Best Hiking Near Salt Lake City
There is no shortage of great hiking near Salt Lake City, with so many canyons just a short drive from the city. Peaks, reservoirs, waterfalls, a suspension bridge, fall colors, temples… you name it, it’s on the list! You don’t even have to leave the Salt Lake Valley to get to these fun trails plus there’s nothing on our list over 2.5 miles, so they’re all kid friendly and relatively easy.
Here are our 6 favorite trails for the best hiking near Salt Lake City:
So if you’re looking for something a little closer to Salt Lake without having to drive up the winding canyon roads (maybe even the thought of Big Cottonwood‘s famous S-curve makes you a little queasy), there are actually some great options in the foothills nearby.
1. Hike Ensign Peak
The trailhead for Ensign Peak is in a residential area near downtown SLC and the trail itself is less than 1 mile roundtrip, making this the perfect hike if you’re visiting downtown and just want something quick and easy. There’s a monument to Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers who climbed the peak to survey the valley and envision the city settlement they planned to build. Now it’s a great place to view the Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake’s Temple Square, the downtown cityscape, the Great Salt Lake, and basically the entire Salt Lake valley.
And don’t miss Temple Square at Christmas – the lights and the nativities make for some of the best Christmas activities in Utah!
2. Rocky Mouth Falls
Brittany grew up just a few minutes from this trailhead in Sandy and introduced it to me when we were dating. Now we take our kids to hike Rocky Mouth Falls often, because it’s such a conveniently located, easy trail. The parking lot is right off Wasatch Boulevard, then you walk up some stairs and a short trail in between your typical nice-but-too-big East Bench homes and within 10 minutes you’re at the base of the falls. Even though it’s more like a steep walk through the ‘burbs, you still end up feeling secluded and it’s a nice place to soak in the sights and sounds of the outdoors without a lot of effort.
3. Bells Canyon Reservoir & Lower Bell Canyon Falls
Are you team Bell Canyon or Bells Canyon? There’s a fierce, ongoing debate at our house over the name of this popular trail and you’ll find both online. AllTrails says it’s Bell Canyon and Google Maps says it’s Bells Canyon. Either way, this a great trail and one of the best hikes near Salt Lake City! If you want something a little easier and kid-friendly, try the 1.5 mile roundtrip hike to Lower Bell Canyon Reservoir via Boulders Trailhead. If you want a more strenuous hike, try the 4.6 miles roundtrip to Bell Canyon to Lower Falls. There are two trailheads – the Granite Trailhead at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon and the Boulders Trailhead on Wasatch Boulevard.
4. Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge in Draper
Did you know there is a suspension bridge nestled in the foothills of Draper? It was built in 2015 along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. The easiest way to hike to it is from Orson Smith Park and it’s about 2.3 miles round trip along part of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.
What makes this one of the best hikes near Salt Lake City is that it has some pretty awesome views of the Salt Lake Valley, then you take a few switchbacks up the mountain and all of a sudden you stumble across this mini-Golden Gate Bridge-looking bridge that spans a small canyon.
It’s a little on the long side for our small kids, but my son loved pretending to be a knight guarding the bridge from the bears. There are no bears that I’m aware of, but it is called Bear Canyon, so his imagination ran wild. It’s also a great place to see fall colors! We recommend hiking in the spring or fall when the temps are cooler, anyway. There is no shade along the trail, so hiking it in the summer with kids wouldn’t be much fun.
5. Neff’s Canyon
Even though Neff’s Canyon is rated as a hard 7 miles, we still recommend it, even with kids – and that’s because you don’t have to hike the whole trail to enjoy it! It’s one of our favorite places to see the fall leaves plus about a mile or less into the hike there’s a fun spot to hang out and play in the stream, swing on a rope swing, and walk through some make-shift teepees made out of tree branches. This is one of the best hikes near Salt Lake City if you want to get treated with some excellent valley views with the sun setting over the Great Salt Lake.
6. Corner Canyon Hiking Trails – Coyote Hollow
Corner Canyon is better known for its mountain biking trails but there are actually hiking trails as well. Near the Draper temple, navigate to the Coyote Hollow trailhead and park there. These trails are well-shaded by all the scrub oak and other trees, so it’s a good one to do even in the summer heat. But this is another one of our favorite spots near Salt Lake for seeing fall colors. And it’s another trail that you can just hike up until you feel like turning around or you can actually go up to the top of Suncrest. We usually just go to where we can view the Draper Temple and then turn around. It’s a fun, easy hike with kids.
Did any of these make it onto your Utah bucket list? Let us know!
Happy trails! 🤘🏻
-JJ
Our family is on a mission to experience the best our home state of Utah has to offer and help other families find affordable, kid-friendly adventures in the process. You can follow us on Instagram @theminivanbucketlist or download our free printable Utah Bucket List for a list of the top hikes in the great state of Utah, both for kid-friendly and more adventurous hikes.
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