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Big Mountain to Beer Bar: A City Creek Canyon Expedition

October 18, 2019 by Amiee

Running through City Creek meadows.

We’ve been talking about this run for at least three years. It was one of those runs I talked about doing all the time, but never actually planned it and then somehow find myself welted up from stinging nettle calling my husband for a rescue at the bottom of City Creek on a random Saturday in June.

This was supposed to be a reconnaissance run to see if we could find any semblance of a trail heading into City Creek off the Great Western Trail or we would have brought beer money. On trail maps of the Salt Lake City foothills, the City Creek Canyon trail tends to peter out a mile or two above Rotary Park, but on some older maps you can squeak out a faint dotted line that continues on from Rotary Park to Upper City Creek eventually connecting with the Great Western Trail.    

The headwaters of City Creek Canyon?

The mouth of City Creek Canyon is just steps away from downtown Salt Lake City, and until the late 1800s, was the primary water supply for Salt Lake City. The headwaters are just 8 miles up canyon, and the creek continues to supply the Avenues neighborhood and much of downtown with water today. Due to rampant recreation use and pollution concerns, the canyon was completely closed to the public from 1952 to 1966 and public access was not allowed above the water treatment plant until 1975. 

In the early 1900s, the water was forced underground along North Temple Street to the Fair Park where the water then entered the Jordan River and onto Great Salt Lake. Not to be relegated to the underworld forever, City Creek infamously turned State Street into a raging river during the Flood of 1983 and there’s a group working to unearth City Creek along the Folsom Corridor today.

Wading through upper City Creek to avoid the nettle.

Like many of the best adventures, I was in no way prepared for this run. Wheels, Watermelon, and I had (what I thought) simply planned an out and back run from Big Mountain Pass keeping an eye out for a trail leading into City Creek Canyon as preliminary research for a someday down the road adventure. Once we found a faint trail of sorts heading down into what appeared to be the top of City Creek Canyon, I quickly realized I had misunderstood the objectives of this run. Apparently, if we found the trail, we were going to take it and next thing I know I’m begrudgingly thrashing through scrub oak and getting needled to death by stinging nettle. I had only packed enough water and food for a 2-hour run and this was going to take all day. Plus I totally would have worn different shoes.

Turns out the bloody snow you find in summer is actually green algae containing a red pigment and is officially known as watermelon snow.

There was way more of a trail than I would have ever guessed considering we could find no information about such trail online and a hunting friend that spends a lot of time back there told us there was absolutely no trail. The trail was definitely overgrown and sometimes it was easier to just walk through the stream (to avoid the death nettle!), but there was in fact a trail from the Great Western Trail through Upper City Creek Canyon to Rotary Park. There was also plenty of bear scat, a rattling rattlesnake hiding in the weeds that we couldn’t actually see – eek, a Utah Rubber Boa sighting, a view of the Louis Meadow SNOTEL station, and a random rusted barrel that I’m hoping was from the clandestine City Creek distillery in operation during prohibition. 

Old distillery barrel?

The run’s main objective was to see if we could get to the Beer Bar in downtown Salt Lake from Big Mountain via the Great Western Trail and bottom of City Creek Canyon (route GPS). If this was indeed our plan, why hadn’t we brought cash or arranged a shuttle because now we will need to do this whole thing again! But next time with pants and long sleeves since it took days to stop itching and I’m still waiting for the four-inch scar on my thigh to fade from getting impaled with a branch and summersaulting into a nettle bush. 

That’s not to say we didn’t wind up at the Beer Bar anyway…

 

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Filed Under: The Mountains, Trail Running Mountains Tagged With: Microadventures, Salt Lake City, Trail Running, Utah

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Next Post: Monday Mojo 22 – West Desert Season & Donkeys »

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Comments

  1. Marie Kurzynske says

    October 19, 2019 at 5:44 am

    Love reading all your adventures. My health is such that I can’t do those things, but in my mind I’m right there with you. I’ll take a Pina colada…..

  2. Kimberly Brown says

    October 23, 2019 at 9:57 am

    Yay for adventure! I wish I had all day to spend searching for trails. Someday perhaps…

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☕️⛰🐶🍺Salt Lake City, Utah 🇺🇸

I still don’t quite understand how one can “ow I still don’t quite understand how one can “own” a bazillion years of geological time 🤔
New obsession, desert ice! New obsession, desert ice!
Not sure if either one of us is ever going to get Not sure if either one of us is ever going to get used to these average Monday morning run views (not a fan of how close he gets to the edge though).
Was worried I’d miss the snow living in the dese Was worried I’d miss the snow living in the desert this winter. Guess I don’t have to 🤷🏼‍♀️
Took my mom on her first slot canyon adventure the Took my mom on her first slot canyon adventure the other week. She said she learned those moves watching Ninja Warriors 😂 We then ticked off another of her bucket list items and had dinner at @hellsbackbonegrill (holy moly carrot cupcake desert, no photos cuz we enjoyed every second!). Now she just needs to buy a horse or at least find one to borrow and her winter in the desert will be complete (although she still has four more months here)!
Day 41 in a tent. Temps never got above freezing t Day 41 in a tent. Temps never got above freezing today. Hotel tomorrow 😜
A few bits of fall in the desert now that I live h A few bits of fall in the desert now that I live here 🌵🍂 💛
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