Mueller Park, and the gate that opens at seven

The gate opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m., daily. Those hours are the most useful single fact about the canyon, because they settle whether you can start at first light on a summer morning and whether the car will be shut in after an evening walk. The gate runs on a seasonal schedule, so it is worth confirming in spring rather than assuming it never changes.

About six miles one way to Rudy's Flat, or 12 to 13 miles out and back, climbing through dense forest. Almost nobody walks the whole thing. The standard turnaround is Elephant Rock, about three and a half miles up, which makes roughly seven miles out and back and about two hours from the car.

About three and a half miles from the trailhead, so roughly seven miles out and back, and about two hours at an ordinary pace with a stop at the top. It climbs steadily from 5,400 feet with very little flat ground and no real route finding. Just before the top the trail reaches a junction, and the left leg runs out to benches above the rock, where the view is: the city below, the Great Salt Lake beyond it, and Antelope Island out in the middle.

Yes. The Forest Service allows hiking, mountain biking, dirt biking and horseback riding on the Mueller Park trail. That surprises walkers, because most nearby Wasatch Front canyons are foot and pedal only. The connected North Canyon Trail 601 is also open to off-highway riders, but a gate at the top of Indian Springs Road blocks horses and motorcycles, so those riders reach the ridge by the Mueller Park side.

Yes, on a leash of six feet or less, with a limit of two dogs per picnic site. It is worth saying plainly, because this canyon is also part of Bountiful's drinking water, with a city treatment plant on Mill Creek inside the park, and a working watershed one county south would mean no dogs at all. Both things are true here at once, so pack the waste out rather than leaving it near the creek.

From I-15 take the Woods Cross exit, then east on 2600 South, north on Orchard Drive, east on 1800 South, and the last two miles up the canyon to the park entrance. Set a phone map to Mueller Park Trailhead, Bountiful, since the Forest Service publishes no street number for it. The last stretch is the canyon approach road, so slow down where the houses give way to the climb.

There is no fee to park and walk in. The group picnic sites are reservable, and an extra vehicle costs $10. The site has flush toilets, drinking water, paved paths and a volleyball court, and no electrical, water or sewer hookups, because it is a day-use area rather than a campground. Confirm current pricing at the federal reservation system before relying on it.

The Forest Service trail in the next drainage south, published at about two and a half miles with 1,400 feet of elevation gain and rated moderate, open to hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and off-highway riding with leashed dogs. It is reached from Bountiful Boulevard to Canyon Creek Road, and the last mile of dirt is rough enough that the agency advises against driving it. Riders link it with Mueller Park to make the full loop.

Yes, and for anyone on the east bench it is a ten-minute drive, which turns a mountain trail into a weeknight walk. The lower trail is walked year round, and the bench holds snow the valley floor never sees. The tradeoff is the crowd: a small lot that fills on summer weekends, with quieter walking about a mile and a half north at Holbrook Canyon.