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Donut Falls is a small waterfall in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The trail features a nice forest, a creek, and of course probably the most unique waterfall along the Wasatch Front. The water flows through a hole in the rock into a small cave below, before tumbling over a hill of fallen boulders.
Another adventure with our walking group. Last time we did the lower section of this trail, so today we decided to do the upper section. Since this is a group hike it is not a detailed. Here is a more detailed guide.
Quick Details:
Length: It is about 1.5 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop option.
Difficulty: DR3. It's a little bit of a climb, but it is pretty mild.
Elevation Gain: About 400 feet.
Restroom: Yes. There is a vault toilet at the Summer Trailhead. There are Flush Toilets at the bottom.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is protected watershed.
Other Info: This is now a fee area. $10.00 for a 3 day pass.
To Get Here:
From Wasatch BLVD, drive 8.9 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. Turn right, continue up Cardiff Road for about 3/4 of a mile into the small parking lot. If the parking lot is full, there is limited street side parking, but pay close attention to the signs! If you park outside of the approved areas the rangers will ticket you. You are better off parking at the lower lot and hiking up on foot if you are not sure. It will add about a mile each way.
Heading up Big Cottonwood Canyon (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).
Some pretty fall color (PSP).
Again (PSP).
Heading up Cardiff Road (PSP).
Some aspens just starting to turn (PSP).
More (PSP).
After the cabins the road becomes a dirt road (PSP).
Continuing up (PSP).
The Trail:
Trailhead kiosk. Note, it still says bridge out ahead. I suspected that the bridge had not been restored yet, so I suggested we continue up the forest road alternate route instead. The bridge got taken out with the runoff from the epic 2022/23 winter. There is a log crossing now, but we figured some of the group could not do that.
Color on the other side of the canyon.
The self service fee station. Or you can pay it on your phone. We just get the year pass. We visit these areas often enough to warrant it.
Heading back down to the forest road.
Mill D North Fork.
Gate to prevent cars from going up. But you can absolutely hike up.
Immediately after you hit a hairpin turn.
Geraniums.
More, getting the fall change on.
An aspen also getting in on the change.
Continuing up.
More leaves getting the change on.
Gnarly tree roots.
Continuing up.
More color.
The creek below.
More geraniums.
Spent fireweeds.
Some color above the creek.
The gully gets a little narrow through here.
Pretty hillside.
The gully.
The creek.
One of several little side streams crossing the trail through here.
More color.
Some spent fireweeds.
The creek.
Closer look of the small waterfall.
Longer exposure.
The top of the gully.
The gully.
The creek.
Gnarly roots.
Mossy rock.
More mossy rocks.
More gnarly roots.
Fork in the road. You want to go left here.
I love these bluish rocks that are worn smooth from all the hikers.
The alternate trail and main trail connect here. I was curious what the status of the bridge on the main trail was so I wandered the 20 feet over to it. Yep, still out. The log crossing looks better than it did last time we were here. I think I could do it now. As I mentioned the epic 2020/23 winter took out the bridge. They do have plans to replace it, they just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Continuing up.
Lovely forest.
Again go left.
Nice forest.
Kessler Peak.
Some aspens starting to change color.
Some geraniums changing too.
Continuing up.
Avalanche scar.
More aspens.
The small boulder face you have to climb down. Unfortunately some members of our group couldn’t make it down this. But they were okay to wait for us while we continued up. It isn’t much further.
Into the gully.
It is another narrow gully.
More spent fireweeds.
Narrow gully.
First glimpse of the waterfall.
Again.
Again.
Crossing the creek. It’s not so bad when the water level is this low.
Warning sign to not climb the rocks. Load and loads of people do it anyway, but I guess this covers their ass. They warned you, so if you get hurt, you can’t sue. But seriously, I know that at least 1 person has died here.
The waterfall.
Lower tier.
The donut of Donut Falls.
Lower tier.
The whole thing again.
Quick video.
The donut again.
We were not up for the scramble up to it today. Not to mention, we are rapidly losing light and had people waiting for us.
Heading back down.
Gnarly tree.
Narrow gully.
The creek.
The narrow gully with some Dr. Seuss trees.
Eventually we made it back up out of the gully and back to our friends. Now we just need to make it back down to the parking lot.
Reed and Benson Ridge.
Aspens.
Continuing down. It is getting dark pretty quickly. We uh, better pick up the pace.
Where the main trail splits off to the right. We thought about going down that, but decided to stay on the road due to the dwindling light.
Down into the lower gully. It is starting to get a little dark for pictures.
But we were smart and brought flashlights and headlamps. Personally I prefer to use my night vision when I can. Obviously there are some nights that just isn’t an option.
Todays Path. I didn’t realize it was such a straight path after the hairpin turn.
Well that was a fun hike with our friends! It was nice to get up into the mountains and get some of our friends who don’t do that very often up here again. It would seem we need to start getting a little earlier of a start, but meh, this wasn’t the worst trail to get caught in the dark on. 8 squirrels today
As for difficulty, it is a pretty easy climb. DR3.
Dogs are not allowed in Big Cottonwood Canyon due to protected watershed. Be sure to leave Fido home for this.
