Bells Canyon Hike

Just south of Salt Lake City, Utah there is a trail that will take you along beautiful granite mountains to the Lower and Upper Bells Canyon Reservoirs. There are two trail heads available for this hike. One is on Wasatch Blvd. at about 10245 South and the other one is just north of this location between Wasatch Blvd. and the Y junction at the beginning of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The Lower reservoir is only about 1/2 mile up the trail. The Upper Reservoir is about 4 miles up the trail at about 9,400 feet in elevation. The elevation increase to the upper reservoir is about 4,100 feet. This morning the temperature started out at about 28 F. At about the 3 1/2 mile mark, the water in my bottle froze, so it was definitely cold. We've had very little snow so far this year, but there was some snow and ice on the trail, which my running shoes began to slip and slide on. So, I decided to head back. Round trip today was 3 hours. There was some ice on the stream and the waterfalls were christened with white ice. It's a beautiful hike. This morning, there were about 10 hikers on the trail.