Anyone hiking either Cottonwood Canyon will probably want to hike to Donut Falls. This unique waterfall is called Donut Falls for a reason.
The video and photos tell the story about as well as words.
The trail to Donut Falls starts from a small parking area accessed from the Mill D North Fork Trailhead in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Click HERE for a map. The tiny parking area fills up fast and is only accessible during summer months. For this reason, many hikers start at the Mill D North Fork Trailhead.
The hike from the Mill D parking area to the falls is just over 1.5 miles and it only gains a bit over 650 vertical feet. This vertical total assumes that hikers actually climb to the top of the falls, which can be a bit of a challenge for novice hikers.
Today’s hike started at Mill D. When I got to the small parking area I had a choice to make. The regular trail to Donut Falls was well-marked and easy to follow, but there was a sign stating that a bridge across the creek was out. I was familiar with the creek crossing and took this trail. The other trail followed a dirt road that runs along the creek, but I decided to take this one back down after being done at the falls.
I knew I was close to Donut Falls when the trail came to the base of a narrow canyon with the creek running through it. There were enough logs and rocks to hop over so I kept my feet dry on the way to the base of the falls. Then things got fun.
Getting back to the name Donut Falls… The creek flows down a canyon and enters a hole at the top of Donut Falls and then disappears into a cave. Hence the name Donut Falls. The mouth of the cave is wide, but not tall so anyone entering needs to duck down quite a bit to get in.
Getting to the mouth of the cave or the entrance requires climbing some fun and not so simple boulders. There is a warning sign at the base of all of this for a reason.
I climbed the boulders, got to the mouth of the cave and decided to venture inside. The cave is not large and the water that pooled inside was deep enough to get my feet very wet and very cold instantly.
After spending a few minutes inside the cave I hung out at the top of the boulders for a while and watched a small crowd gather at the base of the falls. After a five minute careful descent I was back where I could have a relatively relaxed walk back to the Mill D parking area.
I picked up the dirt road that followed the creek and made it back down to the small Donut Falls trailhead parking area. From there is was just another 15 minutes back to my car.
Donut Falls is extremely popular. It gets amazingly crowded during summer weekends so I always go during the week. The Mill D parking area is the trailhead for several nice trails and it gets full quickly during the week as well. In addition to the Donut Falls Trail, the trails to Dog Lake and Desolation Lake start at Mill D.
By the way, hiking to Donut Falls in winter months is also loads of fun, but has its own set of challenges. Click for my post about hiking Donut Falls in the snow.
IF you want to hike to Donut Falls there are a few things to think about. Weekends are crazy busy. The parking area at Mill D fill up fast and is a pay-to-park area. Read the signs about how to pay. Winter hikes are awesome, but do your homework before hiking in the winter. There are also vault toilets available.
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