Lower City Creek Loop

The City Creek trail system is a real jewel of Salt Lake City, as a natural area near the heart of downtown and a legacy of the city’s original founding. City Creek is so named because the city was established at the mouth of its canyon in 1847. From then until now the creek has provided water for drinking and agriculture, thanks to reliable flow from snowmelt and natural springs in the mountains.

In order to protect the watershed, the slopes of the canyon have been largely spared from urban development, leaving space for scenic trails on the hillsides and leafy groves along the creek. Convenient access means you can start your walk along a city street, then hop on the trail to stroll among wildflowers and gaze at the downtown skyline, or relax in the shade and splash in the water. Dogs are allowed if kept on a leash, and there’s also an off-leash zone along a stretch of the creek.

The Lower City Creek Loop begins at Memory Grove Park on Canyon Road, and side trails connect it to other streets on either side of the canyon rim, so you have lots of options for where to start. Over the course of the loop you’ll walk some on pavement, but mostly on natural-surface trails, open to hikers only. The scenery includes hillside meadows where you’ll look over the city and the mountains, but you’ll also dip through stands of oak on the slopes and descend to forest on the bank of the creek. This loop has just the right distance and elevation gain for a casual morning or evening workout, but also feeds into longer trails that continue up the canyon in case you want to go farther.