Posted by Tar

The Cardiff Mine trail starts from Mill South Fork B (check this) trailhead. You can reach this trailhead via Big Cottonwood Canyon, turning south at the Jordan Pines Picnic Area spur road. This is also the trailhead for Doughnut Falls (which we also hiked).

The Cardiff Mine trail is really an old mining road.

The trail goes up to a few old mining buildings and the entrance to the mine itself, which has been boarded up. From the trailhead, you follow the road you drove in on and will shortly pass a gate intended to keep motorized traffic out. (We were passed by some ATVs, though, so I guess the gate doesn’t always work.) From this gate, it’s about 2.5 miles to the mine entrance.

Not more than a half mile in, there’s a fork in the road – the first of many. Looking down the left fork, you’ll see two big rocks (which were covered with graffiti on our visit). Taking this path will actually lead you to the Doughnut Falls trail. To get to the mine, go right.

The road forks several more times – generally speaking, always pick the one that looks most like a road. (Or that goes the most uphill!) There were a few stream crossings that, during our visit in early July, were not bad at all, and we were easily able to cross on tall rocks without getting wet feet.

At about 2.5 miles, there is another fork in the road. Looking to the right, you can see an old mining building. Head up the trail a wee bit more, and there’s another mining building (or what’s left of it) and the mine entrance. We actually walked past this on accident, thinking we needed to head up the trail a bit more. This added a full mile (steeply uphill) to our hike! Yikes. So here’s a hint if you decide to go: If you see a tall wooden structure on your right as you’re huffing up a hill, stop, turn around, and take the other path!!

<—- Don’t walk by this! Click on the pic for a bigger image, the wooden structure you can see on the left is also part of the mine.

This trail was listed as easy in the description we read, and perhaps it is if you’re from Utah and used to the elevation and Wasatch hiking. We flatlanders, however, found it to be moderately challenging. It wasn’t all that technical of a trail, and the path was wide and relatively easy to follow, but the trail itself is difficult to walk. The surface, which is mostly scree (loose rocks of all sizes), is hard on the feet. Heading up to the mine, we encountered a few stretches that were fairly steep – and it was all uphill. Heading back down from the mine, though gravity was on our side, the footing was still challenging.

Other thoughts? We left at 9:30 and got back around 1ish. The way up, we had plenty of shade, with one long stretch (about a mile) that was exposed. The way down, with the sun directly overhead, we had precious little shade and it was HOT. The mine buildings were cool to see. We’re going to find out exactly what the Cardiff Mine mined. We guessed copper or iron, based on the reddish rocks and water. There was also a beautiful waterfall at the mine area, and the path largely followed a rushing mountain stream. The views were pretty, and at one point I looked up and was a bit startled at the beauty of the scene around me. Mountains, trees, wildflowers, some great vistas.

<—This is the entrance to the mine.

On the way down, we passed a family – grandfather, mother, and two sons. One of the kids, about 12, told us that his grandfather was the owner of the Cardiff Mine. Whether he was or whether we wasn’t, we are not sure, but it was an interesting encounter nonetheless.

Total mileage: About 6.5 miles. Would have been closer to 5 if we hadn’t detoured.
Time including rest breaks and time to explore the mine area: 3-4 hours.

Cadence music: I think I’ll go for a walk outside now, the summer sun’s calling my name….Everybody’s smiling – Sunshine Day!  From the Brady Bunch.

For another description of the trail, please see this website, which is where we originally got the directions for this trail.

<—- Sleeping Wally

Update: More Photos here