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Nicole, of Santaquin, poses for a photo in Santaquin Canyon on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Newly reopened Santaquin Canyon is pictured Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Newly reopened Santaquin Canyon is pictured Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Newly reopened Santaquin Canyon is pictured Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Newly reopened Santaquin Canyon is pictured Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Santaquin Canyon has long been a closely-guarded secret for Santaquin natives who enjoy the secluded camping and pristine wilderness.

The canyon drifted into further anonymity the last seven years after a succession of natural disasters in 2018 and 2019 shuttered its gates.

That may be changing, though, after the canyon partially reopened last month and fully opened last Friday.

While many Santaquin locals are just happy to see canyon access return, many of the new residents from a town that has grown from 12,000 people in 2018 to an estimated 17,500 people in 2023 are surprised it existed in the first place.

“I think people assumed the canyon stopped at the bike park,” three-year Santaquin resident Wesley Gormley said. “I don’t think (new residents) had any idea — we didn’t — that it is what it is up there. … It’s a different beast up there.”

A drive up the canyon takes one from a paved road blanketed by tall pines and flanked by jagged cliffs, up to a steep dirt road offering majestic mountain views that connects to the Nebo Loop Road.

“Almost half of the people that live in Santaquin didn’t even know we had a canyon because it had been closed for so long,” Mayor Dan Olson said. “And so now there are people going up and seeing it, they’re probably a little shocked because the road’s a little steep, the road’s a little narrow. That’s the way it’s always been. Absolutely beautiful up there. It’s breathtaking to go up.”

Why it closed

Santaquin Canyon was not immune to the wildfires that scorched the southern Utah County wilderness in the late summer of 2018. Fueled by windy conditions, the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain fires ripped through Nephi Canyon, Santaquin Canyon and Payson Canyon all the way to Spanish Fork Canyon.

Olson, who at the time was nearing the end of his 40-year tenure as a fireman and officer in the Santaquin Fire Department, spent much of September combatting the fire, and his crew successfully protected a church camp up Santaquin Canyon.

The canyon was closed by the U.S. Forest Service that fall due to the fire, and the burned vegetation gave way to further disaster in the winter.

“That winter we had a lot of snow, but there was also absolutely nothing on the slopes to hold the snow in the steep Santaquin Canyon area, and it was a terrible snow slide, one of the worst I’ve seen that came down,” Olson said.

The avalanche dragged many remaining logs and brush down the canyon where it blocked off the river, plugging up bridges in the canyon and causing washouts on the road.

Nicole, a Santaquin resident who frequented the canyon by foot during its closure, recalled what the aftermath looked like.

“Anywhere where there’s a rail now, the road was washed out. You go above the second gate, the first turn that they rebuilt was only about three-feet wide,” Nicole said.

The expansive damage proved costly, and gathering funding to fix the U.S. Forest Service-owned road turned into a multi-year ordeal.

“I talked to Congress to see if there’s some way that we could encourage funding for the federal highways to get it done,” Olson said. “It was not a simple task, and there are millions of dollars that were spent on this road. … It took federal highway money to open it because the Forest Service didn’t have that kind of money to spend on it.”

Olson acknowledged the devastation of the disaster could not have been avoided and expressed his gratitude to the Forest Service for helping get the road open this year.

“(This is) a celebration,” he said. “The Forest Service stepped in this spring. They helped get things ready, and it was ready when they said it would be.”

The U.S Forest Service was contacted for an interview request Wednesday afternoon and said it would prepare a statement, but it was not ready by the story’s print deadline.

Now that the canyon’s open

Olson’s memories of the canyon date back to when he was a boy, when there were still remnants of old sawmills and pioneer cabins. Santaquin took pride in its canyon back then, he said, hauling garbage out it and maintaining it.

He’s seen the canyon has evolved over the years, but it still has plenty of “gems,” with multiple trailheads and campgrounds.

“You ever want an experience to go up something that all of a sudden turns into the edge of wilderness, you need to drive up this,” he said.

Longtime Santaquin residents want it to remain somewhat of a secret, though. Olson listed a few interesting tidbits about the canyon he asked not to be shared in the story for that reason.

Nicole expressed excitement that she can now drive her car all the way through the canyon now, but wasn’t a fan of the noise of the other cars passing through early on a weekday.

“It’s kind of mixed (feelings),” she said.

For the newbies, though, it’s like a new backyard full of recreational possibilities has suddenly appeared.

“We were surprised that it had been closed for so long,” Gormely said. “We’re planning on doing some camping and stuff now up there since it’s so close.”