Scouting Butterfield Trailhead Regional Park for Family Photos in Herriman, UT
What it is
Butterfield is part of Salt Lake County's Southwest Canyon Trails Network, a $6.9 million investment in new trail infrastructure on the west bench near the mouth of Butterfield Canyon. It opened in phases starting in 2023 and now has around 16 miles of multi-use trail for hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians.
The trailhead is on Herriman Highway at 13100 South, just east of the Butterfield Canyon Road entrance. Large parking lot, room for hundreds of cars, porta-potties on site. Easy to find, easy to park.
What the light does
This is the part that matters for portraits.
The west bench faces east toward the Wasatch, which means morning light comes in over the mountains and drops into the sagebrush at a low angle. Golden hour in the evening does the same thing from the other direction, the sun dropping behind the Oquirrrh ridgeline to the west and lighting everything from behind.
Sagebrush at golden hour glows silver-green. Juniper trees catch the rim light and go warm bronze. The mountains layer behind them in shades of purple and grey. It is a genuinely different backdrop than anything else in the south valley, and it photographs like nothing else I've shot out here.
Why it's different
Most family portrait locations in the Salt Lake Valley are parks, grass, trees, maybe a pond. Butterfield is desert: sage, juniper, open sky, and elevation. The result looks like Utah in a way that park sessions often don't.
If your family wants portraits that could only have been taken here, this is the location.
What to know before we shoot there
The trails have some elevation change, so this isn't a stroller-flat situation like Shields Lane. Families with toddlers who need flat ground, we'll plan accordingly. For everyone else, the walk in is short and the terrain is manageable.
Wear earth tones. Cream, rust, olive, warm denim. The sage palette is silver and warm gold, and clothing that fights it loses. Clothing that matches it disappears into art.
Come ready for wind. The bench gets a consistent breeze, which is usually an asset for portraits, hair moves, fabric lifts, everything looks alive. But it means light layers rather than structured blazers for the adults.
The drone footage
I flew a drone on the scouting run to get a sense of the terrain from above. The footage shows what I'm working with: open sagebrush flats, juniper canopy, trail switchbacks, and the full Oquirrh ridgeline as a backdrop.
If you're a Herriman family
This location is new to my rotation, and the first families who book here will be helping me learn it fully. That's not a caveat, it's an honest description of how I work. I scout first, shoot second, and I don't bring families somewhere I haven't walked myself.
If Herriman is home and you want portraits that look like where you actually live, let's talk.
