Little Cottonwood Trail

Little Cottonwood Trail is a short hiking and mountain biking trail located just at the mouth of the famous canyon by the same name. The path starts out from a parking lot just across from the Snowbird/Alta Park & Ride. Also located here is the historic temple quarry path, which is a very short historic nature trail that shows you where the LDS Temple's granite stones were quarried.

The trail starts heading east directly from the parking lot as a wide singletrack consisting of hard-packed dirt. The trail is exposed at this point, but fortunately most of it is under foliage, making it a great afternoon hike in the summer. Giant granite walls hug the canyon on both sides with great fall colors in September and October. The trail has a steady incline, but nothing crazy. It hugs Little Cottonwood Creek and has several bridges and waterfalls along the way. Further up the trail gets pretty rocky and there are many small rollers, which makes the descent on a bike quite fun and slightly technical. There are also ruins of houses and structures from earlier inhabitants as well as abundant small wildlife and some flowers in spring. It is easy to access and not very long, so it is a popular spot for people doing a hike or ride after work.