Pine Gulch Trail

A rewarding hike through pine trees and quiet mountain streams, the Pine Gulch Trail is a less traveled area in Bair Canyon. The trail begins at the mouth of Bair Canyon in Fruit Heights, Utah. The trail begins at the mouth of Bair Canyon (Haight's Creek) in Fruit Heights, Utah. It is a somewhat inclined hike until you come to the clearing of trees where the actual Pine Gulch Trail begins. This is a relatively short but very steep hike that will make you wonder why you have never done this trail before. Please understand that this trail is less traveled for a reason: it is very steep until you reach the ridge and once you do reach the ridge the trail is very narrow and overgrown. I enjoyed it because I knew what I was getting myself into - a very rough trail. You will need decent route finding abilities once the trail gets so overgrown you will need to bushwhack. Some people hike up the pine trees and then hike back down the same way. From the parking lot to the actual Pine Gulch Trailhead you will be hiking for about .40 miles. The left trail is the normal Bair Canyon trail. To go up to Pine Gulch, you will need to go up the trail which is just behind the water box that you can see in the middle right of the picture. There is a small fire pit and campground area here. From here, the trail winds up the mountain at a very steep angle and the trail narrows down. Just take your time and rest often as you make your way to the top of the ridge. I hiked this in the winter and luckily, someone with wide snowshoes packed down the trail enough for me to stay on top of the 1 foot deep snow. From here, the trail is mostly flat but the whole mountainside is steep so please be careful as you hike on this trail. From the ridge, if you keep hiking on the trail you will come to another fork. The right trail leads up into the next canyon to the south but it offers many more instances for pine trees and great views. The left trail continues on to Pine Gulch. For now, stay on the left trail. The trail winds around through 100+ foot tall pine trees with nothing but very short shrubs and bushes underneath them. I couldn't believe how fresh the air smelled and how much the trees dampened the noise of the Bair Creek below. The entire area is on a very steep slope that leads down to the canyon bottom where the Bair Canyon trail is located. The Pine Gulch Trail will cross over several small streams and even a few areas where it seems there was a mudslide or some type of recent erosion. This may make the trail a little bit precarious but you can cross over just fine. Eventually, the Pine Gulch Trail will begin to drop down a little bit then hug a rock face for about 25 yards. On the trail I found an entire tree that was covered in spiderwebs and literally crawling with large spiders. The "spider tree" was located on the trail and I didn't want to get covered in a spider's nest so I bypassed the trail and bushwhacked the remainder of the hike until it met up with the Bair Canyon trail. The trails meet at just above the 2nd river crossing in Bair Creek and right below the Bair Canyon Mines. From here you can either do a big loop and go on the main Bair Canyon trail or you can go back through the Pine Gulch Trail.