Farmington Creek Waterfall

We discovered a new waterfall this week, and it was really pretty. Farmington Creek Waterfall is a moderate hike with a distance of about 3.3 miles roundtrip. The hike is steep, and most people could make it to an overlook for the waterfall. The last 30 yards down to the base of the falls require you to scramble down a steep, treacherous slope, but luckily there is a rope to help.

Hike Info

Distance: 3.3 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1032 feet
Rating: moderate
Dog Friendly: Yes

The trail to the waterfall is partially shaded, and it is consistently steep. It follows fairly close to Farmington Creek. In fact, it crosses over small branches of the creek twice. It is important to remember that both times you cross the creek, turn right. The first time is at a small shaded waterfall about halfway through the hike. This is a pretty little place to stop for a rest, and some people go to this waterfall and turn around.

This small little alcove wasn’t very deep.

But there is plenty of hiking in the open sun, too.

A small ghost trail leads left to the top of this mini-waterfall, but turn to the right. The trail runs away from the creek and climbs along the north side of the canyon. It is much less shady, but there are a few things to see along the way.

This is the first small waterfall. Cross the creek and turn right.

Even during Spring it was easy to keep your feet dry.

After you cross the inlet, you hike high above the creek on the hillside.

Over the last half mile of the hike we saw four ancient cars that were abandoned on the side of the trail. We have no idea how these ancient relics got that far up the canyon, nor what they are doing there, but they all come from the 50’s or before. It was pretty fun to see these old wrecks and take a few pictures.

For some reason, there are a few ancient cars high up in this canyon.

Finally, you come to a fork in the trail. (This is after you’ve kept right each time you crossed water). The waterfall appears on the right, and the fork goes down to the bottom. It is steep and dusty for about 30 yards, but we all made it down safely. There is a rope that you can hold as you go down, which helps, too.

After reaching the overlook, you can use the rope to scale to the bottom of the waterfall.

Standing at the bottom of the waterfall is really nice. It was a hot day, and we walked right over into the spray. The cool water felt heavenly! And the downhill hike was easy and enjoyable.

The spray from the waterfall is refreshing!

Of course, we had to get right up close.

Farmington Creek waterfall is the perfect family hike if your kids are a bit older. It would have been hard to help toddlers down the steep climb to the waterfall, and I wouldn’t have wanted to go down with a baby on my back. It is a beautiful waterfall and well worth the hike. For other waterfall ideas, check out our Waterfalls in Utah post, with almost 40 waterfalls.

Directions

Farmington Creek waterfall is in Farmington Canyon. From the 1-15 take exit 324, keep right onto SR-225 and head east toward the mountains. Turn right onto Park Lane. Right onto Main St and then left onto 600 N. Take a left onto 100 E. 100 E splits with the left side heading to Farmington Pond and the right side heading up Farmington Canyon. Stay right and in 1.5 miles you will come to a small parking area on the right. This is where the trail begins.