a day / 36 miles / an hour 11 minutes
From Logan to Garden City, this byway parallels the Logan River through Logan Canyon, passing through dense forests, lush meadows, rugged rock formations and panoramic views. Each season brings a colorful show, especially in autumn.
Day 1
9:00 - 0 miles / 0 - 9:00
Located next to the Logan Ranger District Office, the Lady Bird
Park Overlook provides visitors with a panoramic view of Cache
Valley, the majestic Wellsville Mountains and the Bear River
Mountain Range.
Rustic kiosks have multiple portraits of information. The panels
describe points of local and regional interest and tell the story
of the "Portraits in Time" that have shaped the byway. For example,
one panel is called: "Top Hats and Mountain Tails." This panel
tells the story of how the top hat fashion created an industry that
supported mountain men who once roamed the canyon trapping
beaver.
Visitors can learn more about the geological history of the
area. The shoreline levels of ancient Lake Bonneville (a
left-behind lake from the receding Pacific Ocean) can be clearly
seen from Lady Bird Park Overlook. This lake reached its highest
point about 16,000 years ago, when the lake covered most of western
Utah. Thousands of years ago, the Lady Bird Overlook Park would
have been more than 300 feet below the water of Lake
Bonneville!9:45 - 1.3 miles / 2 minutes - 9:47
Located along the Riverside Trail, this hands-on outdoor education center is open to children and adults. The center offers "Nature Trails and Tails" program held each Saturday during the summer and many Saturdays throughout the year.
10:17 - 0.9 miles / a minute - 10:19
From summer to spring, Second Dam is one of the most popular fishing spots on the Byway. Just a short drive up the canyon, Second Dam is a pretty wilderness getaway with mountains on all sides and shady picnic areas. Although you'll see wildlife all over in the canyon, some of the most unique wildlife resides at Second Dam. In the fall, you can watch for beavers as they build their own dam. In the summer, bats come out at night and swoop over the water to catch a tasty insect. And of course, the angler's favorite are the trout that swim in the water during every season.
The US Forest Service and Logan City jointly manage six picnic sites at Second Dam. The area is fully accessible and includes two parking areas, a restroom, a shoreline boardwalk fishing pier and a bridge across the Logan River to the River Trail. Fish are stocked in Second Dam each year. This is a popular fishing spot for children.10:49 - 1.6 miles / 3 minutes - 10:52
Years of wind and water have worn a delicate triple arch and natural cave into the limestone outcropping at the top of this two-mile trail. Also known as the Witch's Castle, this fascinating formation provides a clear view of the China Wall. Interpretive kiosks at the trailhead provide information about the trail, Wind Cave, Townsend's Big Eared Bat, and rare plants in the canyon.
Please do not cut the switchbacks on this popular trail.11:37 - 3.8 miles / 7 minutes - 11:45
This is a popular section of the canyon for all winter sports enthusiasts - sleigh riders, snowboarders, skiers and snowmobilers. Parking and picnic areas set in a lodgepole pine stand are located just past the turnoff. One-half mile up the road is the cozy, family-owned ski resort called Beaver Mountain. The resort features five chair lifts, a lodge, RV parking and group camping in the summer. Beaver Creek Lodge is located one-half mile up the main highway and offers 11 rooms as well as snowmobile and horse rentals. Access to Logan Canyon's section of the Great Western Trail is found in this area.
11:45 - 1.0 miles / a minute - 11:47
The Jardine Juniper Trail is a wonderful hike that climbs over 2,000 vertical feet through an active avalanche chute, over moraines carved by glaciers 15,000 years ago, and through beautiful aspen and Douglas fir forests.
It leads to the Jardine Juniper, an old, gnarled juniper that has maintained its precarious hold on life for over 1,500 years. This juniper inspired the logo for the Logan Canyon Byway Portraits in Time project. The trail to see this fascinating tree is five miles each way.12:17 - 1.1 miles / 2 minutes - 12:19
This shaded, riverside campground has seven campsites. During the 1870s and 1880s, timber cut from this hollow provided railroad ties, telegraph poles, and hundreds of cords of firewood for use in lime kilns in the lower part of the canyon. These kilns processed the limestone and provided the mortar used in the construction of the Mormon Temple in Logan. Due to its location, Wood Camp also served as a halfway station for weary loggers in need of food and shelter as they made their way back and forth through the
canyon.
The powerful work of avalanches shaped the expansive basin that opens just beyond the Wood Camp turnoff. Look for misplaced sections of soil and scattered rock which the avalanches carried down-slope with them.
This location is also the trailhead to the Jardine Juniper, an old, gnarled juniper thought to be 1500 years old and one of the oldest living juniper trees on earth.12:34 - 4.6 miles / 9 minutes - 12:43
Ricks Spring Cavern has been a traditional
wayside stop for generations. Early settlers
filled up jugs of spring water, until they realized
the water was causing stomach and intestinal
discomfort. It was later discovered that what was thought to
be a natural spring was actually an underground
diversion of the Logan River.13:13 - 15.1 miles / 30 minutes - 13:43
Limber Pine Trail/Logan Canyon Summit
At 7,800 feet this is the high point of the byway. Here also visitors can find an easy one-mile loop trail perfect for families with children. The trail uses a series of switchbacks to navigate an elevation changes of about 80 feet as it passes through the fir and aspen forest and meadows abundant with wildflowers even in high summer. Interpretation sites along the way point out local nature to the hiker.
The goal is a large limber pine, which is actually several trees grown together. It is much older than most other trees in the area, and in fact was once believed to be the oldest and largest limber pine in the country.
There are fine views of Bear Lake from several points along the trail.14:13 - 6.2 miles / 12 minutes - 14:26