Overview

Hype:

The Canyon Overlook trail in Fremont Indian State Park parallels a portion of the Hidden Secrets trail. In addition to the view of Clear Creek from the trail, there is also one small petroglyph panel.

This short walk from the visitor center will take you to a view point that will give you a new perspective of life and travel in Clear Creek Canyon.

The trail starts at the southeast corner of the visitor center parking lot. Follow the trail uphill to a flat area and then to the viewpoint where the park sign is.

You are looking east down Clear Creek Canyon towards where within five miles the creek flows into the Sevier River. The mountain in the background is Monroe Peak, elevation 11.227 feet. Clear Creek is only twelve miles long, but with its well watered tributaries like Mill, Fish, and Shingle Creeks, it drains an area of 165 square miles. The view of I-70, the frontage road and the hiking/biking trail side by side is reminiscent of the different types of trails and roads that have brought people through Clear Creek Canyon for thousands of years:

Foot trails - used by the Fremont and hunters and gatherers before them and Numic and Paiutes after them.
Horse trails - used by the Paiute, explorers like Jedediah Smith and 16 men in 1826, the Mormon party in 1858 recorded by George W. Bean that first noted the rock art and the first settlers in the canyon.
Toll road - built for wagons from Sevier to Cove Fort. Commissioned and built by a Mormon Priesthood group in 1872. $0.25 a wagon was charged for 25 years.
Rail grade - the toll road was smoothed and rebuilt to be used as a rail line that would link to the track that reached Sevier in 1900. This grade was destroyed by a flood that resulted from a dam that failed at Three Creeks Reservoir in 1897. The track was later built through Marysvale Canyon.
Wagon road - built for freight and passenger wagons between Kimberly gold mine and the nearest rail line in Sevier (at the mouth of Clear Creek Canyon). Several companies had scheduled routes through the canyon.
Auto road - the wagon road with little improvement became an auto road. In 1928, Sevier County widened and rerouted the road to Cove Fort. After continued improvement, this road became Highway 4 and then the frontage road through the park.
Sheep trail - during the 1930s and 1940s, at certain times a year, as many as 50,000 sheep a week were herded to the trail head through Clear Creek Canyon from the West Desert.
I-70 - Clear Creek Canyon was approved to be the route for I-70 in 1958. It opened to traffic in 1988.

Travel through Clear Creek Canyon has changed from a difficult two day journey on foot, to a twenty minute trip in a car during which many people do not stop or even realize that they have been here.

From the viewpoint, the Canyon Overlook Trail continues to the northeast along an old horse trail. Instead of watching the view to your right, you might want to look at the cliff to your left. There are some nice rock art panels on this cliff that most of our visitors do not get to see.

At the end of the cliffs, where the trail turns left away from Clear Creek Canyon, the Canyon Overlook Trail ends. At this point, the Hidden Secret Trail (#8) Begins.

Trail Condition: Class 2 (Trail may have tree roots or rocks jutting out. Navigation skills may consist of following rock cairns and choosing turns at junctions. Elevation gains may be more substantial.)

Time: 10-20 minutes

Length: 0.3 miles one way

Elevation Gain: 125 ft

Fees: Entrance fee

Recommended Ages: