The water Kamas
Two river systems, five creeks and one nine mile canal
The Weber and the Provo, from the valley in between.
Kamas sits with the Weber on its north side and the Provo on its south, both of them rising in the same range within a few miles of each other and then going opposite ways. In between runs Beaver Creek, and across the divide runs a nine mile canal built in 1929 to move one river into the other. Here is the valley's water, from the Kamas side.
Southern Utah is my home turf. Kamas is not, so these pages are researched rather than lived: checked against city, county and venue sources, and dated so you can see how fresh they are. For the on-the-ground work here I lean on a Summit County partner agent.
Start here
Two river systems meet the edges of one small valley.
The Kamas Valley is bounded by the Provo River on the south and the Weber River on the north, with the Uintas closing the east side and the Wasatch Back rising to the west. Both rivers rise in the same range within a few miles of each other and then go opposite ways: the Weber north to the Great Salt Lake, the Provo southwest to Utah Lake.
Down the middle of the valley runs Beaver Creek, the largest of five main creeks here. It comes out of the southwestern Uintas along the line of the Mirror Lake Highway, crosses the valley diagonally from southeast to northwest, and joins the Weber just south of Peoa. That is the creek you cross without noticing on the way into town.
So Kamas is a Weber town by drainage and a Provo town by neighbourhood, which sounds like trivia and is not. It is the reason the valley has more irrigation infrastructure than a place this size would normally carry, and it is the reason for the strangest piece of engineering in Summit County, which is a canal built to move water from one river system into the other on purpose.
The valley's water
9 mi
of Weber-Provo Canal, Oakley to the Provo
1,000 cfs
the canal's delivery capacity
1929
the year it was first built
5
main creeks in the Kamas Valley
The engineering
A nine mile canal that moves one river into another.
Almost nobody who drives through the Kamas Valley notices it, and it is the most consequential piece of infrastructure in the place.
The Weber-Provo Canal starts on the Weber River about a mile east of Oakley and runs generally south for nine miles to the Provo River. It is a mixture of unlined, earth lined and concrete lined sections, it can deliver up to a thousand cubic feet per second, and it exists to carry Weber water and Provo River Project allocations across the divide for storage and distribution downstream.
It was built in 1929 and 1930 as part of the Weber River Project and enlarged between 1941 and 1947 under the Provo River Project, and it is operated today by the Provo River Water Users Association. Where Beaver Creek meets it in Kamas there is a concrete diversion structure capable of taking essentially the whole flow of the creek into the canal, and a stream gauge sits at the crossing on SR-32 in Francis.
The practical version for anyone buying land here is short. Water in this valley is worked, allocated and moved, and irrigation shares are a separate question from the deed. On any acreage, the shares, the ditch rights and what actually conveys are the first three things to establish, and they are not always what the listing implies.
A valley small enough to drive across in ten minutes has two river systems and a canal built to connect them.
North of town
The Weber, and a court case that opened it.
The Weber rises in the Uintas above Holiday Park, comes down through the ranch ground east of Oakley, and runs north through Peoa to Rockport Reservoir and on to Wanship and Echo. From Kamas the whole upper river is inside fifteen minutes, which is a shorter drive than most people in Salt Lake City make to reach anything comparable.
It is also legally unusual. In November 2017 the Utah Supreme Court decided Utah Stream Access Coalition v. Orange Street Development and found that historic railroad tie and log drives were sufficient proof that the upper Weber between Holiday Park and Echo Reservoir was navigable at statehood. The effect was to recognise public recreational access on that stretch, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources publishes the rules that go with it.
That does not make the riverbank a public park and it does not suspend trespass law on the way to the water. It does mean the upper Weber is one of a very small number of Utah rivers where the public position was settled by the state's highest court, and anyone planning to fish it should read the division's access guidance first rather than assume either way. Downstream, the reach from Echo Reservoir to Wanship carries Utah's Blue Ribbon Fishery designation.
Where the water sits still
Two reservoirs the valley actually uses.
Kamas has no lake of its own below the mountain, and the two it borrows are completely different propositions. One is a pine ringed pocket at the top of a canyon road; the other is a state park with a boat ramp on the way to the freeway.
| Smith and Morehouse | Rockport | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Up the Weber Canyon road past Oakley | On SR-32 near Wanship, north of Kamas |
| From Kamas | About 30 minutes | About 18 minutes |
| Getting there | North to Oakley, SR-213 twelve miles to the end of the pavement, then two miles | Straight north on SR-32 |
| Elevation | Campground at about 7,800 feet in conifer and aspen | Lower, open sagebrush country |
| The feel | Small, quiet, forested, no ski boats to speak of | A working state park with boating, waterskiing and eight campgrounds |
| Facilities | Forest Service campground, vault toilets, a trail | Day use, developed and primitive camping, ramps |
Fees, campground opening dates and reservation systems differ between a Forest Service site and a Utah state park and both change annually. Confirm current figures with the managing agency rather than with any page, including this one.
The closest flat water of any size to Kamas is actually the Rock Cliff arm of Jordanelle, about ten minutes west, which has a nature centre and quiet paddling water at the shallow upper end of the reservoir. Jordanelle proper is Heber Valley's water and the Heber City guide is the place to read about it; from a Kamas driveway it is simply the nearest place to put a boat in.
South of town
The upper Provo, which is a different river from the famous one.
The Provo starts in the lake basin at the top of the Mirror Lake Highway, in the country around Trial Lake, and comes down the mountain as a small, cold, fast creek. At about milepost 23.9 it goes over Upper Provo River Falls, a run of cascades with a signed car park, a pit toilet and a half mile of path, which is the best short stop on the whole byway and the only part of the upper river most visitors ever see.
From there it leaves the byway, swings south through Woodland and Francis, and enters Jordanelle Reservoir. That upper stretch is small water in ranch country, largely privately bounded, and it is nothing like the river people mean when they say the Provo. It is worth understanding the difference before you drive out expecting one and find the other.
The famous water is the Middle Provo, the tailwater below Jordanelle running down the Heber Valley, and it is a state designated blue ribbon fishery with a public access programme built around it. That is Heber City's ground, thoroughly, and the Heber City guide is where it belongs. From Kamas it is a twenty minute drive and somebody else's subject.
Runoff turns all of this water dangerous, and the calendar for it is late. These rivers are fed by a high snowpack that melts through May and June, which means the friendly little creek at the falls in September is a fast, cold, opaque torrent in early summer. Every year people underestimate it. Add to that the fact that public access on the upper Weber comes with specific rules from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and that almost every bank in the valley bottom is private working ranch ground, and the advice is simple: check the flows, read the access rules, and do not assume a bank is open because it is unfenced.
What changed in 2025
The county bought 834 acres at the headwaters.
On 15 December 2025 Summit County and the Summit Land Conservancy closed on the Ure Ranch, 834 acres at the entrance to Kamas on SR-248, on both sides of the road, for 25 million dollars. The Ure family had homesteaded the ground in the late 1800s and chose conservation over development. Conservation easements now bar nearly all building on it while preserving the agricultural use.
The money came from six places: seven million from a 2021 voter approved open space bond, ten million from transient room tax, 6.2 million from the United States Department of Agriculture, 2.5 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, half a million from the Utah Outdoor Recreation Initiative and 210,000 from transportation sales tax. The closing was delayed in part by a federal government shutdown.
For this page the point is what the ground is. It sits at the headwaters of the Weber, the north and south meadows stay working farmland, and a recreation area of about 454 acres is proposed south of the road for hiking, biking and equestrian use. The county has also described an opportunity to restore Kamas Valley wetlands there. None of it is open yet; treat the trails as planned rather than built.
Keep reading
More of Kamas on The Local.
Things to do
The top 7, ranked
A rodeo week running since 1938, a 1918 soda fountain, a smokehouse up the byway.
Read the guideThe byway
The Mirror Lake Highway
Fifty four miles of state road, topping out at 10,715 feet. Gated at mile 14.6.
Read the guideThe high country
The Uinta lakes
Ruth, Lofty, Wall and the Bald Mountain summit, all day walks from the valley.
Read the guideWinter
The winter gate
What the map looks like once the plows stop fifteen miles east of Main Street.
Read the guideMoving here
The 84036 question
Five resort developments carry a Kamas address and sit in another county.
Read the guideThe companion
Kamas, the whole picture
The byway, the lakes, the winter gate, the rivers and the ZIP code, in one place.
Read the pageQuick answers
The water, answered.
Beaver Creek, which is the largest of the five main creeks in the Kamas Valley. It comes out of the southwestern Uintas along the line of the Mirror Lake Highway, crosses the valley diagonally from southeast to northwest and joins the Weber River just south of Peoa. The valley itself is bounded by the Provo River on the south and the Weber on the north, so Kamas is a Weber town by drainage with the Provo a few miles away.
A nine mile canal that carries water from the Weber River, starting about a mile east of Oakley, generally south across the divide to the Provo River. It is a mixture of unlined, earth lined and concrete lined sections, it can deliver up to a thousand cubic feet per second, and it was built in 1929 and 1930 under the Weber River Project and enlarged between 1941 and 1947 under the Provo River Project. The Provo River Water Users Association operates it.
On the stretch between Holiday Park and Echo Reservoir, yes, subject to specific rules. In November 2017 the Utah Supreme Court decided Utah Stream Access Coalition v. Orange Street Development and found that historic railroad tie and log drives were sufficient proof the reach was navigable at statehood, which recognised public recreational access there. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources publishes the access rules, and anyone planning to fish it should read them first.
About thirty minutes. The route is north out of Kamas to Oakley, left onto SR-213 up the Weber Canyon road for roughly twelve miles to the end of the pavement, then a further two miles to the campground entrance. The Forest Service campground sits just below the reservoir at about 7,800 feet in conifer and aspen, with vault toilets and picnic tables, and the reservoir itself is small, quiet and forested.
It is the developed water for this part of Summit County, about eighteen minutes north of Kamas on SR-32 near Wanship. The reservoir carries year round fishing along with boating, waterskiing, swimming and sailing, and the park runs eight campgrounds with both developed and primitive sites plus day use areas and ramps. Fees and reservation arrangements change annually, so confirm current figures with Utah State Parks.
At about milepost 23.9 on the Mirror Lake Highway, roughly 24 miles east of Kamas, with a large signed car park on the west side of the road and a pit toilet. A half mile out and back path runs along a series of cascades in a pine and aspen canyon and takes about half an hour. It is the best short stop on the whole byway and the part of the upper Provo that most visitors actually see.
No, and the difference matters. The upper Provo starts in the lake basin at the top of the Mirror Lake Highway, goes over the falls at milepost 23.9 and comes down through Woodland and Francis into Jordanelle Reservoir as small, largely privately bounded water. The blue ribbon river people mean when they say the Provo is the Middle Provo, the tailwater below the Jordanelle dam running down the Heber Valley, which is a Heber City subject.
Summit County and the Summit Land Conservancy closed on 834 acres at the entrance to Kamas on SR-248 for 25 million dollars on 15 December 2025. The ground sits on both sides of the road at the headwaters of the Weber River, the Ure family had homesteaded it since the late 1800s, and conservation easements now bar nearly all development while preserving farming. About 454 acres south of the road is proposed for non-motorized recreation, but nothing is open yet.
Not automatically, and this is the single most common expensive assumption here. Water in this valley is worked, allocated and physically moved between drainages, and irrigation shares are a separate matter from the deed. On any parcel with agricultural ground, establish what shares exist, which company holds them, what the ditch arrangements are and exactly what conveys in writing, before the offer rather than after.
Two rivers, five creeks and a canal that crosses the divide.
On acreage in this valley the water is the first question rather than the last one, and the shares do not always follow the land. If you are weighing a parcel here, tell me what you are looking at and I will get a Summit County partner agent who understands the ditch companies to go through it with you.
Referral disclosure. Outside Southern Utah, I connect home sellers and buyers with partner agents I trust in their area. If you choose to work with an agent I refer, that agent's brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee. The fee comes out of the agent's compensation; it is not an added cost to you. You are always free to choose any agent you wish, and using a referred agent is never required.