Historic corridor
City Creek Canyon
Salt Lake City’s nature preserve and first water source, where a paved road shared by walkers, runners and cyclists climbs past picnic sites to a treatment plant and protected watershed.
City Creek was the first water source used by the pioneers who settled the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, and it still supplies the city. Salt Lake City says the canyon collects water from 19.2 square miles of watershed feeding a 14.5-mile stream. A 1985 master plan made it a nature preserve and brought the whole canyon into the city.
Recreation and drinking water have long shared the canyon. The city says heavy use polluted the supply in the early 1900s, and the canyon was closed to the public from 1952 to 1966. In 1953 it became the site of Utah’s first city-owned water treatment plant, about 3 miles from the entrance. The city is rebuilding that plant, and while the work goes on private cars and picnic reservations are not allowed; check the city’s page for current access.
The canyon road is shared, with a 15 mph limit for everyone, including bicycles. Bikes are not allowed on the canyon’s trails other than the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Dogs must be leashed and are not allowed in the protected watershed above picnic site 16. Deer, moose, elk and cougar live here, and the city asks visitors to keep their distance.