The city's canyon Cottonwood Heights
A granite canyon at the top of a cul de sac, and the ordinance that came with it
Ferguson Canyon, and where to leave the car
Three and a half miles, fourteen hundred feet, three creek crossings and a granite corridor with climbing routes on it, all leaving the top of a residential street between the two Cottonwood gates. It is the only canyon walk on this side of the valley that allows a leashed dog, which is why the city had to build a park at the bottom and write an ordinance around the top.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Ferguson Canyon is the trail that belongs to Cottonwood Heights, on the bench between the two Cottonwood gates above Wasatch Boulevard. It runs about 3.6 miles round trip and climbs roughly 1,460 feet to an overlook near 6,700 feet, a two to three hour walk for most people, and it is the one canyon on this side of the valley where a leashed dog is welcome. Park at Ferguson Park, 7722 South Prospector Drive, rather than at the trailhead itself: the trailhead has only 18 stalls, and the streets around it are permit parking for residents. From I-215 it is exit 6 onto Wasatch Boulevard, then a left onto Prospector Drive.
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The walk
Three crossings, a granite corridor and an overlook that earns the climb
It breaks naturally into three pieces, and knowing where they change makes it much easier to judge how far to go with whoever is with you.
The first stretch is the approach, from the residential edge up to where the walls close in. It climbs steadily beside the creek and does most of the work on a hot afternoon, because there is less shade low down than the photos suggest. This is also where the crossings are, and in summer and fall they are rock hopping and nothing more. Above the first mile the trail leaves the city and enters the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
After about 0.7 miles the canyon turns into a granite corridor. Sheer cliffs line both sides, side trails run off to climbing areas, and on a decent weekend you will pass people with ropes and pads walking in. It is worth slowing down here even if you never touch the rock, because it is the piece that makes this feel like a mountain canyon rather than a city trail.
The last section climbs to the overlook near 6,700 feet, and that is the sensible turnaround for almost everybody. From it you look into Big Cottonwood on one hand and across the whole Salt Lake Valley on the other, which is a lot of view for an hour and a half of walking. The route does continue toward roughly 9,000 feet near Storm Mountain, and that is a serious day rather than an extension of this one.
The season is the honest constraint. Summer and fall are what this trail is for. In late spring the snow above is melting and the crossings can run high enough to soak you or to turn you around, and the rock that was easy in September gets slick. Nothing about the route changes; only the water does. Walk it in the fall first and you will understand what you are looking at in June.
The trail, section by section
The crossings change week to week through the spring, and the national forest is the authority for anything above the city's ground. Directions to the trailhead
The leash is the price of the privilege. This is one of very few canyons on this side of the valley where a dog is welcome, and it stays that way only while people keep dogs under control and carry out what they leave. The two Cottonwood canyons next door are closed to dogs entirely because they are protected drinking watershed. Ferguson is the alternative that exists, and the way to keep it existing is boring and obvious: leash on, bag in pocket, and pick up after somebody else's if you have to.
The parking
Eighteen stalls, and an ordinance around everything else
The trailhead at 7721 Timberline Drive has 18 parking stalls. On any reasonable morning they are gone, and for years the overflow went into the residential streets below, which is how a walking trail became a city council matter. After residents asked the city to act, the council restricted on-street parking in early 2021.
What exists now is a permit program written into the city code. On-street parking within about a third of a mile of the trailhead, in every direction, is reserved for residents with permits, and a car without one can be ticketed and towed. That is a wider radius than most people picture, and it covers essentially every street a walker would think of using.
Later in 2021 the city added overflow parking and an off-leash dog area to go with it, and since 2024 it has directed walkers to start at the park at the bottom rather than at the trailhead. That is the answer in practice: park at Ferguson Park, walk up through the neighborhood, and add a few minutes at each end in exchange for never thinking about a tow notice.
None of this is unusual for a trailhead that sits inside a subdivision, and it is not aimed at visitors as such. It is what happens when a regional draw ends up at the top of a street that was built as a cul de sac. The people who live on Timberline and Prospector are not an obstacle to the walk; they are the reason there is a parking lot at the bottom of it.
Eighteen stalls at the top, a permit rule for a third of a mile around them, and a park at the bottom that solves it.
The park at the bottom
The city built the answer and put a dog run in it
Ferguson Park at 7722 South Prospector Drive is the newest park in Cottonwood Heights, and it exists largely because of the trail above it. It carries an off-leash dog area, a walking loop, restrooms with running water, a couple of small pavilions with picnic tables, and the trailhead parking the trail itself does not have. It is run by Cottonwood Heights Parks and Recreation, and in 2026 the city added a dog wash station and drinking fountain water.
The dog wash is a small thing that tells you what this park is for. Everything about the site is built around the fact that people arrive with a dog, walk a canyon with a creek in it, and come back with a wet and muddy animal. That is a very specific piece of municipal design, and it is the clearest evidence of what the trail above actually gets used for.
For a household with a dog and no plans for the canyons next door, the park on its own is enough on a weekday evening: a loop, an off-leash area, and somewhere to be outdoors without driving. The trail is there when there is an hour and a half to spend on it, and the two together are why this corner of the city is busier on foot than any other.
For everything else outdoors from this address, the two Cottonwood canyons are the bigger subject, and the city sits at their gates rather than owning them. The canyons page covers what is up there, and the ranked six covers what else is inside the city line.
What is at Ferguson Park
A municipal dog wash at the bottom of a canyon trail is a city telling you exactly what that trail is for.
Getting there
Exit 6, then two left turns and a parking lot you will not regret
From the freeway, leave I-215 at exit 6 and follow 6200 South onto Wasatch Boulevard. Carry on about 1.8 miles past the Big Cottonwood gate, turn left onto Prospector Drive, and Ferguson Park is at 7722 South on that street. The trailhead itself is farther up, at the top of Timberline Drive, and the walk between the two takes a few minutes on the sidewalk.
From inside Cottonwood Heights it is easier still, because Wasatch Boulevard is the bench road and almost every street on the east side of the city feeds onto it. For a good part of the city this is a walk from the house rather than a drive at all, which is another reason the streets around the trailhead fill the way they do.
Time it like a resident rather than a visitor. Early morning and the last two hours of light are quiet and cool, weekends in the middle of the day are not, and a fall weekday is close to having the canyon to yourself. The overlook faces west across the valley, which makes late afternoon the better light and gives you a reason to walk down in the dusk.
One last practical note. This is a canyon with a creek, granite walls and a national forest boundary partway up, five minutes from a suburban street, and it behaves like a mountain trail rather than a park path. Take water, take a layer for the overlook, and tell somebody the plan if you are going past it. None of that is alarmist; it is the ordinary discipline for ground that gets steep quickly.
Set your map to the park at the bottom, not the trailhead at the top. Directions to Ferguson Park
Keep reading
More of Cottonwood Heights on The Local
Things to do
The top 6, ranked
A festival that left Pioneer Day, an Olympic sheet of ice, and a mill facing demolition.
Read the guideThe home canyon
Big Cottonwood from the doorstep
What a season of Brighton mornings is like when the gate is at the end of your street.
Read the guideThe corridor
Fort Union, the fort and the road
A militia fort from 1853, a boulevard through three cities, and what stands on it now.
Read the guideCanyon transit
The ski bus and the park and rides
Route CS2 starts in this city, and the lot nearest the canyon fills by half past eight.
Read the guideMoving here
Living at the mouth
Winter tires as standing equipment, a separate recreation tax, and two land use fights.
Read the guideThe companion
Cottonwood Heights, the whole picture
Two canyon gates, a boulevard, a bus route, the city's own canyon and the homework, together.
Read the pageQuick answers
Ferguson Canyon, answered
About 3.6 miles round trip with roughly 1,460 feet of climbing, from around 5,245 feet at the bottom to an overlook near 6,700 feet, and it takes most people two to three hours. It rates easy to moderate, and it is really a summer and fall walk. The route continues past the overlook toward about 9,000 feet near Storm Mountain, which is a much longer and more serious day.
Yes, on a leash, and that is the single reason this trail carries the local traffic it does. Dogs are banned outright in both Big and Little Cottonwood canyons because those canyons are protected drinking watershed, and that ban includes a dog that never leaves the car. Ferguson is the alternative on this side of the ridge, and it stays that way only while people keep dogs leashed and pack out what they leave behind.
At Ferguson Park, 7722 South Prospector Drive. The trailhead up at 7721 Timberline Drive has only 18 stalls and they fill early. On-street parking within about a third of a mile of the trailhead is reserved for residents with permits under the city code, and a car without one can be ticketed and towed. Since 2024 the city has directed walkers to start at the park and walk up.
Because a regional trail ends at the top of a residential street with only 18 stalls at it. After overflow parking spilled into the streets below, residents asked the city to act, and in early 2021 the council restricted on-street parking to permit holders. Later that year the city added overflow parking and an off-leash dog area, and the park at the bottom of the trail followed.
Three, and they sit low on the route. In summer and fall they are straightforward rock hopping. In early spring, with snowmelt coming off the ground above, the flow can run high enough to soak your feet or turn you back, and the rocks that were easy in September get slick. The route itself does not change with the season; only the water does.
Yes. Sheer granite cliffs line the canyon from about 0.7 miles up, with side trails running off the main route to the climbing areas, and the crags here have been worked for decades. Expect to pass climbers carrying ropes and pads on the narrow side paths, especially on weekends. The climbing is not why most people walk the canyon, but it is a big part of why the middle stretch is worth slowing down for.
An off-leash dog area, a walking loop, restrooms with running water, picnic pavilions and trailhead amenities for Ferguson Canyon, at 7722 South Prospector Drive. It is the newest park in the city and it is run by Cottonwood Heights Parks and Recreation. The park added a dog wash station and drinking fountain water in 2026, which tells you exactly what the trail above it gets used for.
Leave I-215 at exit 6 and follow 6200 South onto Wasatch Boulevard, continue about 1.8 miles past the Big Cottonwood gate, then turn left onto Prospector Drive. Ferguson Park is at 7722 South on that street, and the trailhead is farther up at the top of Timberline Drive. From most addresses inside Cottonwood Heights it is a short run down to Wasatch Boulevard, and for part of the city it is a walk.
They are different walks in different cities. Bells Canyon is in Sandy, south of Little Cottonwood Creek, with trailheads on Little Cottonwood Road and Wasatch Boulevard. Ferguson is Cottonwood Heights ground, shorter, closer to the middle of this city, and open to leashed dogs. If the dog is coming, that settles it. If it is not, both are worth a morning.
A canyon at the top of an ordinary street
It is also the clearest example of what buying on this bench actually means: a regional amenity at the end of a cul de sac, a permit rule written to manage it, and a household that has to know which side of the line its curb is on. Tell me the streets you are weighing and I will connect you with a Salt Lake County partner agent who walks them, and stay on the financing side myself.
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