Community Garbage Cleanup At Little Cottonwood Trailheads
On Friday, May 23rd, Save Our Canyons and community volunteers spent a few hours doing a spring cleaning of all the major trailheads in Little Cottonwood Canyon including: LCC Park and Ride, Temple Quarry Trailhead, Grit Mill Trailhead, and White Pine Trailhead. Each with respective amounts of garbage and debris from the winter season.
Over two hours, 8 community volunteers rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Removing all garbage found.
A Clean Start to the Season
Each of these access points sees a tremendous amount of use throughout the year, especially during the winter months, when visitors flock to the Wasatch for skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. With the snowmelt comes the reveal: litter and debris that have accumulated or been buried during the colder months now emerge, needing attention before the busy summer season.
Over the course of two hours, eight community members showed up ready to work. Gloves on, garbage bags in hand, they combed through parking lots, trailside, and wooded edges to remove every bit of litter they could find.
While much of what we collected was the usual assortment: candy wrappers, cans, and forgotten gear—there were a few surprises as well. One of the largest items found was a broken dresser inexplicably left at one of the trailheads. Our team broke it down and made sure it was properly removed from the site, preventing it from becoming a long-term eyesore or hazard to wildlife.
To our surprise and appreciation, the trailheads had far less garbage than the previous two seasons. We only collected around 80lbs aside from the dresser between all the trailheads.
Thank You!
Little Cottonwood Canyon isn’t just a scenic getaway, it’s a vital watershed and a cherished recreational resource for Utahns and visitors alike. Cleanups like this are crucial acts of stewardship, helping to maintain the health, safety, and beauty of these wild places. As always, we’re proud to support the U.S. Forest Service, Public Utilities, and the Wasatch Mountains, and remain committed to offering hands-on opportunities for you to get involved. Thank you to the Central Wasatch Commission and the Wasatch Mountain Club for helping fund this work.
Interested in joining our next project? Visit https://saveourcanyons.org/get-involved/wilderness-stewardship-project to learn more about upcoming volunteer days.
