (or 4 to Storm Mountain), we did about 2.5 out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back
Difficulty: DR4. It is a constant climb that is quite rocky. I would bump it up to a DR5 to keep going beyond what we did today.
Elevation Gain: We did about 750 feet today.
Restroom: No. Closest one I can think of would be at the Big Cottonwood Canyon Park and Ride Lot. Otherwise you would need to find a gas station.
Dogs? Yes, leashed! Be advised, plenty of people ignore the tons of signs saying they must be leashed. So, if your dog doesn’t handle unleashed dogs well, you may want to skip it.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i215 to the 3000 E./Wasatch Blvd. Stay in 2nd ln to the left to go on Wasatch, and turn right onto it. Stay in the left lane, go up the hill. Go past Big Cottonwood canyon, and take the first left afterwards. Immediately turn right. Take the 2nd left. Or just follow the signs.

7721 Timberline Dr, Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121

If the parking lot is full, there is overflow parking towards the bottom of Prospector Dr. This will add 3/10’s of a mile (one way). It is now also a small park called Ferguson Park

7722 S Prospector Dr, Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121

New fancy sign.

They have updated the directional signs that help you get there. They were a little harder to spot at first, but once we knew what to look for it was pretty obvious.

Sign directing you to overflow parking if the lot is full. As it says, do not park on the street!

The Trail:

The trail starts out as an old service road.

Area rules.

One of the MANY signs saying dogs must be leashed. And yet, people still ignore them all. Personally, I would not risk the fine.

Heading up.

Gate to prevent cars from going up.

Trails sign. We tried to get here from Big Cottonwood Canyon once, but lost the trail. Maybe we will try from up here some day.

Beyond the gate the trail levels out a bit.

More signs advising it is a leash area.

Downtown Salt Lake City.

Beetles in a sunflower.

Panoramic view of the valley.

Water tank.

There is an excellent viewpoint up here.

Downtown again.

The water tank again.

Another trailhead kiosk.

Trail counter.

Daisy like flowers.

Another water tank on the other side of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Ferguson Canyon.

Wait a minute… There aren’t switchbacks here? What the heck?

I was sure this was not the right trail and we got off track.

Ah! Now it looks familiar again! Okay, they rerouted that part.

Ah, there is where the original trail connected. Yay, I am not crazy! It was pretty steep, so the new switchbacks are kind of nice actually, other than making me feel crazy for a minute. My crazy trail memory is usually helpful, but sometimes it freaks me out, like today.

This is new too, where the BST splits off. Maybe we will check that out soon.

Old sign post.

Continuing up. This is a bit more of a climb than I remembered.

And quite rocky!

Daisy like flowers.

Forest.

I’ve never noticed this before.

I thought it might be a spring at first, but it doesn’t seem to be overflowing… so maybe it is just a basin that caught some rain water?

Granite boulder.

Thimbleberry leaves.

Continuing the climb.

Moss covered rock.

Continuing up.

Goldenrod.

Rocky trail.

Small clearing.

Reminder of the rules.

Forest Sign.

Forest.

Little stone steps.

Then the trail gets a little more thin and wild.

Rough horsetail, a plant that looks a lot like bamboo.

Its a little rough in here.

Broken tree. We haven’t been up here since the 2020 windpocolypse, or the rough 22/23 winter, but I imagine there was some damages in here from both events.

Entering the tight cliff area.

Cliffs.

This rock looks like a fat guys face.

Into the narrow canyon.

Neat fin. This is a popular spot for rock climbers.

Again.

Cliff on the other side.

Back to the fin.

Again.

With a suspended boulder.

Underneath. It makes a nice little window.

The back of the crevasse.

The cliffs.

Rock climber.

Yeah… totally not a sport I ever see myself getting into.

Another.

The cliffs above us.

More cliffs.

Rocky climb.

Cliffs.

Continuing along.

Burdock.

Cliffs above.

The other side of the canyon.

Super rocky.

Gnarly tree.

Fun little tree arch.

There is a small clearing here that we decided to take a quick break in. We also debated whether we wanted to keep going or just turn around here.

The arch again.

Gnarly tree.

Again. It appears to be a boxelder tree.

From the other side.

The little arch again.

Cliffs. Does anybody else see the creepy face?

Stitched panoramic of the boxelder tree. Not my best work haha.

Mushroom.

Big rock with a pretty crystal layer.

After a little rest we decided we would continue up a little bit more. Another rocky bit.

Little peak above.

Continuing along.

Burdock.

Goldenrod.

Lots of burdock.

Broken tree.

Thimbleberry leaves.

Oh, we found a little stream.

Which is supporting a very lush area.

Tiny waterfall.

Crossing the little stream.

Cliffs above.

Just below the awful scramble.

Small pool.

The little stream is trickling down from the rocks above.

Itty bitty waterfall between these boulders.

Longer exposure.

Above.

Below.

The pool again.

Rock fins.

Above here the trail becomes a steep, sandy scramble. There is a small waterfall up there, but, it can’t be more than a trickle right now. Above the waterfall is an overlook we haven’t been to yet, beyond that, the trail takes you to the top of Storm Mountain. We decided we were done now and decided to head back down.

Pretty forest.

Back down to the lush section.

Super lush.

Some evidence of attempted quarrying. You can learn more about that at the Temple Quarry Trail.

Thimbleberry leaves.

Broken tree.

Mushrooms.

Continuing down.

Dried lichen.

Back down to the gnarly box elder.

And the fun arch.

Forest.

Rocky trail.

More forest.

Rocky trail.

Forest.

Back to the tight cliff area.

I am seeing another face here. Our brains are wired to make sense of random shapes. So it's not super bizarre or anything. It is common enough to have a name: pareidolia.

Narrow canyon.

The "face" again.

More rocky trail.

Narrow canyon.

The “face” again.

Eventually the illusion breaks… or dissolves into a horribly disfigured face. o.O

Looking back up at the rocky, rocky trail.

Continuing around the cliff.

Looking back up again.

Cliffs.

Continuing down.

Mess of downed trees.

More.

Continuing down.

The little stone staircase again.

The small clearing again.

Down the rocky trail.

Pretty forest.

Big boulder.

The little pool again.

More forest.

More oaks leaves.

Back to the final little climb up out of the gully. Old trail to the left, reroute to to the right.

Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Heading up the switchbacks.

Onto the 2nd switchback.

The mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon below.

Some kind of structure above the houses on the other side. I wonder what it is? I kind of looked like a water tank, but looking at in on maps it doesn’t.

The final switchback.

The top of the original trail. It starting to fill in quite a bit, so I can see how I initially missed it.

Back to the water tank.

Downtown Salt Lake City.

The valley and Antelope Island off in the distance.

Cute little yellow flowers.

Closer.

Different yellow flowers… with some beetle porn.

Nice little viewpoint.

Panoramic of the view.

The water tank again. You know, the city is missing a prime opportunity by not slapping their logo on it, like South Salt Lake. It is in a prime viewing area.

Again.

No Trespassing sign.

Sunflower.

I was wondering why it was discolored here. Landis put together that it appears people throw rocks at it.

The pile of rocks seems to back that up. I asked Landis why would people do that? He said, I donno, it makes a DONG noise I guess. People are weird.

“Notice

Stay Back!
Radio-frequency energy may exceed exposure limits. If questions, contact facility owner.”

Well that is a little bit disconcerting.

The last push down.

A bunch of dead and dried out flowers. This hill is pretty earlier in the year.

The valley. I wanna say that is 7800 South, but I am not 100% sure.

Panoramic.

Continuing down.

The outdoor classroom.

Back down to the trailhead.

Todays path.

Well, that was fun! A little more tough, but fun nonetheless. It is a pretty canyon with fun rock formations and a pretty forest. I like it when the stream is flowing a little more, but that does add a little extra difficulty. The parking lot was pretty full, but we didn’t run across too many people today. 8 squirrels.