Getting to Know Mill Creek Canyon

It's been almost a year since we moved to SLC from Hyrum. There are quite a few things I miss about Cache Valley, but SLC has so much to offer that I don't spend much time pining away for my "old life." The one thing that I do miss to the point of my heart breaking a little is our once easy access to Blacksmith Fork Canyon. BFC was just a couple of miles from our front door. We could hike, fish, and camp there without ever seeing more than a handful of other folks. Brandon proposed to me in that canyon. We blessed our son in that Canyon. We buried our dog in that canyon.

The closest thing we have to a BFC in SLC is Mill Creek Canyon. It costs $3 per day to recreate there, you can't camp there, on odd-numbered days your dog has to be on a leash there (on trails, that is - leashes are required at all times in picnic areas), and it's so popular that you sometimes can't find a place to park. Despite all that, it's darn pretty and it's close, so I've decided to join tens of thousands of SLC residents in adopting it as my own.

It was in that spirit that last Tuesday, on the hottest day of the year (I did not factor this fact into my factoring, but it turned out to be a non-factor), I drove into MCC with my kids and went for a hike. I chose the Desolation Trail because the 2-mile distance to the Salt Lake Valley Overlook sounded at once ambitious and not too tough for Gavin. Viv would be riding in the backpack, so even at a pace of two miles per hour we'd be done hiking in a couple of hours. Perfect.

We left the parking area at 8:30 am and marched forth. Gavin started acting tired about an hour or so into the trek. I kept suggesting we turn around and head back, reminding him that the farther up we go, the longer the hike back. He kept insisting (in between rest stops) that we continue to the end. At one point a young couple who had passed us about 10 minutes prior hollered down to us that there was a rattlesnake on the trail. They had stopped and waited for us to catch up so that they could warn us and show us a way to avoid the snake altogether. So maybe crowded trails aren't such a bad thing after all...

Gavin was a trooper and Viv was a great sport. We did eventually make it all the way to the overlook. The kids were thrilled to have a chance to have a snack and climb around on the rocks. We made our way back down the trail and got back to the car FOUR HOURS after setting out. One mile per hour. Noted. Although there was some crying along the way (mostly the kids), and although it took a lot of prodding and encouragement (mostly on my part) to get to the top and back, and although my legs are still tired five days later, I'm glad we did it. We stayed relatively cool in the shade all along the way and we thoroughly enjoyed soaking our weary feet in Mill Creek at the end of it all.