Big Cottonwood Canyon

Big Cottonwood Canyon climbs east from the Salt Lake Valley on SR-190 to Brighton and Solitude, the two ski resorts at its head. In summer the same road leads to trailheads for Lake Blanche, Donut Falls and the lakes above Brighton.

The Utah Geological Survey says the Cottonwood canyons and their high basins held hundreds of feet of glacial ice between about 30,000 and 10,000 years ago. The Big Cottonwood glacier reached only about 5 miles down the canyon. Below that, the lower 9 miles are narrow and twisting, the shape a stream leaves, while the upper canyon and side basins such as Lake Blanche keep ice-polished rock and glacial striations.

The canyon is part of the protected watershed that supplies Salt Lake area drinking water. Salt Lake County prohibits dogs in its watershed canyons, with exceptions for service, search and rescue and law enforcement dogs. For the Lake Blanche trail, the Forest Service adds that pets are not allowed at all, not even in a car, and that swimming in lakes and streams is not allowed.