Smuggler's Gap Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Views

This trail descends into watershed territory. No dogs are allowed.

This trail is part of the annual Steeple Chase trail run event. It would be wise to acquaint yourself with the trail before running the event.

This trail offers amazing views into City Creek Canyon! Ascending the trail, I was constantly stopping and looking back across the canyon at the rock-spires, rock totems and other rock formations. This is one of the prettiest places in City Creek Canyon.

The entrance of this trail near the bottom is easy to find, and it's marked with a sign (as of this writing.) Start at the trail-head in Rotary Park where vehicle access ends and the Meadows Trail begins (Upper City Creek Trail #1470.) Follow the Meadows Trail east and just watch for the sign marking the turn-off for Smuggler's Gap on your right.

The entrance of this trail from the ridge leading to Black Mountain is very difficult to find. It is so overgrown that you can't just recognize it from the trail. Rather, you must use land-marks to know where to simply leave the trail heading north down-slope where you can find the long (and fairly wide, as I recall) switch-back that gains the ridge. The point at which this switch-back gains the ridge is, more or less, at the shallowest point of a V-shaped saddle along the ridge.

I did this trail not too many days after a major wind storm that blew down trees all over the Wasatch Front, and caused many people to lose power for several days. The aftermath of this storm could be readily seen on this trail as there were many new fallen trees and pine needles and pine branches strewn everywhere. All that withstanding, the trail was still easy to follow.