Mineral Fork Trail is accessed from Utah Hwy 190 in Big Cottonwood Canyon, to the east of Salt Lake City. Further up the road are the Solitude and Brighton ski areas. We hiked the trail March 27, 2026.

View from Mineral Fork Trail. Stylized image.

Above is the map of our hike from All Trails. Unsurprisingly we turned around before the end of the trail. Our excuse was that the trail was getting snowy.

Hwy 190 in Big Cottonwood Canyon seen from the start of the trail.
Walking the trail, March 27, 2026.
Gently curved strata are exposed in the road cut along Hwy 190.
A stream ran beside the trail for much of the way. In some places shallow water was actually running down the trail.

The views above are from near the end of our hike up the trail, at about 2.3 miles. The original photo is followed by a stylized version of the image.

The Mineral Fork Tillite is a Precambrian rock formation exposed in Big Cottonwood Canyon and is seen along the Mineral Fork Trail.

Tillite is a rock type that is interpreted as being deposited by glacial processes. The diagnostic feature of Tillite is large rock clasts embedded in fine grained rock matrix. It is thought that deposition of such large clasts requires transport by ice. The image above is of rock along the trail that I believe to be Tillite, large clasts are evident in the dark fine-grained matrix.

Precambrian rocks interpreted as Tillite are found throughout the world, leading to the theory of ancient “snowball Earth”. There are separate exposures of Mineral Fork Tillite in Utah, including several miles to the west in Antelope Island state park.

This stylized image shows the occasional snow across the trail.
More snow on the trail.
This was the end of the trail for us.

Published by jimr77

Recently retired, loving life in northern Minnesota

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