The bench park Kaysville
Kaysville's 140-acre bench park, with camping, dogs and an orienteering course
East Mountain Wilderness Park, Kaysville's one park for camping and dogs
About 140 acres of Kaysville city land on the Wasatch bench, in the northeast corner of town, with five picnic areas, restrooms, water, a permanent orienteering course, and trails that connect to the Bonneville Shoreline system. It has walk-in tent camping with a one-night limit, and it is the only city park in Kaysville where a dog is allowed on the grounds. Here is what to know before you go.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Yes, you can camp in Kaysville, and yes, you can bring a dog to a city park, and both answers are the same address. East Mountain Wilderness Park is about 140 acres of city land on the Wasatch bench, in the northeast corner of town. It is the only Kaysville city park that allows dogs at all, and the only one with walk-in tent camping, a one-night tent stay you carry in from the parking area. On the ground it is five picnic areas, restrooms, water, a permanent orienteering course, and trails that tie into the Bonneville Shoreline system. Plan on one to two hours for a trail loop, or a night if you carry a tent, and go by the roads rather than the posted address, which can confuse a map app.
What the park is
About 140 acres on the bench, and the one park in town that allows a dog
East Mountain Wilderness Park is about 140 acres of Kaysville city land on the Wasatch bench, in the northeast corner of town. The city describes it plainly as wilderness with the mountains behind it, and what it lists on the ground is a real set of facilities rather than raw open space: five picnic areas with tables, restrooms, water, a parking area, a bike trail, and trails that connect to the Bonneville Shoreline system. The picnic areas are day-use and first come, first served, so the only thing you reserve here is a campsite.
Two things set this park apart from every other one in Kaysville. It has walk-in tent camping, carried in from the parking area, with a one-night limit, and it is the only city park in town where a dog is allowed on the grounds at all. Every other Kaysville park keeps animals out; here a dog, or even a horse, is welcome on a leash. There is also a permanent orienteering course, free and usable year round, and the city runs a second one at the Angel Street Soccer Complex, which is an unusual thing for a city this size to keep two of.
The rules are worth reading before you pack. Campfires are not allowed, and neither are alcohol, drugs, smoking, or firearms and fireworks. Leave no trace applies, so pack out what you pack in. The city does not publish trail names, distances or elevation gain, and the mileages that float around online come from rider and hiker communities rather than the city, so treat them with care. What the city does put out is its own Wilderness Park map, and that is the thing to use on a first visit.
One honest note on geography, because it is the reason this park matters. Kaysville does not have a canyon of its own. Its city limits mostly stop before the mountain front, and the canyons people drive to from here, Bair Canyon in Fruit Heights and Adams Canyon in Layton, sit in neighboring cities. This park is the piece of the bench Kaysville actually owns, inside the city limits, with trails onto the larger shoreline network. The wider canyon country above it is written up once, for the whole county, on the Davis canyons page.
Getting there and planning a visit
Go by the roads, not by the address in a search box
From City Hall at 23 East Center Street, the way up is north and east: take 200 North or Crestwood Road toward US-89, cross it, and climb onto the bench. The posted address, 1625 East 650 North, can send a map app to the wrong side of town, so it is easier to navigate by those roads than by dropping the address into a search box. Parking is at the park, and the tent sites are walk-in from there, which is the whole idea: you carry your gear the last stretch rather than driving to a pitch.
The details
Before you go
- Camping is booked through the Kaysville parks and recreation office at 801-544-1788. Call ahead to confirm the current fee and reserve a walk-in site.
- One night is the maximum, and up to ten people to a site. This is a first-night or overflow campground, not a base camp.
- No campfires at any time of year, and no firearms or fireworks. Bring a camp stove if you need to cook or want heat.
- This is the one city park a dog may enter, on a leash. Every other Kaysville park keeps animals out, so do not assume the rule carries to the next park.
The year up here
A few weeks behind the valley floor, and a different park in every season
The park sits where the valley floor gives out and the bench begins, a few hundred feet up, and that shows in the calendar. Spring comes a little later here than down on Main Street, the ground stays soft longer after snowmelt and after a storm, which matters if you are riding it, and fall runs a little later too. The city names cross-country skiing and snowshoeing among the winter uses of the trails, which is a plain way of saying they stay usable in snow, not a promise about any given week.
This is the east bench, where the canyon winds coming down off the Wasatch can pick up fast in a storm, so a tent night is worth a look at the forecast first. The city does not post a camping season, only the rules and the fee, so the sensible move is to call the parks office and ask what is bookable rather than assume a summer window. A one-night limit also shapes what the place is for: a first camping night for a household with young kids, an overflow bed for summer visitors, or a quiet night out for someone who would rather walk to a tent than drive to a canyon.
The orienteering course is the year-round draw, and it is genuinely unusual. Two permanent municipal courses in one city, this one and the one at the Angel Street Soccer Complex, cost nothing, need no booking, and work in any month the ground is walkable. It may be the cheapest structured outdoor thing to do in Kaysville, and almost nobody outside town knows it is there.
Campfires are off, all year, not just in fire season, so there is never a fire ring to use here. Bring a camp stove if you need heat or want to cook. Fire restrictions on the bench can also differ from the ones down in town and change through the summer, so check the current rules with the city and with Davis County in the week you are going rather than assuming last summer's answer still holds.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Quick answers
The bench park, answered
Yes. It has walk-in tent camping, carried in from the parking area, with a one-night maximum. The city's posted rules are tent camping only, walk-in sites only, one night, check-in at 3pm and check-out at 11am, quiet hours from 10pm to 7am, and up to ten people per site. Campfires are not allowed, and neither are alcohol, drugs, smoking, or firearms and fireworks. There is a nightly fee, with resident and non-resident rates, and camping is booked through the Kaysville parks and recreation office at 801-544-1788, so call ahead to confirm the current fee and reserve a site.
East Mountain Wilderness Park, on a leash. It is the only city park in Kaysville that allows dogs and horses at all; every other city park keeps animals out, service animals aside. Pets must be leashed the whole time and owners clean up after them. Dogs on a leash are also welcome at the Utah Botanical Center ponds on the southwest side of town, which is university ground rather than a city park.
It is at 1625 East 650 North, on the Wasatch bench in the northeast corner of Kaysville, about 2 miles northeast of City Hall. That posted address can drop a map app in the wrong part of town, so it is easier to go by the roads: from City Hall, head north and east on 200 North or Crestwood Road, cross US-89, and climb onto the bench. Budget 10 to 12 minutes for the drive and treat that as an estimate.
Yes. The city lists a parking area at the park, and the tent campsites are walk-in from it, so you carry your gear the last stretch rather than driving to a pitch. The trails, the picnic areas and the orienteering course all start from the same area.
Kaysville does not post set opening and closing times for the park, so plan on daytime, daylight visits. The one time rule the city does publish is for campers: quiet hours run from 10pm to 7am, with check-in at 3pm and check-out at 11am. If you need a firm answer for a specific day, the parks and recreation office on 801-544-1788 is the place to ask.
The city lists five picnic areas with tables, restrooms, water, parking, a bike trail, and a permanent orienteering course, on about 140 acres it describes as wilderness with the mountains behind it. The picnic areas are day-use and first come, first served, so only camping is reserved. The orienteering course is free and usable year round, and Kaysville runs a second one at the Angel Street Soccer Complex.
Kaysville does not publish trail names, distances or elevation gain for the park, so there are no official figures to give here. The trails are described as a network for mountain biking, hiking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing that connects to the Bonneville Shoreline system. The city posts its own Wilderness Park map, which is the thing to use on a first visit; plan on one to two hours for a loop and adjust once you have walked it.
No. Campfires are not allowed here, and that is a year-round rule rather than a seasonal one, so there is no time of year when a fire ring opens up. Bring a camp stove if you need to cook or want heat. Fire restrictions on the bench can also differ from the ones in town, so check the current rules with the city and with Davis County in the week you are going.
Not really, and this park is what it has instead. Kaysville's city limits mostly stop before the mountain front, and the canyons people drive to from here, Bair Canyon in Fruit Heights and Adams Canyon in Layton, sit in neighboring cities. East Mountain Wilderness Park is the piece of the bench Kaysville actually owns, with trails that connect to the Bonneville Shoreline system; the wider canyon network is covered on the Davis canyons page.
One park does what the rest of Kaysville cannot
If you have a dog, or you want trails from a street rather than a canyon parking lot, the northeast corner of Kaysville is worth weighing against the rest of town. Tell me what you are trying to solve and I will connect you with a Davis County partner agent who knows these streets, and stay on the file for the financing side.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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