"Trailheads at 29th Street and 22nd are always full, so 27th is a great place." Aric Manning, executive director of the Trails Foundation of Northern Utah, said that to the Standard-Examiner on April 2, 2026, after the ribbon cutting at the new 27th Street Trailhead.
Less than a month later, 22nd Street was no longer full. It was closed. Starting May 1, Ogden City has used the 22nd Street Trailhead parking lot at 2198 Buchanan Ave. as a mobilization and staging area for pipeline work on the East Bench, and the current schedule keeps it closed to cars through Nov. 1, 2026.
So the East Bench went into its busiest season with one of its two main lots gone. Its newest lot, the first trailhead TFNU had ever built, picked up much of that traffic. The city didn't plan it that way. It was a family's land gift that happened to open at the right time.
Why 22nd Street Became a Construction Yard
The work at 22nd Street is part of the Ogden Canyon 36-Inch Pipeline Replacement. The project is replacing the transmission line that carries water from the city's wellfield next to Pineview Reservoir, down Ogden Canyon, to the 23rd Street reservoirs. The city says that line delivers roughly half of Ogden's drinking water. Parts of it are more than 90 years old, and leaks let about a million gallons a day escape.
The full project costs $100 million and runs in phases from 2025 to 2029. Sunrise Engineering is the design engineer, and Whitaker Construction is the contractor. The East Bench segment is a two-phase replacement that runs along the bench to the water storage tanks at 22nd South. The 22nd Street Trailhead lot is closed to cars for that work and serves as its staging area.
The city's East Bench closure map lays out what that means on the ground. Phase 1 ran May 1 to Aug. 1, and Phase 2 runs Aug. 2 to Nov. 1. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail near the work zone is marked "limited access," and the map sends trail users to alternate parking at the 27th and 29th Street trailheads. Crews work Monday through Friday from sunrise to sunset, and on Saturdays as needed. You can still walk in, but the city closes and posts specific trail sections as the work moves.
A Trailhead Built on a Gift, Not a City Budget
The 27th Street Trailhead exists because of an email. Manning told the Standard-Examiner that near the end of 2023, the Behnken family reached out about giving TFNU roughly 100 acres. They had two conditions: the land had to stay open space, and there had to be a trailhead where people could park. TFNU says the gift means the property will never be developed for commercial use.
Before that, the top of 27th Street was an unofficial access point. Cars lined both sides of the road and backed up traffic for the neighbors. Manning described it this way:
"I've used this trailhead for over 20 years, and it's never been a trailhead, but the one thing is it was always a little sketchy. You're parking on a hill, there's the weather, cars on both sides of the road, kids getting out of cars, people are coming down, people have dogs."
What's there now is modest by design. Phase 1 includes a lot for about 60 cars, a trailhead structure, and bike repair stations. There's also a picnic pavilion with tables and signs pointing out Taylor Canyon, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, the Lowe Boulder Field, and the Schoolroom Wall. Manning said construction used a little over 1 acre of the 100. KSL lists the address as 1899 27th Street.
Put the two projects on one calendar and the timing is easy to see:
- The December before: The Standard-Examiner says the trailhead had been open to the public since December.
- Jan. 8, 2026: TFNU announces the trailhead is officially open.
- April 2: Ribbon cutting, in a late dusting of snow.
- May 1: The 22nd Street lot closes for pipeline staging.
- July 10: TFNU crews start cutting the new Dog Pond trail from 27th.
- Aug. 14: A water fountain goes in on the north side of the pavilion.
- Sept. 3: Enclosures go up around the porta-potties.
- Sept. 17: The last of the 2026 O-Sho Trail Series 5K races starts from the 27th Street lot.
TFNU kept adding amenities through the same months 22nd Street was closed. TFNU said in the spring that O-Sho entry fees would benefit the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, and each race was capped at 75 runners as a trial year.
Where Each Front Door Actually Leads
The East Bench trailheads don't swap one for one. Each lot puts you closest to a different set of trails, so parking somewhere else this fall usually means a different hike, not just a longer walk. Addresses come from the Ogden Trails Network listing.
- 22nd Street, 2198 Buchanan Ave.: The start of Indian Trail, which Ogden City lists as moderate and 4.3 miles one way. It climbs into Ogden Canyon past Warm Water Canyon and Nevada Viewpoint. Hidden Valley branches off Indian Trail about a mile up and runs 2.45 miles by the city's count, or 2.40 by TFNU's.
- 27th Street, 1899 27th Street: Manning calls it the quickest way to Malan's Peak, Taylor Canyon, and the climbing area. TFNU says the spot has long served as an access point to East Bench trails, including the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.
- 29th Street, 2902 Buchanan Ave.: TFNU says this is where most Waterfall Canyon hikers start. The waterfall is about 1.2 miles in, and the trailhead also connects to the southbound Bonneville Shoreline Trail.
- 12th Street: Across Canyon Road from Rainbow Gardens, with a tunnel under the road to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. The stretch from 12th Street south to Beus Canyon runs 6.4 miles one way.
- Beus Canyon, 4740 S 1900 E: The trail climbs along Beus Creek through Fern Valley toward the saddle south of Mount Ogden Peak. TFNU lists it at 5.6 miles.
Indian Trail and Hidden Valley are the routes most tied to the 22nd Street lot. The closure map doesn't list either trail as closed by name. The map marks the Bonneville Shoreline Trail as limited access. The city's schedule says closed sections will be posted on site as work progresses.
The trail between the two lots also got some work this year. On July 1, TFNU reported that its crew had brushed the Bonneville Shoreline Trail corridor between 22nd Street and the 27th Street junction to improve visibility and access. South of 27th, the crew put in four reverse grade dips to manage water and erosion, and it added another dip on the North Taylor Canyon Trail. In June, crews built grade dips and fixed erosion at 9th Street.
What Nov. 1 Does and Doesn't Promise
Nov. 1 is when the closure is scheduled to end, and the project site doesn't announce a reopening beyond that date. The pipeline schedule, last updated Sept. 7, still lists the East Bench replacement as active from May 1 to Nov. 1, and it notes that dates can change with weather and materials. The weekly update for the week of Oct. 5 still has crews working near the 22nd Street water storage tanks. The end date has already moved once. An April committee record put the closure at May 1 to Aug. 1, and later schedules pushed it to November.
Whenever the 22nd Street lot reopens, the East Bench will have one more developed trailhead than it had a year ago, and 27th Street still has more coming. TFNU's project page lists Phase 2 as interpretive trails with signs and a dog park, planned for summer 2026. The Dog Pond trail is under construction, and volunteers spent a July session clearing rocks along it. TFNU hasn't announced that the trail or the dog park is open. Manning has also said TFNU wants to add permanent restrooms, which he called "something pretty rare for trailheads right now."
If you want updates straight from the people building it, TFNU has two events on the calendar. Its annual Fall Trail Mixer is Thursday, Oct. 29. It's an open house with a recap of this year's trail work, recognition for Summit Members and Peak Challenge finishers, and plans for 2027. On Nov. 5, TFNU hosts its first Ogden Mountain Film Festival at Peery's Egyptian Theater on Washington Boulevard.
Until the city confirms the 22nd Street lot is open again, the city's own closure map points to the 27th and 29th Street lots for parking.
At the Nanci Lifer Team, we follow changes like this because they shape everyday life along the East Bench, from which lot you park at to which trail you end up on. If you're weighing a home near one of these trailheads and want to know what's actually being built nearby, let's connect.
