On Sunday I hiked Bell Canyon in Salt Lake. Bell Canyon is the next canyon south of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trailhead leaves from a parking area at 10230 S Wasatch Blvd, and the first hundred yards or so is "suburb hiking" right past homes and backyards.

Bell Canyon is a steep hike, but it has a fast payoff. You only go one half mile before you come to a nice lake where you can do some catch and release fishing (artificial lures only).

The trail climbs steadily through the suburban neighborhood for one to two hundred yards, then drops down to cross the creek coming out of the canyon.

Enjoy the cool shade and the burbling creek here for a moment, because once you cross the bridge, this is where the trail gets steep. The hike to the lake is only half a mile, but in that half mile the trail climbs almost 500 feet, so it's not unlike climbing fifty flights of stairs.

For a moment the trail almost seems vertical, but it's a short stretch. Once you climb what feels like a dirt ladder for about fifty yards or so, the trail goes back to a more gradual, steady climb, then you come over the first rise and arrive at Bell Canyon Reservoir.

I was with a group that included children so we were happy to hang out at the lake and then go back down, but the hike doesn't have to end here. The trail up Bell Canyon actually continues on for several more miles, and eventually joins up with the White Pine trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon.