Seven canyons of the Wasatch - Wasatch Range; Salt Lake City, Utah - includes canyons guide

Sunset, May, 1996

Like Rome's seven hills, seven canyons of the Wasatch Mountains have mightily shaped their city. For Brigham Young, the mountains were an obstacle, with Emigration Canyon the passageway to the promised land. But the snowpack enabled the Salt Lake Valley to bloom. More recently, the mountains helped Salt Lake City win the Winter Olympics.

The Wasatch and the canyons that crease them make Salt Lake the most outdoor-minded metropolitan area in the country. "That's the biggest surprise people have when they get here," says Salt Lake Tribune outdoor writer Tom Wharton. "How close the wilderness areas are."

Proximity and popularity bring problems, of course. The Wasatch face continual development pressure. "The canyons have to be left as pristine as possible," warns Wharton. "If you build there, then we don't have any place to escape."

RELATED ARTICLE: CANYONS GUIDE

Each of the Wasatch's canyons has its own personality. City Creek, Emigration, and Red Butte are dimples in low, rounded hills. Parleys and Millcreek are lush, Big Cottonwood knife-edged, and Little Cottonwood a classic glaciated U. All of them are beautiful.

* City Creek Canyon. This gentle canyon northeast of Temple Square was the site of the first gristmill in Salt Lake City. For years covered by asphalt, the canyon's lower reach has been resuscitated into twin parks (one owned by the city, the other by the church) on either side of Second Avenue. From the northern park you can follow the creek along Canyon Road 6 miles north through Memory Grove Park to Rotary Park - this is a popular route for Salt Lake joggers.

* Red Butte Canyon. "I think Red Butte is the most interesting canyon," says Mary Pat Matheson. As director of Red Butte Garden and Arboretum, Matheson is admittedly partial. But Red Butte, just above the University of Utah, is the most botanically pristine of the canyons, largely because its garden has been off-limits for decades. But you can visit the 150-acre, garden at the end of Wakara Way in Research Park; call 581-4747. Summer hours are 9 to sunset daily; admission costs $3, $2 ages 12 and under.

* Emigration Canyon. This is the place: the canyon with the triumphant history, where Brigham Young sighted the promised land. That history is celebrated in This is the Place State Park, which contains This is the Place Monument and Old Deseret Village. The park (which reopens on June 28) is at 2601 E. Sunnyside Avenue; call 584-8391 for hours and admission fees. Across the street at 2600 E. Sunnyside is Utah's Hogle Zoo, open 9 to 6 daily; call 582-1631.

Taking Emigration Canyon Road northeast from the state park will lead you to two good restaurants. The menu at Ruth's Diner (2100 Emigration Canyon; 582-5807) runs from hamburgers to Jamaican chicken (dinner entrees are in the $8 to $13 range). Santa Fe Restaurant (582-5888), next door, is a northern Utah outpost for Southwestern cuisine.

* Parleys and Millcreek canyon. Parleys is scenic, but Interstate 80 runs right through it. Millcreek, however, is where the Wasatch Mountains really begin to get spectacular. The canyon is so popular that Wasatch National Forest and Salt Lake County began charging a toll to enter, but the visit is worth the $2.25. To reach the canyon from downtown, take 1-15 south, 1-80 east, then 1-215 south to the 3900 South/Wasatch Boulevard exit; go north on Wasatch, then east on Millcreek Canyon Road.

Three and a half miles up the canyon lies the trailhead for Desolation Trail. A 1 3/4-mile hike leads you to a superb overlook of Salt Lake City. Farther up the canyon (9 1/2 miles from the tollbooth), Big Water Trail runs 2 1/2 miles uphill to lovely views of Desolation Canyon and Dog Lake.

If all that hiking makes you hungry, you're in luck. Millcreek inn (3 miles up Millcreek Canyon Road; 278-7927) is appealingly rustic, while Log Haven (4 miles up Millcreek Canyon; 272-8255) is elegant and refined, and serves a particularly good Sunday buffet.

* Big Cottonwood Canyon. Big Cottonwood is perhaps the most dramatic, its numerous and varied trails a hiker's dream. To reach the canyon from downtown, take 1-15 south, I-80 east, then 1-215 south; exit on 6200 South and follow the signs to Big Cottonwood Canyon Road (State 190).

One classic canyon hike begins 4 1/2 miles upcanyon, where the road makes a sharp S-turn. The 5 1/2-mile (round-trip) Lake Blanche Trail provides some of the best scenery the Wasatch have to offer, including a view of mirror-smooth Lake Blanche guarded by Sundial Peak - a scene so lovely it serves as the emblem for The Wasatch Mountain Club.

Farther up the canyon, past Brighton Ski Resort, the Wasatch National Forest has opened a new visitor center. From here, the 1/2-mile boardwalk Silver Lake Trail leads around the lake in a flat, easy loop. If you're feeling more ambitious, you can hike another 1 1/2 miles to Lake Solitude.

* Little Cottonwood Canyon. Home to Snowbird and Alta, Little Cottonwood is best known as a skier's playground, but the canyon is equally attractive in summer. To reach it from downtown, take I-15 south, I-80 east, then I-215 south; exit on 6200 South, continue south, and follow the signs to Little Cottonwood Canyon Road (State 210).