BYU Botany Pond

Posted in Free Activities
Updated April 10, 2018

It is a beautiful shady place to visit.

The BYU Botany Pond is located on the south end of BYU campus. The area has been updated since we attended BYU 15-20 years ago when it was well known as a dangerous place to be after dark. Now you’ll find a grassy lawn, towering trees, and a beautiful pond surrounded by a boardwalk. Mallards are sleeping and quacking all over the place, and since we visited in the spring, tiny ducklings chirped along behind them.

The ducklings were super cute!

There were ducks everywhere. Our one year old kept
pointing and saying, “more, more!”

Of course, we brought some bread to feed the ducks, and our one year-old found out the hard way that you don’t let the ducks take food out of your hand. He recovered quickly, though, and learned to throw food to the ducks.

After a few minutes, we spotted the turtles– red-eared sliders that live in the pond. We saw a total of 5, including one that looked big enough to be a desert tortoise! Honestly the turtles didn’t do much, but they were fun to find, and they did float around a bit.

Red eared sliders

We walked around the garden and spotted some petroglyphs on a tiny rock that claimed to be 1,000 years old and a pioneer rock with the date 1909 clearly etched into it. Up the hill we came across a little fountain and a California Quail. It was a great stop.

This would be such a great place to picnic.
Super shady, big grassy areas, and
entertainment for the kids (feeding the ducks).

Petroglyphs

This water feature is just up the hill in another grassy rest area.

Directions

The BYU Botany Pond is easy to find. Just head north on 800 North from University, pass Brick Oven, and the first 2 Y parking lots on the right. The pond is at the bottom of the long stairway up to campus on the north side of the road.