Explore the best rated trails in Little Cottonwood Creek Valley, UT, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Intermodal Hub Trail and Poison Creek Trail . With more than 41 trails covering 311 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Stayed at SLC KOA-ride down side street out of RV Park to the Little Cottonwood Park-can catch trail either north or south. We stayed and rode here in Oct of 2024-the south direction was blocked off at the time so we rode north. Cottonwood Park was a big homeless encampment but all that is cleared out now! Riding north is along the river for 5 miles and then it joins the Legacy Parkway Trail - it's just OK - BUT this year the north was blocked off so we were able to go south on the trail from Cottonwood Park. What a great ride. Really right on the water-lots of shade and curving path. Many parks and benches to stop at. Almost no homeless/aimless wanderers. We saw active police/city presence on the trail. There was a field off the trail that had 3 tents on it and a police car sitting there. By the time we returned the City was there with truck&trailer and had removed the encampment. Twice we saw a patrol car actually on the trail inching along checking for homeless. So this ride felt safer than our ride last October. We have never been bothered by the homeless although I know it can happen. We have ridden many trails with this problem (Tucson and CA) particularly. We liked this ride so much stayed an extra day and did it again. We only rode 12 miles down and then back-lots more miles we were not able to do.
We stayed at Riverside RV Resort. Ride 0.4 mile from the RV park on Cottonwood St (no traffic) and you are the southern start of the trail. The first 2 miles are dirt (good dirt) smoother than some parts of the trail! Really great ride along the river. The Trail has some really smooth sections/some with pesky tree root upheavals/some with cracks. But it has all the things I love about good trails: lots of shade/hugs the river (beautiful)/ plank bridges back and forth across the river/NOT straight-lots of beautiful winding curves/lots to look at-flowers, ducks,geese. IMO not a high speed trail-just a cruiser due to some trail conditions. But we liked it so much stayed an extra day and rode it again.
Let's talk Trail Quality & Safety: Like all trails we've skated, or cycled, over 3 plus decades, we've found most trails are simply not maintained. Legacy is another of those underfunded trails with deteriorated pavement, tar snakes, pavement gaps, and treacherous wooden bridge crossings with popping planks, in other words unsafe for skating. Legacy trail is in dire need or resurfacing. You're okay peddling a bike, but on skates or even running, it's surface quality is sketchy at best.
If only the municipalities along it's corridor, responsible for it's maintenance and upkeep, would invest the funding necessary to make Legacy a top rate trail. Trail maintenance is funded through municipal budgets, as cities and counties cannot bond public tax dollars for upkeep and maintenance. As result most trails in Utah, like Legacy, fall victim to no funding or priority given by municipalities for their upkeep. Despite decades of advocating request fall upon deaf ears. It's been disappointing to say the least to see such potential for what could be a top notch trail have basic maintenance be ignored.
Utah also needs laws for e-bikes on their trails. A 60# e-bike moving at +30mph poses threat to runners, skaters, walkers, and cyclists.
Every adventure available. Although I just heard some of the downtown paths are being shut down. Lots of homeless, drugs, anything you want. So that adventure will end for a while while the homeless find new places to live along the river. The never ending battle. Salt Lake just doesn’t want to fix any problems that federal funding doesn’t take care of. So they just push the problem around the valley. Interesting but it makes for a great adventure along the river. Great trail. Be sure and check out the Saratoga Hot Springs down by Utah Lake.
I really enjoyed this trail. As a cycling and mom I would visit it again in biking with my kiddos but not for serious workout cycling
I love this trail from Taylorsville to Saratoga springs. The more northern part has some sketchy parts you probably want to peddle fast in. I also wouldn’t take kids on the more northern part of it but from Taylorsville south it is great for kids and families!
Very short trail but a great one if you want to do a trail clean up.
Great for cycling but a part of the trail is closed almost every other week but I enjoy it still . More north has great hills to get a good workout
This is a beautiful ride, but so many gates make it unbearable. Will not do it again.
We started at Ellison Park. Rode thru the park and a short distance on sidewalk and easily hit the trail. Ride about 6-7 miles south. Nice trail with more shade than expected but nowhere to stop at a picnic bench. Trail in between beautiful houses with interesting back yards. Sadly not a trail I would do again because of the zig zag barriers at every street. Had to walk bikes through them. Really not necessary as the streets were not busy ones. The barriers were more of a hazard themselves.
We rode this Oct 1st. We stayed at Lakeside RV Campground and were able to ride right out of the CG to the trail. The first 2-3 miles are so beautiful by the river and with a huge tree canopy. There are some pesky tree roots that have gone under the trail pavement making bumps. We just try to ignore the inconvenience. There’s a closure that’s shown on the map but an easy to follow diversion to get around and back on the trail. Then it goes thru some parks and underpasses and behind some nice houses.
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