Eats and Feets

I’ve been hearing for some time now about Ferguson Canyon. It’s supposed to be a great place to hike, rock climb, and trail run. Just a little south of Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, this seemed like a great hike in the Wasatch Mountains so we made the trek across the Salt Lake Valley.

Getting to Ferguson Canyon

To get to Ferguson Canyon, take exit 6 on the I-215, which is UT-190. Go towards Little Cottonwood Canyon, but go past it. Continue on Wasatch Boulevard, Then turn left on 3835 East. While it’s on a neighborhood road, you’ll see the trailhead along with a small parking lot. The beginning of the trail looks a little industrial, but trust me, it gets better.

Hiking Ferguson Canyon

Just like the Mueller Park trail, Ferguson Canyon is pretty crowded. It was a weekend when we went, and we saw lots of dogs and people. It was getting a little packed. The main trail supposedly leads back to a waterfall, but to avoid the crowd we found a smaller trail to the side and took the road less traveled.

I’m not sure how many of these offshoots are along the way, but this one was great. We didn’t run into a single other person, and the trail was a lot steeper than the original, leading to a better view. Eventually the trail looped around back to the original, but before that there were plenty of places where you could rock climb. We found some cool spots and had some great views of the city below us.

I’ve heard that since the trail is so popular, you can walk this trail in the winter snow without any problems, but if you’re some of the first people out it may be a little difficult. There’s enough tree cover around the main trail once you get going that I can’t imagine there would be too much snow on the ground. On the side trail though, there were basically no trees. Since it’s been so warm with this crazy Utah weather snow wasn’t an issue for us.

All along the main trail there is a small creek going by. It was cool to walk along it, but even cooler to find a small spring as well. The water was beautiful, and easy to cross in places where the offshoot trails were.

Tips for Hiking the Trail

Next time we go back (which we definitely will) we will travel the main trail to see the waterfall. While this will be cool, don’t be afraid on your trip to take the smaller trails along the way. I’m sure there are many of them, leading to better climbing spots. It is important to note that if you do bring your dog, there is what seems to be a strict leash enforcement. We saw lots of people with their dogs off leash, but the signs all seemed to mean business when discouraging taking the dogs off.

If you’ve been to Ferguson Canyon, what’s your favorite part of the trail?