Michelle and I hiked up to 7,000 feet on the Cherry Canyon Logging Trail. We knew that the temperature was going to get into the 90’s so we made a plan. We set our alarm for 4:00 am. Yes, we’re that dedicated! We arrived at the trailhead at 6:00 am and the temperature was in the 60s. The sun was already up, but it was on the other side of the mountains, so we didn’t need flashlights to see the trail. We managed to catch some dawn colors as we were hiking up (as you’ll see in the pictures below). We had planned to get as far as we could and were optimistic that we could reach 8,000 feet. Unfortunately, my legs did not cooperate. I need to work on my fitness level (so stay tuned for a future hike up this trail). Our bucket list contains a full hike to the summit. I’m still a bit skeptical about my ability to get past the rock scramble near the summit, but we’ll see.
The parking lot was nearly empty. Usually, by afternoon people start parking on the road. Arriving at an empty parking lot was a bonus.
There is a network of trails that you have to climb to get to the Cherry Canyon Logging trailhead. Be careful of the Bonneville Shoreline trailhead. The Cherry Canyon Logging trail sign points to the left, which indicates that the trailhead starts down the path.
The Trail
The trail starts with a bunch of steep switchbacks. Do not attempt this with a cheap pair of tennis shoes. We have shoes made for hiking and they had just enough grip to get up the steep inclines.
This trail is heavily traveled, which makes it nice for two reasons: If you get injured, someone will pass by in the next five to ten minutes, and the trail is a bit wider than trials like Trail of the Eagle.
Eventually there is a flat spot with a bunch of boulders. It’s a great place to sit on a rock and rest. The view is incredible as well.
There are more switchbacks. Every time I looked up, all I could see was that the top was just a few more switchbacks.
I wanted to go further up the incline at the end. The trail goes straight for a while before going into another set of switchbacks. Unfortunately, my legs were done at that point and I couldn’t push them any further. In fact, sore legs made it rather hazardous to walk back down because my legs were shaking as I descended the steep slopes.
Here’s a picture from our apartment in South Jordan (at the time of this writing) that shows where we hiked to (at 7,000 feet). I identified this spot from the google maps 3D view (see the red arrow below).
Paragliding
If you’re one of the paragliders that passed us on the trail, post your email in the message (I’ll remove your email after I get it, also, posts are moderated so they’ll never be published). Or you can email me at frank@decaire.net. I’ll give you a link to download the 25-megapixel versions.
