Wheeler Creek Trail takes its name from Simon and Levi Wheeler, the first to haul timber out of the canyon and later from the upper basin, which in 1940 was given the name “Snow Basin.”
The most popular use of the Wheeler Creek Trail will have us turning south just below Pineview Dam into Wheeler Canyon’s mouth. From this lower trailhead, it’s an easy drift up an old roadbed to the canyon’s high mouth.
We can make the Wheeler Creek Trail a more ambitious hike (moderate) by forking off the road to the right and following the main flow of Wheeler’s Creek to the Middle Fork Wheeler Canyon.
Because this trail meanders through nearly vertical canyon walls, it can be shady and cool when many other trails are hot and fearsome, earning part of it the nickname of “Icebox Canyon.”
