The Salt Creek Waterfall is a great waterfall in the Mt. Nebo Wilderness area that only requires an easy 2 1/2 miles round trip through a beautiful forest. This trail is great for all ages and dogs are welcome.
Directions
The Salt Creek Waterfall flows through Salt Creek Canyon and the trail is also called “Right Fork Salt Creek”. To get to this trailhead take the FR 48 road off the Nebo Loop. You will see a beautiful view as you pass several campgrounds: Ponderosa, Cottonwood, and Bear Canyon. Isn’t that a stunning view?!
In the Bear Canyon Campground there is a small parking lot next to this trailhead. There are cattle ranchers nearby, so be courteous and shut the gate after you pass through.
This is such a beautiful area! It’s a little over an hour’s drive from where I live, but well worth it to drive the Nebo Loop and hike this great trail.
This is an easy trail with a very gradual incline. I have hiked this multiple times and rarely see any other hikers, even the time we hiked it on Labor Day.
We were there in the heat of the day a few times and there is enough shady spots to make the 95° temperatures bearable.
The geology in the Nebo Loop is fascinating! I love looking at the large rock formations. The green mountains around are also so beautiful!
For some of the hike you can see the creek. It’s very serene.
While we were hiking we were looking for animals. We saw two little garter snakes and a squirrel.
When we hiked in July we saw a million butterflies!
A few butterflies even landed on my kids.
In July there were also lots of wildflowers. There were some in September too.
In September some of the leaves were starting to change. I bet this trail is amazing in the fall!
The trail continues along with a gentle incline. There are few places the trail gets a bit rocky, but it’s a lovely area.
There was a large avalanche in the area that knocked down many of the trees near the falls. Because of that clean up, they changed the trail route. Keep an eye out for a little pile of rocks. It was probably originally a cairn, but collapsed.
If you accidentally pass it, in another 20 feet you’ll get to a creek crossing. If it’s June then there will be more water than in the fall, when it might be a dry creek bed. It used to be you’d head left right after the creek. Now it’s better to turn around to go back 20 feet.
Take that new trail. It’s only about 100 feet and passes many trees that are slanted from the avalanche.
There is now a great bridge that makes it easy to cross below the falls.
Here is the view of the waterfall from the bridge.
The waterfall is beautiful!
You can see above how it used to be and now there is a bit less foliage.
The flow is still strong in July, but the water is shallow to walk in.
By September it has slowed, but it is still a beautiful waterfall.
Stats: Distance – 2.6 miles there and back
Approximate hiking time – 1-3 hours
Elevation gain – 364 feet
Difficulty – Easy
Trail – well maintained trail of dirt and rocks
Bathrooms – Yes
Seasons to hike – May – October
Permits needed – None
Pets allowed – Yes
This is very close to Devil’s Kitchen. It’s also near Payson Lakes, Double Falls, and Grotto Falls. You may also want to head south to Maple Canyon Arch and Maple Box Canyon.
Now this is the kind of write-up that everyone should be doing. Thanks for all your work.