Millcreek Canyon, Salt Lake City, UT

I did Millcreek as a trail run. There had been a light rain the night before, but the trail was nearly 100% dry, with just a couple of puddles to hop, nothing major at all.

Getting There:

The trail head can be found here: 40.691410, -111.769079 off of Interstate 215. 

There's a fee station about 1/2 mile up Mill Creek road. Oddly, you pay on your way out, $3.00. 
The fee station was closed on my visit and there didn't appear to be a place to leave your money - so a free ride.

There appeared to be a fair amount of parking and also street parking across from the lot. There were no bathrooms visible. So be sure to relive yourself before going or be prepared to become one with nature. Be sure to go off trail if you do.

Parking area


View up the trail from parking area


Map of area


The Run:

This is a lung buster from the start. If I had to do it again I might run up the road and back a couple of times to prevent a heart attack.

Mile 0: Head towards the informational sign. You'll start on a crushed gravel trail. This is fairly painful on the feet if you're going minimalist for your shoes. Vibrams would be a no go, and the Minimus I was in had me wishing this were a hike, not a run.

Trail is very rocky, there are some softer bits on the sides of the rocky sections.


GPS signal in the canyon was a bit spotty, so some distances may be off slightly.



Mile 0.7: You'll have gone up a few switchbacks which only seem to get steeper. At this point there is a very faded sign which directs you towards a lookout point, which I followed. You have to squint that it tells you to head left (I believe at this point you're on the Pipeline Trail). There appear to be plenty of other trials out here, so getting a run of some distance in shouldn't be a problem.

I took a left at this sign.


Mile 1.6: You'll have continued on a mix of soft single track which is more or less level, and foot crushing spiky rocks from the depths of Hell. There's a payoff in the great view of the Great Salt Lake, the City, and everything within about 50 miles. Not too shabby.

You'll be rewarded with some stunning views at the lookout.


I continued to head up the hill which appears to ascend straight into the stratosphere (hence the odd looking elevation chart). This was more of a walk/hike than anything else until the turnaround.



Mile 1.8: Turned around, but there seemed to be plenty of trail left if you feel like getting more of a work out in. My time was limited by someone I was with, so 25 minutes out, and 25 back, give or take.

Mile 3.5: Back to car.

Stats:

This was a slow run, with 3.55 miles covered in 48 minutes, for a pace somewhere around 13 minute miles. The way back was fairly quick, but calling the way up a "run" is being generous. I'm not sure I would do this run again with the shoes. And from a mountain biking perspective it wasn't technical in any way - so that may  be good or bad for you.

Elevation Profile

Overview map