WBSkiing Guide

Big Water Trailhead

Big Water Trailhead

Trailhead Elevation	7,600'
Trailhead Location	40.6845° / -111.6469°
Vertical Ascent	1,500'
Skinning Distance	4.5 miles (from Maple)
Online Map	View on wbskiing.com

The Big Water trailhead (i.e., the Upper Big Water parking lot) is located at the end of the Mill Creek road. The Lower Big Water parking lot is on the right side of the road about 500 feet before the upper lot. The Big Water Yurt is on the west side of the parking lot.

The elevations shown in the info tables for runs that are accessed from the Big Water trailhead were measured from the Big Water parking lot (at 7,600 feet). You'll need to adjust the elevations and distances depending on whether you actually start at the Big Water Parking lot or ski in from elsewhere.

Getting to the Big Water Trailhead

Because the Mill Creek Canyon road is closed at the Maple Grove gate during the winter, you'll need to either skin 4.5 miles and 1,500 vertical feet up the road (as explained here), or skin 2.3 miles and 1,400 vertical feet from the Spruces parking lot in Big Cottonwood Canyon to Dog Lake, and then ski down 1,100 feet to the Big Water trailhead (smiling as you do).

The elevation gain to the Big Water parking lot is about the same from the Maple Grove gate as from the Spruces, but taking the low-angle Mill Creek road means you'll have to travel twice as far with minimal skiing on your return trip. If you come in from the Spruces, you'll need to skin back out of Mill Creek when you're done. A third option is to shuttle cars so you can start at the Spruces and ski out to Maple Grove.