The Brigham Fork Mine

Saturday we took a hike to another one of those little-known classics in the Salt Lake area- the Brigham Fork Mine.  I'm not sure if it goes by other names, but the only other one I could think of would be the Pinecrest Mine.  The last time I was up here was 4 years ago, but not much has changed.  It's still a great little hike.

The trailhead is up the Pinecrest fork near the top of Emigration Canyon.  It only holds 4-5 cars and can be easy to miss.  From there, the hike is just under 2 miles to the mine.  Most of it is along an old railroad grade, left from back when there was a railroad up Emigration Canyon.  This spur of the railroad was to some rock quarries, from which the sandstone was used to build homes and other structures down in the valley.

Toward the end of the hike, there's a small dry waterfall on the right of the trail.  In the spring there's a small waterfall, but most of the time the falls are dry.  We did this hike in the summer, but fall is my favorite time to do it when the leaves are changing. 

Maybe a quarter mile past the dry waterfall, the trail leaps across a small creek then has a short steep ascent to a large pine tree where the trail essentially disappears.  There's a few small trails that lead off into the bushes, but none of them really go anywhere. 

If you look around a little bit, and maybe crawl over a few rocks, you'll find the mine.

 It goes back in 200 feet or so, with several small attempts at side passages. 

Usually there is some water inside, but in late fall it's typically dry.  We only went back in about 40 feet this time, but the water was cold enough that I didn't want to carry everybody over.


View Brigham Fork Mine Trail in a larger map


Nearest City: Salt Lake City, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 2 1/2 hours
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info: