Upper Pleasant Creek Route

Upper Pleasant Creek is a 7.6-mile round-trip out-and-back from Pleasant Creek Road to a series of small cascades in a sandstone chute. The turnaround is beyond Capitol Reef’s west boundary on Fishlake National Forest; return the way you came. The cascades sit 3.8 miles from the trailhead. This is a creek-canyon route, not a maintained trail: eroded road remnants and faint footpaths lead along the water, with repeated crossings. Use the map line as a creek-corridor guide: informal footpaths shift between the banks, old-road remnants and crossings.

Allow about five hours for the rough footing, water crossings and route-finding. After roughly a mile, the canyon narrows and continuing requires many creek crossings. If you want a clearly marked, dry path, choose another hike; this one suits people comfortable navigating an informal canyon route. Keep Pleasant Creek as your reference, follow noticeable footpaths where they exist to protect fragile biological soil crust, and do not rely on cairns alone.

The first stretch follows a footpath on the north side of the creek. Remnants of an old dirt road continue toward the west park boundary, about 2.3 miles from the trailhead. Beyond the boundary, the canyon tightens further, bends sharply, then opens as the route turns south along the creek. The last section depends on choosing the main Pleasant Creek at a confluence: stay on the right-hand branch and follow it west to the cascades. This route stops at the cascade turnaround; continuing to Lower Pleasant Creek Falls adds a longer stretch up the creek.

The destination is a series of small falls in a narrow sandstone chute beneath ponderosa pines. It is a clear payoff after the long creek walk, and the chute itself frames the water well in a photo. The route also crosses Capitol Reef’s boundary into Fishlake National Forest, so the far end is outside the national park.