Random Rambler: Oktoberfest at Snowbird 2026

Oktoberfest at Snowbird is a fun festival in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It features traditional Bavarian food and music, and of course plenty of beer to enjoy There are also plenty of other activities as well. It is getting a little big for it’s britches though and is starting to become very, very crowded. But, its still fun, even with the traffic jam we got stuck in.

Quick Details:

Length: Depends on how much exploring you do. We did about 3 miles.
Trail Type: Meander.
Difficulty: DR2. It is paved, but a little hilly. All stairs have elevator or ramp options.
Elevation Gain: We did about 400 feet.
Restroom: Several.
Dogs? No. Little Cottonwood Canyon is protected watershed.
Other Info: Fee area. The festival itself is free, but they now charge to park. Plus you know, food, drinks, and activities cost money.

To Get Here:

Drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon about 6.7 miles from the Park N Ride lot. Find parking. They will let you know if the various lots are full.

Some patches of color on the mountains above (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon (PSP).

Again (PSP).

Small patches of color (PSP).

Better patches towards the top (PSP).

Then we hit the Oktoberfest traffic. Ooph.

More color (PSP).

Large scree field (PSP).

Again (PSP).

Little Cottonwood Creek (PSP).

Bumper to bumper traffic (PSP).

Some more color (PSP).

More color (PSP).

The tram heading up (PSP).

Continuing up (PSP). We got tricked into thinking there was a spot a few times due to little cars.

Long line of cars behind us (PSP).

The mountain above (PSP).

Bungee station (PSP).

We turned off for what we thought was a parking spot, which turned out to be a little car pulled all the way in (why do people with little cars do that?). But, it did lead us to an open spot! So it worked out.

Some color across the way.

The Trail:

The Hellgate Cliffs.

Little Cottonwood Creek.

Again in a narrow gully.

Cliff.

Some pretty color above.

Into the festival.

The neat triple truss bridge.

Cliffs and color.

Into the crowd. Holy crap.

After procuring some beer, we wandered down through the venders.

They even had several cornhole games.

Mountains.

Into the Main Tent. We were not quite ready for food, but our friends we were meeting were.

Band playing traditional music, including the Chicken Dance. Landis wondered how often they played the Chicken Dance, I believe we heard it at least twice today.

Little Cottonwood Creek again.

How cute is that! They turned one of the old tram cars into a little café!

The coaster and some bounce houses. I wanted to ride the coaster again this year, but it just didn’t happen. But I remember enjoying it a few years ago.

One of the new tram cars coming down. I actually wanted to ride up on them this year, but it’s 58 bucks a person!

The new cars have an open air upper deck. Nope. nope nope nope. Not to mention they make you pay extra for that.

Heading into the garage.

The creek again.

Mountains.

Oh, this is called the Skiers Bridge. They have some vendors, beer, and little spots to hang out up here.

The creek heading down on the other side.

“Attention Snowbird no longer accepts cash. We accept all credit and debit cards. Reverse ATMs can be found throughout the village.”

Well, this is the first time I have ever heard of a reverse ATM. Weird.

The triple truss bridge.

Again. With the coaster behind it.

We decided to hangout next to the live music for a minute.

Under the bridge.

The band is Cinders. I actually kind of liked them.

More of the band.

Really getting into it.

A red-tail hawk soaring above.

Mountains.

Some color on the other side.

The bridge again.

Again.

Mountains.

The ropes course.

The bridge again.

The Snowbird logo.

Alright, now I was needing food so we split off from the group to go find something.

Some color on the mountains.

Cute little mining station. We found a similar one at Solitude during the Big Cottonwood Canyon Brew Fest.

We found some poutine to share, it absolutely hit the spot! And was a big enough serving for us to share. I was hoping for chicken schnitzel but they didn’t have that this year.

Back into the main tent to enjoy our poutine.

Window to some fall color.

Then to wander the vendors again.

We found a really cool artist called Iris Glow that does iris photography, and turns your irises into really neat art.

Helicopter.

We ended the day with this street performer. We saw him last year, he is talented and funny, so we figured we woud finish our beers with him.

Unicycle.

Well, it has 3 wheels, but I think it is still an unicycle, since they are stacked on top of each other? Maybe there is a better term.

Again.

Then he tosses in juggling knives on top of it.

Then balancing on multiple cylinders.

Woo. That is impressive.

Then he tossed the safety pole. Wewt.

Again, that was a fun way to end the festival. Now we were starting to think about what we were going to do for supper.

The triple truss bridge again.

Panoramic.

The tram heading back up.

Closer.

You can’t see the aptly named Hidden Peak that the tram leads to from this vantage.

Another panoramic.

Down canyon.

Mount Baldy above.

The stage.

The bridge again.

Did they get rid of the little luge ride thingy? I didn’t see it at all today, but I think that is the scar from where it was.

I looked at Google Earth, and it is still there as of this month, but I am not seeing it. Now I feel like I am taking crazy pills.

An ATM and the Reverse ATM. o.O. I guess you put cash in and get a prepaid card. I am curious what kind of fees are associated with that service.

The tram motors.

Cables.

The west end of the triple truss bridge. Note the stairs up to it. We will be back to this in just a moment.

Climbing Evolution statue.

“Born: December 21, 1929 Died: July 26, 2015

Climbing Evolution

Dick Bass of Dallas, Texas never planned to climb anything but out of bed in the morning, and he often said that was “tough enough”.

His attitude changed abruptly at Snowbird in the fall of 1980 when Marty Howey, one of the first female ski patrol women on a major mountain and the only guide on McKinley in Alaska told him in front of forty other Snowbird employees. “Bass, your hot air wont get you up that mountain”.

Dick immediately swore to himself that he would show Marty he could do anything that she could, and that started his mountain climbing career.

Dick climbed throughout the next four years (198101985), summiting the tallest peaks on Earths seven continents becoming the first person in the world to do so.

Asia - Everest - 25,035 ft. - Apr 30, 1985
South America - Aconcagua - 22,831 ft. - Jan 21, 1983
North America - McKinley - 20,820 ft. - Jul 6, 1983
Africa - Kilimanjaro - 19,840 ft. - Sept 1, 1983
Europe - Elbrus - 18,481 ft. - Sep 13, 1983
Antarctica - Vinson - 16,067 ft. - Nov 26,1983
Australia - Kosciuszko - 7,310 ft. - Dec 5, 1983

Marty fell to her death from 26,000 feet on Dicks’s first Everest attempt in 1982. On his fourth and finally successful effort he dedicated his seven summits accomplishments to Marty.

Sculptor: Edward J. Fraughton”

Wow. We are currently standing in a spot that is almost a thousand feet higher than Australia’s highest peak! And we have absolutely been even higher than that, just in this canyon alone. Just for shits and giggles Utah’s tallest peak is King’s Peak is 13,528 feet high.

Little Cottonwood Creek again.

Little waterfall.

Downstream, with the Skiers Bridge above.

Peaks above.

The triple truss bridge again.

Panoramic.

The Great Halle.

We decided to head back towards the car via the triple truss bridge. Again, the west side has stairs up to it.

Onto the bridge.

One of 2 little overlooks between the trusses.

View below.

The stage.

The creek below.

Again.

Into the middle truss. I am a little surprised to see it without people!

The coaster and some color.

The middle and west truss, and the platform in between.

The viewing platform.

The creek below.

Downstream.

The final truss.

The tram again.

Down canyon.

The bridge again.

Final truss.

The coaster and mountains.

Planters along the Cliff Lodge.

Mountains.

The creek.

Coming out from under the road.

Color across the canyon.

More color.

Now we get to deal with the traffic heading back down (PSP). Wee!

Little patches of color (PSP).

More color (PSP).

Above The Old Mill (PSP).

I was still really in the mood for some chicken schnitzel so we decided to head to the Bohemian for dinner. They are apparently holding their own Oktoberfest event.

Well, that was fun! The traffic, not so much though. The food was good, the beer was good, the entertainment was good. We got some neat custom art, and we got to enjoy some fall color. All in all it was a fantastic day in the mountains. 9 out of 10 squirrels. Losing 1 due to the traffic jam.