swmalone
Member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2016
- Messages
- 484
After spending the majority of the long weekend making Chili Verde for the freezer, dehydrating peaches, canning salsa, etc, etc, etc. We finally decided we should take advantage of the holiday and head out for a hike.
On Monday morning we headed out to Logan Canyon for a a hike. We drove a few miles up the canyon and then turned off on the Right Hand Fork road and headed to the trailhead for the Willow Creek trail. We had decided to give hike No. 11 in the "Cache Trails" book a shot. We had never hiked in this area so we were really looking forward to it. Hike No. 11 is titled Willow Creek to Little Cottonwood Creek Loop Trail. It is listed as 6.2 miles and classified as easy with parts of this hike being on the Great Western Trail.
The beginning of the hike is fairly shaded and as you hike close to the Right Fork the vegetation is pretty dense but the trail clear and well defined. As you hike and move away from the water the vegetation begins to change. After a couple of miles on a relatively well defined trail you encounter a switchback where you will leave the trail and begin to head generally NW for a while. This trail is far less travelled, but again as you progress the vegetation begins to change again. After a short while the trail starts to vanish and be criss-crossed with cattle trails. Eventually the trail just vanishes. This is the only part of the trail that I would classify as not easy. If a person is used to hiking on a well defined trail and just following it to its conclusion this area could cause some issues. We took off across and meadow and I decided to detour a bit uphill so I could hike through some sagebrush. After about .75 miles you reach a forest service road. You follow this road beginning to the west and after a couple of miles it eventually turns into a trail that will take you back to the corral that is just a short distance from the parking area.
We really enjoyed this hike and I think we will spend a bit more time in this area in the future. We also noticed what appeared to be some primitive campsites along the road as we drove to the trailhead. I will have to do some research and see if there are fees if these are free usage. They were all occupied at the time, but this could primarily due to the holiday weekend.
Hike Details
Distance: 6.85 miles
Time: 3 hours 7 minutes
Elevation Gain: 1237 ft
Here is a video with some short clips along the trail.
On Monday morning we headed out to Logan Canyon for a a hike. We drove a few miles up the canyon and then turned off on the Right Hand Fork road and headed to the trailhead for the Willow Creek trail. We had decided to give hike No. 11 in the "Cache Trails" book a shot. We had never hiked in this area so we were really looking forward to it. Hike No. 11 is titled Willow Creek to Little Cottonwood Creek Loop Trail. It is listed as 6.2 miles and classified as easy with parts of this hike being on the Great Western Trail.
The beginning of the hike is fairly shaded and as you hike close to the Right Fork the vegetation is pretty dense but the trail clear and well defined. As you hike and move away from the water the vegetation begins to change. After a couple of miles on a relatively well defined trail you encounter a switchback where you will leave the trail and begin to head generally NW for a while. This trail is far less travelled, but again as you progress the vegetation begins to change again. After a short while the trail starts to vanish and be criss-crossed with cattle trails. Eventually the trail just vanishes. This is the only part of the trail that I would classify as not easy. If a person is used to hiking on a well defined trail and just following it to its conclusion this area could cause some issues. We took off across and meadow and I decided to detour a bit uphill so I could hike through some sagebrush. After about .75 miles you reach a forest service road. You follow this road beginning to the west and after a couple of miles it eventually turns into a trail that will take you back to the corral that is just a short distance from the parking area.
We really enjoyed this hike and I think we will spend a bit more time in this area in the future. We also noticed what appeared to be some primitive campsites along the road as we drove to the trailhead. I will have to do some research and see if there are fees if these are free usage. They were all occupied at the time, but this could primarily due to the holiday weekend.
Hike Details
Distance: 6.85 miles
Time: 3 hours 7 minutes
Elevation Gain: 1237 ft
Here is a video with some short clips along the trail.