Wild Rose Trail

Wild Rose Trail is a beautiful trail along the foothills north of Salt Lake City. This trail shares sections with mountain bikes and is dog friendly. In May and early June, the trail is sprinkled with a brilliant array of wildflowers including blue, purple, white, yellow, orange, and red blossoms. This is a perfect hike for a late Spring day.

Wild Rose Park

The Wild Rose Trail starts at Wild Rose Park located at 650 Sky Crest Ln in North Salt Lake. This park is named for the pink roses that grow near the parking lot. If these flowers are in bloom when you arrive, you have a good chance of seeing wild flowers along the trail. Please remember that you should not pick the wildflowers. Wildflowers do not grow back the following year if they are picked, and if you pick flowers, no one else hiking the trail will be able to enjoy them.

The wild roses line the entrance to the park.

Wild Rose Park has a small playground, as well as restrooms, a pavilion, and an amphitheater. There is also a small bike repair station for the mountain bikers. So you can plan a picnic before or after your hike, and have some play time for the kids.

A small, but fun playground at Wild Rose Park.

This is the bike repair station at the back of the park near the trail.

We liked the little amphitheater and the grassy field.

The Trail

After parking in the small lot, proceed past the pavilion and head up the hill to the right. The trail crosses through the thick bushes, and it immediately seems as if you’ve left the city behind. Look for this opening to know that you made it onto the Wild Rose Trail. We headed straight and when we came to the first sign, we stayed straight again.

Follow the paved trails up to the dirt trail behind the park area.

The trail climbs steadily, but it isn’t steep or difficult. We began to notice gorgeous yellow flowers all up and down the sides of the hill almost immediately. These flowers don’t survive the heat well, so they were just beginning to wane when we visited in the second week of June. Further along, the trail reaches a four-way junction (head left at the bench). There are signs that help you navigate, but we still found the route to be a little confusing. You may consider using the Alltrails map or app, which kept us on a track for a 2 mile loop. We wrote specific directions on the route we took below.

Soon you will be walking in the scrub oak and maples.

There are lovely wildflowers in the spring.

Soon you will be back out in the open with views of the valley.

There were lots of pink and purple flowers to enjoy in early June.

We noticed Utah’s own bright white sego lily as the trail continued up and looped over the saddle of the hill. As you approach the saddle, you get a nice view over into Bountiful, and you are reminded just how close to the city you are. The golf course is sprawled right below you. The trail continues on to an overlook that faces west out over the Great Salt Lake. You can clearly see the airport towers and Antelope Island from Sunset Point. There is a bench to watch the sunset. This is a great spot to take your photos.

Make sure to walk the extra distance to Sunset Point. It’s just a few minutes.

This is the view from the bench at Sunset Point.

The Wild Rose trail continues down to the north before looping back south to the parking lot. At this point, there is only around a half mile back to the car. Be cautious as you hike, and politely yield to bikers as they are working much harder than you are, at least as they ascend. Remember to be a good citizen and share the trail!

There are sections of shady areas of the trail, but it is mostly out in the open.

Follow the trail back to Wild Rose Park.

Our Route

We followed the AllTrails route for a 2.0 mile loop around. It had a little climbing, but was easy, and most kids could make it around. There are a few junctions, so we are going to show you the way that we hiked the trail, which was counterclockwise.

Step 1

Head up the trail from Wild Rose Park. When you get to the opening, you can head left or straight. We chose straight, but you can head left if you’d like. It is a loop, so it needs up back at this same spot. Our hike was counterclockwise.

Stay straight after walking through the opening.

Step 2

At the next junction, there is a sign for a shortcut. We did not take the shortcut, we continued straight.

Step 3

The next decision happens when you come to a bench. Take a left and you will almost be heading the exact opposite way that you just walked.

When you reach the first bench, head left up the hill behind you.

Step 4

After you hike through the flowers for awhile. You will come to a slight break in the trail. Make sure to stay on the left one because heading up the hill is only for mountain bikes.

At this junction take the lower trail to the left instead of up the hill.

Step 5

Follow the trail for another while, and soon you will see Sunset Point. The trail heads down the hill, but it is nice to walk out to the overlook, so we recommend adding this extra walk into your hike.

The Wild Rose Trail heads down the hill, but make sure to walk out to Sunset Point first.

Step 6

The trail is easy to follow after Sunset Point with no other junctions. Soon you will end up back at the original opening and you can walk back into Wild Rose Park.

Check out our list of 20 Easy Spring Hikes for other great trails to get out on the trail.