Chalk Creek Canyon and the trailhead
Three miles east of Fillmore Free April to November
Chalk Creek is the small stream that comes out of the Pahvant Range and runs west through Chalk Creek Canyon toward Fillmore, ending in the flats at the edge of the valley rather than in any river. The canyon takes its name from the pale, chalky colored rock in its walls, and it is the most direct way from town into the mountains.
The mouth is close to home. From Main Street you turn east on 200 South and follow Chalk Creek Canyon Road, which becomes Forest Road 100, about three miles to the Forest Service trailhead at roughly 5,555 feet. It is a plain place: a gravel parking area, a loading ramp for horse and machine trailers, and an information kiosk. There are no restrooms and no drinking water, and camping at the trailhead itself is not allowed.
From here the canyon is the doorway to the range. Hiking, horseback riding, hunting, stream fishing and wildlife viewing all start nearby, and the forest road keeps climbing toward the ridge behind town.
The details
Getting there
Turn east on 200 South in Fillmore and follow Chalk Creek Canyon Road toward the mountains. The pavement gives way to graded dirt as the canyon narrows, and the trailhead is on the right with its parking area and kiosk.
The road to the Paiute Trail
Forest Road 100 OHV and high clearance Summer and fall
Above the trailhead, Forest Road 100 climbs Chalk Creek Canyon to the Pahvant ridge, where it ties into the main Paiute ATV Trail, the long backcountry system that threads the mountains of central Utah. Two narrower side routes, Paiute Side Trails 03 and 07, branch off for machines fifty inches wide or less.
That connection is what makes Chalk Creek a favorite staging point: you can start from Fillmore's doorstep and ride onto one of the state's marquee trail systems without hauling a machine far. Bigger rigs stay on Forest Road 100 up the canyon to the ridge; the tighter side trails are for the narrow machines.
The Paiute Trail runs for hundreds of miles across the ranges to the south and east, and it is covered in depth on the region's Paiute ATV Trail page. Here the canyon is the on ramp, not the whole ride.
The canyon road is unpaved and remote. Forest Road 100 is graded dirt with no gas, water, or cell service once you leave Fillmore, and the high country holds snow well into spring and closes again by late fall. The Forest Service runs the trailhead roughly April to November and suggests the cooler early and late season over the midsummer heat at the low end of the canyon. Carry water, a paper or downloaded map, and check current road and fire conditions with the Fillmore Ranger District before you go.
The Pahvant Range and its peaks
East of Fillmore Fishlake National Forest Summer and fall
The Pahvant Range is the mountain wall east of Fillmore. It runs about fifty miles north to south and fifteen miles across, and almost all of it sits inside the Fishlake National Forest. Interstate 15 crosses its north end at Scipio Pass; to the south the range merges into the Tushar Mountains above the town of Beaver.
The high points top out just above ten thousand feet. Pioneer Peak is the tallest at 10,466 feet, with Mine Camp Peak at 10,222, Sunset Peak at 10,088 and Coffee Peak at 10,002 close behind. The upper slopes are open aspen and conifer, laced with forest roads and singletrack, while the lower canyon around the Chalk Creek trailhead is pinyon and juniper.
Trails run the range from gentle canyon walks to real summit climbs, and Chalk Creek is Fillmore's own way in from the west side. The Fishlake National Forest, through its Fillmore Ranger District, is the authority on which roads and trails are open in a given year.
The details
Fishing the creek and the lakes
The creek and the upper canyon Utah license Spring through fall
Chalk Creek holds trout as it drops through the canyon, and the Forest Service lists stream fishing among the things to do at the trailhead. It is small water, pocket water and undercut banks rather than a big river, the kind of creek you work slowly on foot with a short rod.
Higher up the canyon there are small mountain lakes reached by the forest road, stocked and fished in season. The stocking and the access change from year to year, so confirm the current picture with the Fillmore Ranger District or Utah's fishing planner before you count on any one lake. A Utah fishing license applies to anyone old enough to need one.
This is the close to home, small water version of the region's fishing. The big mountain lakes are up on the plateau to the east, gathered on the region Fish Lake and the high lakes page.
The details
Fall color and the seasons
The upper Pahvant Late September into October Forest road
Fishlake country is aspen country, and the Pahvant is part of it. In late September and into October the aspen on the higher slopes turn gold, and the forest roads up Chalk Creek and along the ridge become a slow scenic drive as much as a trail. It is the quiet season, after the summer heat and before the snow.
The rest of the year splits cleanly. Late spring green up and summer open the whole range, though the low canyon can bake at midday, which is why the Forest Service points visitors toward mornings and the cooler shoulder months. By late fall the snow returns to the high country and the season closes from the top down.
Winter belongs to the valley below. The mountain is snowbound and Forest Road 100 is not plowed, so the cold months are for the town and its history rather than the canyon.
The details
Rockhounding the country nearby
Millard County desert A drive from town Spring through fall
The rockhounding near Fillmore is not in Chalk Creek Canyon itself but out in the wider Millard County desert, and it is some of the best in the state. The closest well known spot is the obsidian country south toward Kanosh, where a public collecting area yields mahogany, snowflake and black obsidian across the hillsides and roadbeds, with a permit required above a set weight.
Farther out, the Millard County desert holds agate, the golden sunstones at Sunstone Knoll, topaz at Topaz Mountain and trilobite beds in the ranges to the west. Several of those sit closer to Delta than to Fillmore, so plan them as their own day trips rather than a canyon stop. Fillmore makes a good base for the southern end of that country.
Rules and access change, and some sites carry collecting limits, so the county tourism office is the place to check what is open before you dig. The everyday errands and services that make Fillmore a workable base are on the sibling everyday Fillmore page.
