I grew up in Ephraim, and the S for Snow College overlooked the first 18 years of my life. I wasn’t a hiker then, though, and I never made the trek up to visit it.
As a result, this is one of the first letter-hikes I wanted to do. There are several things about the S that make it a pretty great hike.
First of all, the S hike is very well marked, so you won’t get lost. This isn’t true of all the letter hikes we’ve done. The trail is VERY steep and runs a little under a 1 mile in each direction.
Second of all, the S has a bench painted white included right in the letter. When you arrive sweating and huffing and puffing, you can plant yourself on the bench and look over the little town of Ephraim.
Third, the S is huge! Though the BYU Y claims to be the largest hillside letter, the S is no slouch. We didn’t measure the S, but it easily dwarfs any other letter we’ve visited.
The trail starts at the water treatment facility on Canyon Road. To find it, head toward Ephraim Canyon up to the end of the pavement. Where the road becomes a dirt road, turn left down to the buildings and park. The trickiest part of the trail is reaching it from the parking lot. Walk down to the river and use the boards over the water control gate. Keep ahold of little one’s hands as you cross. It’s not a dangerous drop, but it wouldn’t be a nice fall, either. Check out the picture below to see what you’ll need to cross to reach the trail for the S.
