The canyon Fruit Heights
A serious Forest Service trail on the Fruit Heights bench
Bair Canyon, the hike above Fruit Heights
Bair Canyon climbs off the east bench of Fruit Heights as Bair Creek Trail 613, a Forest Service route the agency puts at 3.9 miles and 4,200 feet of gain. The trailhead sits at the end of 1800 East beside the city water tank, the lot closes at ten at night, leashed dogs are welcome and motors are not. The name shows up spelled both Baer and Bair, so search either. Here is the hike, the parking, the wind, the water this canyon once gave the town, and the national forest ground just above it.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Bair Canyon is the steep hiking canyon on the east bench of Fruit Heights, and the trail up it is Bair Creek Trail 613, run by the Forest Service on the Ogden Ranger District. The agency puts it at 3.9 miles one way with 4,200 feet of climb, which makes it a serious half day and then some, not a stroll. The trailhead is a small lot at the end of 1800 East, next to the big city water tank, and it closes at ten at night. Leashed dogs are fine and motors are not. If the little lot is full, park down at Nicholls Park and walk up. The canyon is spelled Baer on the city's pages and the trailhead sign and Bair on the federal map; it is the same place either way.
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The trail
A short trail with a long climb that earns every one of its 4,200 feet
Do not let 3.9 miles fool you. That is the one way distance to the ridge, and the Forest Service pairs it with 4,200 feet of gain, which is more than three times the climb the agency gives for Adams Canyon, the busy trail a few miles north in Layton. The lower part follows Bair Creek through the oak and maple, with a few crossings that run high in late spring and are mostly dry by midsummer. After the creek section the trail leaves the water and works up the ridge, and that is where it gets steep.
The agency's own note on the trail is worth taking seriously. It is maintained as a primitive route and in some areas is very difficult to follow as it climbs the ridge, which is a route finding warning, not just a fitness one. Bring the map, watch the track, and turn around with time to spare rather than pushing into ground you cannot read. This is also the Wasatch bench, which catches strong down canyon winds, most often in the evening; on a windy forecast the exposed upper trail is unpleasant, so check it before a long day.
Higher up, Trail 613 meets the Great Western Trail and the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, so it is a route to somewhere rather than an out and back to a single viewpoint. Plenty of people who are not chasing the full ridge just hike the creek section and turn around, which is a good shorter outing on its own. Whichever you do, it is free, there is nothing to book, and the only real limits are the small lot and the closing time.
The details
Getting there and parking
Directions, the little lot, and the ten o'clock close
Use the Forest Service directions, because they end at something you can see from the street. From US-89 in Fruit Heights, turn east on Mountain Road, right again on East Oaks Drive, then left on 1800 East and follow it to the end. The trailhead is on the west side of the large city water tank, and the tank is the landmark to aim for. The lot is small and sits at the top of a steep driveway in a residential neighborhood, so on a busy Saturday morning the easier move is to leave the car at Nicholls Park and walk up.
This is a serious mountain trail with two real limits. The Forest Service maintains the upper section as a primitive route that in places is very difficult to follow as it climbs the ridge, so carry a map and be ready to route find. The trailhead also closes at ten at night, which the agency publishes as a restriction on the trail itself. Build a hike that gets you back well before then, and check the current status with the Ogden Ranger District before a long day, because trail and access conditions change.
Before you go
- The lot is small and the street it leaves from is somebody's street. Park considerately, or leave the car at Nicholls Park and walk up.
- The trailhead lot closes at ten at night, so time your hike to be back down with room to spare rather than cutting it close.
- The lower creek crossings run high in late spring and are mostly dry by midsummer; the steep ridge work comes after the creek.
- Leashed dogs are fine and motors are not, both in the Forest Service's own words. If you plan to bike it, confirm the designation with the ranger district first.
The water
The town's first water came out of this canyon
Before it was a hiking route, Bair Canyon was the town's water supply. When Fruit Heights incorporated in 1939 its first act was to bond for pipe, and a town of about a hundred people dug the trenches by hand and horse team from the springs in the pines on the canyon's south slopes. Before that, households took what they could from springs, from Haight's Creek, from Baer Creek and from irrigation ditches. It is a nice thing to know at the trailhead: the reason the town sat down here at all was the water coming off this slope.
Today the city still runs its own water utility, but it buys most of what comes out of the tap from the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and pulls only a small share from its own well. That is what nearly every city on this bench does, and it is why a house here gets steady pressure and a yearly water quality report instead of a spring that freezes. What it means for the canyon is simple. The slope above town is no longer plumbing; it is recreation and it is watershed, and that shift is a good part of why the land question in the next section exists at all.
The land above
The mountainside above the trailhead is national forest
For anyone weighing a bench address near the trailhead, the useful fact is what happens to the slope above it, and the answer is that it is federal ground. A bill in Congress, H.R. 5478, the Fruit Heights Land Conveyance Act of 2025, sponsored by Representative Blake Moore with Representative Celeste Maloy, would convey about 296 acres of Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest land to the city for trail expansion and recreation. It keeps an easement for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and returns the land to the Forest Service if the city does not use it for public purposes. As of 2026 it has had one subcommittee hearing and has not become law.
This is not the first time. Congress looked at a similar Fruit Heights conveyance back in 2013; that version passed the House and was never enacted, and the ground stayed national forest. So the honest read for a buyer is that nobody knows yet. If the bill passes, the city takes the acreage for trails with the shoreline trail protected. If it does not, the slope stays forest, which is what happened last time. Either way the land above the trailhead is not being subdivided and the view is not being built on, and for a household choosing between bench streets that is the part that actually matters.
A bill is not a done deal. The 296 acres above Fruit Heights are national forest today, and H.R. 5478 has not passed. Treat any claim that the land is already city ground, an approved park, or a finished trail expansion as wrong until a law says otherwise, and check the current status at congress.gov, because a bill's position can change without any notice reaching a property listing.
Living with it
A serious mountain trail that starts at the top of somebody's street
If you are weighing an address on the east side of Fruit Heights, the honest picture is this. A Forest Service trail with 4,200 feet of gain begins at the end of a residential road beside the city water tank. That is a real amenity and also a real set of obligations. The lot is small, the driveway is steep, the street is somebody's street, and the ten o'clock closing time exists because of all three. If the trailhead is part of why a house appeals to you, walk up to it from Nicholls Park once before you decide, and see what the parking looks like on a June Saturday rather than a February Tuesday.
The canyon is only half the story of a bench address, though. What sells here, who bills you for water and power, how the schools and the drive down to the valley actually work, and how Fruit Heights fits against Kaysville and Layton are all worth reading before you commit. Those live on the Fruit Heights pages, and the wider row of canyons along this bench is covered on the Davis canyons page. I am glad to walk through any of it with you.
Quick answers
Bair Canyon, answered
Both spellings are in use, so search either one. The Forest Service, which manages the trail, spells it Bair, and the trail is signed as Bair Creek Trail 613. The City of Fruit Heights spells it Baer, and so does the sign at the trailhead. It is the same canyon either way.
The Forest Service, which maintains it, lists 3.9 miles one way and 4,200 feet of elevation gain for Bair Creek Trail 613. Some apps and guides show a bit more or less, often because they measure only the lower creek section, so go with the Forest Service figure.
At the end of 1800 East in Fruit Heights, in a small lot on the west side of the large city water tank. The tank is the landmark to aim for. The lot is small and sits at the top of a steep driveway in a residential neighborhood, so on a busy morning the easier move is to park at Nicholls Park and walk up.
Ten at night. The Forest Service publishes the closing time as a restriction on the trail itself, which is unusual, because very few trailheads along the Wasatch bench carry one. Plan a hike that gets you back to the car well before ten, and check the current restriction with the Ogden Ranger District before a long day.
Leashed dogs are allowed and motorized use is not, both in the Forest Service's own words for the trail. It lists hiking as the use. If you want to ride it, confirm the current designation with the Ogden Ranger District first rather than assuming from a neighboring canyon.
Yes. Four thousand two hundred feet of gain over less than four miles is a serious day, more than three times the climb the Forest Service gives for Adams Canyon a few miles north. The agency also calls the upper trail a primitive route that in places is very difficult to follow as it climbs the ridge, so it asks for route finding on top of the effort.
Roughly May into October at the canyon mouth, with snow lingering later and longer on the ridge. The creek crossings run highest in late spring. This bench also catches strong down canyon winds, so check the forecast before committing to the exposed upper section.
It was the town's first supply. When Fruit Heights incorporated in 1939 its first act was to bond for pipe, and residents dug the trenches by hand and horse team from the springs on the canyon's south slopes. Today the city buys most of its water from the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and pulls a small share from its own well.
No. The ground above the trailhead is national forest. A bill in Congress, H.R. 5478, proposes conveying about 296 acres to the city for trail use, with an easement kept for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, and as of 2026 it has not become law. A similar conveyance passed the House in 2013 and was never enacted. The land is not being subdivided.
A steep trail that starts at the top of somebody's street
The useful version of this canyon is short. Trust the Forest Service numbers over any app, know that the agency itself says the upper route is hard to follow where it climbs, park like someone lives there because someone does, be back before ten, and treat the ground above the trailhead as national forest until a law says otherwise. If a bench street near here is on your short list, tell me what you are weighing. I will connect you with a Davis County partner agent who knows which of these streets is which, and I stay on the financing side of the file myself.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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