Salt Lake's favorite family hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon, where the creek pours through a pothole in the rock, the donut, before emerging in a cave below.
May through mid July
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
Mill D South Fork of Big Cottonwood Creek
Climatology
Data on this page
Mill D South Fork of Big Cottonwood Creek is ungauged
USFS Uinta-Wasatch-Cache
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Donut Falls, and when
The little fork feeding Donut Falls runs on Wasatch snowmelt, peaking from May to mid July and settling into a quiet trickle by fall; winter buries the approach in snow. Our snowmelt label is editorial, and so is the donut description itself, which the Forest Service trailhead page does not spell out. What the agency is explicit about is the watershed: this is Salt Lake City drinking water, and the rules are strict.
Typical best flow: May through mid July
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What the agency itself says
The Donut Falls trailhead is located in Big Cottonwood Canyon and provides access to the popular Donut Falls trail. To access the trailhead, you must navigate a short gravel road that leads to a small dirt parking lot with limited parking available.
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (US Forest Service)What a snowmelt year looks like at full send: Palouse Falls in mid April, when the Palouse River is still carrying the melt. The same falls in late August is a ribbon. Timing is most of the visit. “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
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Right now
Current flow at Donut Falls
The other half of the story: the same Palouse Falls in late August. Nothing is wrong; this is what a snowmelt river does every year once the melt is spent. “Palouse Falls 20100829” by Mark Wagner, CC BY-SA 2.5
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The trailhead sits up a short gravel road with limited parking, per the Forest Service, and Big Cottonwood Canyon carries a day use fee. Because the canyon is a protected watershed, no dogs are allowed and no swimming, wading or playing in the water.
Mountain snowmelt in its loud season (Vernal Fall, Yosemite, NPS photo). Donut Falls channels the same spring pulse through a single pothole in the Wasatch. “Rainbow in the mist of Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park. NPS-Madelyn Carpenter (18497149938)” — NPS Natural Resources — Public domain
Common questions
Donut Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is May through mid July. The little fork feeding Donut Falls runs on Wasatch snowmelt, peaking from May to mid July and settling into a quiet trickle by fall; winter buries the approach in snow. Our snowmelt label is editorial, and so is the donut description itself, which the Forest Service trailhead page does not spell out. What the agency is explicit about is the watershed: this is Salt Lake City drinking water, and the rules are strict.
Mill D South Fork of Big Cottonwood Creek has no USGS gauge near the falls, so the seasonal pattern above is the flow guide for Donut Falls, and Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (US Forest Service) is the source for current conditions on the ground.
It shrinks markedly after the melt, though the pothole keeps funneling whatever the creek carries. The full donut effect, water ramming through the hole, is a May to mid July feature.
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (US Forest Service). The trailhead sits up a short gravel road with limited parking, per the Forest Service, and Big Cottonwood Canyon carries a day use fee. Because the canyon is a protected watershed, no dogs are allowed and no swimming, wading or playing in the water. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "Big Cottonwood Canyon is a protected watershed. No dogs or domestic animals. No swimming, wading, or playing in water (protected watershed). No motorized use on trails." That sentence is Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (US Forest Service)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Utah's roadside icon: a 607 foot double cataract dropping into Provo Canyon beside the river parkway trail, free to visit and busiest in the melt months.
A 126 foot desert falls at the end of six sandy miles in Grand Staircase-Escalante, running on spring water through country where the mainstem river can drop to a trickle.
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (US Forest Service). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Rainbow in the mist of Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park. NPS-Madelyn Carpenter (18497149938)” — NPS Natural Resources — Public domain
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