The quiet one Bountiful
The canyon locals use when the other one is full
Holbrook Canyon, and the warning the county prints itself
The trailhead is on Bountiful Boulevard just south of the temple, behind a large brown sign reading Sessions Mountain and Holbrook Canyon Trail. Davis County lists the trail at 4.7 miles, rates it moderate to difficult, notes that it crosses the creek several times and warns that sections are hard to follow. The roof timbers of the 1863 Tabernacle came out of this drainage, and the Forest Service is being asked to make it hikers and horses only.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Holbrook Canyon is the quieter of Bountiful's two main canyon trails, a creek bottom walk that starts on Bountiful Boulevard just south of the temple. Davis County lists it at 4.7 miles, rates it moderate to difficult, and warns that the trail crosses the creek several times and that sections are hard to follow. It is wilder and less finished than the graded route out of Mueller Park about a mile and a half south, which is exactly why people here use it when the other trailhead is full. Come in late summer or early fall, when the creek is low, and plan for a climb on the way back to the car.
Finding it
Everyone gives the same directions: across the road from the temple
The trailhead is on the east side of Bountiful Boulevard just south of the Bountiful Utah Temple, behind a large brown sign reading Sessions Mountain and Holbrook Canyon Trail. Navigate to the temple, carry on a few hundred yards, and look left; the parking is on that side. Use the temple as your landmark rather than a street address, which the mapping apps get wrong here.
Davis County lists the trail at 4.7 miles, rates it moderate to difficult, and warns that it crosses the creek several times and that sections are hard to follow. Take that seriously. This is not the graded, signed route you get out of Mueller Park about a mile and a half south, and people who arrive expecting one have a harder morning than they need.
One quirk to plan around is the shape of the ground. The trail drops roughly a hundred feet from the parking area into the canyon before it starts climbing, so the walk out is downhill and the return finishes uphill, at exactly the point in the afternoon when you least want it. It catches people out often enough to be worth knowing before you set off.
Two different walks
Why the mileage disagrees, and which number to trust
Search this canyon and you will see 4.7 miles, and you will see figures near ten with about 3,200 feet of climbing. Both are real, and they are not the same walk. The short one is the creek route Davis County publishes. The long one is a full push to the ridge above the canyon. Do not average them, and decide which you are doing before you leave the car.
| The canyon walk | The push to the ridge | |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | 4.7 miles, from Davis County | Around 9.8 to 10 miles, from hiking apps |
| Climbing | Not published separately; the trail drops about 100 feet, then climbs steadily | About 3,200 feet, a serious day by any standard |
| The turnaround | A point in the canyon, not a summit. This is a creek walk | The ridge above the canyon, where it meets the wider trail system |
| What decides it | How high the creek is running and how much daylight is left | Fitness, water, and a willingness to route find |
| Treat it as | The standard hike, moderate to difficult, with route finding around the creek | An all-day objective for experienced walkers only |
The creek crossings, not the climb, are the real hazard here. During the May and June runoff the creek runs high enough to be dangerous at the far end of a walk, and turning around is the right call rather than getting wet miles from the car. By August it is a step across and the route is straightforward. Plan for the season you are in. There are also no confirmed restrooms or drinking water at the trailhead, so carry what you need and do not count on facilities.
Why this canyon mattered
The roof of the 1863 Tabernacle came out of this canyon
Work on the Bountiful Tabernacle began in 1857, paused during the Utah Expedition, and finished in 1863, with roof timbers fastened by wooden pegs. That timber had to come from somewhere, and the source was a spot called Meeting House Hollow, in Holbrook Canyon. Judson Tolman, who was in charge of getting timber for the building out of the canyons east of town, cut the trees there.
The name records the use: a hollow named for the meeting house whose roof came out of it. It also makes the tie between the town and this canyon a working one rather than a scenic one. Before people walked up here for the quiet, this was where the settlement went for building material, and the walk still passes through the same ground.
Meeting House Hollow comes from historical accounts rather than a current trail map, so do not expect to find it on a sign. Treat it as a historical name attached to this canyon. The Tabernacle itself, and what stands on Main Street today, is on the downtown page.
Before people walked up here for the quiet, this was where the settlement went for its lumber, and the hollow they found it in is still named for the building.
What the city is building
The canyon the city is actively working on
Most canyon mouths sit still. This one has a finished but unsigned trail segment, a planned eight mile extension, and a use change asked of the Forest Service.
Start with what exists. In 2023 Bountiful built about four miles of shoreline trail between Holbrook and Ward Canyons, plus about two more up the south side of Holbrook Canyon. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail Coalition maps both as official trail. Neither end joins the rest of the trail yet, because private land sits in the gaps. Where the county's shoreline route does and does not join up is a bigger question, and it lives on the Davis canyons page.
Next, what is planned. A Sessions Mountain segment from Ward Canyon to Mueller Park is proposed at eight miles, backed by a 2022 Utah Outdoor Recreation grant to develop the city's mountain property there. In 2023 the city hired an outside trail firm to manage that expansion in Holbrook and Ward Canyons, at Mueller Park, and east of the Summerwood neighborhood. The 2023 trail covers part of that stretch, but the link into Mueller Park is not built.
The item worth watching is the use change. Bountiful is asking the U.S. Forest Service to make Holbrook Trail and Kenny Creek Trail hikers and horseback riders only, with a new Big Rock Trail for hikers alone. Pending that approval, nothing is signed or closed, and a rider on the trail today is doing nothing wrong. One spelling note while you search: Bountiful writes Kenny Creek, and a local trail race writes Kenney; this page follows the city, and the difference matters because a misspelled name sends you to the wrong ground. The city keeps its trail maps and plans on its trails page, and it is worth a look every six months until the agency acts.
If you live here
The quiet trailhead that comes with a bench address
For a home on the upper bench this trailhead is minutes away, and it is the one you use when Mueller Park is busy. That is its job today, and it is a good one: quieter, wilder, and less crowded than the developed canyon about a mile and a half south. If the use change goes through, it gets quieter still, with no bikes on the trail, so whether that reads as a gain depends on how you like to use it.
An address near here also inherits the boulevard. The same road carries the temple a few hundred yards north, the golf course a couple of miles south, and the turn toward the third canyon, and it is the road every west facing view in the city looks out from. At this elevation it also sits inside the ground the city mapped for wildfire risk in December 2025, which is a building code matter rather than a hiking one, and one worth checking against a specific address before an offer.
What none of that changes is the water and the snow, the two things that really differ between the top of this city and the bottom. Both are on the page on moving here, along with the reason the city charges more for water up on the bench than down in the valley.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Quick answers
Holbrook, answered
On the east side of Bountiful Boulevard just south of the Bountiful Utah Temple, marked by a large brown sign reading Sessions Mountain and Holbrook Canyon Trail. From downtown, take Main to 400 North, head east through the 1300 East stop sign, and the road bends south and becomes Bountiful Boulevard, with the trailhead and its parking on the left just past the temple. Use the temple as your landmark, because the street address mapping apps attach to the lot is not a reliable one.
Davis County lists it at 4.7 miles and rates it moderate to difficult. You will also see figures near ten miles with about 3,200 feet of climbing, and those describe a different walk: a full push to the ridge above the canyon rather than the canyon route itself. Do not average the two. Decide which one you are doing before you leave the car, and treat the county's 4.7 miles as the standard hike.
Davis County says the trail crosses the creek several times and warns that sections are hard to follow. The walking itself is a steady canyon climb rather than anything technical; the challenge is route finding, especially around the creek crossings where the tread changes sides. It is a rougher, less finished trail than the graded route out of Mueller Park about a mile and a half south.
Yes, on leash. Davis County's rule is that dogs are welcome on most of its trails but must stay leashed, and there is no separate watershed dog ban here of the kind Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons carry. You may see Holbrook described online as an off leash spot; that is wrong, so keep your dog leashed the same as anywhere else on this bench.
Not as of this writing, though it could change. Bountiful City is working with the U.S. Forest Service to make three trails hikers and horseback riders only: pending Forest Service approval, Holbrook Trail and Kenny Creek Trail would become boot and hoof trails, and a new Big Rock Trail would be built for hikers alone. Nothing has changed on the ground yet, and a rider on the trail today is doing nothing wrong. Check the Bountiful City trails page before you count on either use.
Late summer and early fall, because the creek crossings are the variable. During the spring runoff in May and June they run high enough to be a real obstacle, and turning around is the sensible call. By August they are a step across and the route is straightforward. One more thing to plan for: the trail drops about a hundred feet from the parking area into the canyon before it climbs, so the return finishes uphill at the end of the day.
A spot in Holbrook Canyon named in accounts of the Bountiful Tabernacle's construction as the source of its roof timber. Judson Tolman, who was in charge of getting timber for the building out of the canyons east of town, cut the trees there. The Tabernacle was begun in 1857, paused during the Utah Expedition, and finished in 1863, with roof timbers fastened by wooden pegs. The name comes from historical accounts rather than a current trail map, so do not expect to find it on a sign.
Yes, but it stands alone for now. In 2023 the city built about four miles of shoreline trail between Holbrook and Ward Canyons, plus about two more up the south side of Holbrook Canyon. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail Coalition maps both as official trail. Neither end joins the rest of the trail yet, because private land sits in the gaps. A longer Sessions Mountain segment from Ward Canyon to Mueller Park is planned at eight miles, backed by a 2022 Utah Outdoor Recreation grant to develop the city's mountain property. The 2023 trail covers part of it, but the link into Mueller Park is not built.
They are different rather than ranked. Mueller Park is a developed Forest Service site with a gate that opens at seven, flush toilets, drinking water, eighteen group picnic sites, and dirt bikes allowed on the trail. Holbrook has a brown sign, a creek you cross several times, a county warning about route finding, and far fewer people. The unusual part is that one city holds both within three miles of downtown, with a third canyon mouth at the end of Canyon Creek Road.
A canyon mouth three miles from Main Street, and a bench address that comes with more than a view
The streets nearest this trailhead sit on the upper bench, and the bench is where the differences in this city concentrate: a water meter billed at the high elevation rate, snow the valley gauge does not measure, a steeper driveway to clear in January, and ground the city mapped for wildfire risk in December 2025. Every one of those is checkable against a specific address before an offer. Send me the streets, and I will connect you with a Davis County partner agent who works south Davis, and stay on the file for the financing side.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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