Saturday, June 24, 2017

Waterfall Canyon Hike

After our beautiful hikes/walks in Georgia, we were antsy to get back on the trail. We decided our next hike to conquer should be Waterfall Canyon in Odgen. We hit the trail as early as we could manage for a Saturday morning, and managed to make it before it got too hot. 

We knew it was going to be a good hike when we ran into a Weber State University group that was having a "trail day" or something. They handed our activity books, pamphlets, and even butterfly nets to the kids. The nets were obviously a big hit! 

The first part of the trail was wooded and beautiful. We all appreciated the shade, and the kids enjoyed looking for certain plants from their pamphlets and trying to catch butterflies. Claire as a huge fan of the information stations, since she had learned a lot about Utah wildlife and wilderness during school last year.





The trail then opened up for a while as we hiked higher up the mountain. It really was quite beautiful! The last quarter of a mile to the waterfall got really difficult, however. It was really, really rocky and the rocks were the loose kind. But the kids persevered and the waterfall at the top was definitely worth the effort!! The falls are about 200 feet, and even better than the falls at Adams Canyon. And if the view of the falls wasn't beautiful enough, the view of the valley below was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, just about every in Utah had the same idea we did and the base of the waterfall was almost too crowded to sit! But we managed to find ourselves a nice little spot to enjoy our lunch, and we got to find out that Joey really likes mustard! :) It was definitely worth the work to get up there...but now we had to get back down...








The way down always takes longer than the way up. And boy did our ankles and feet hurt after traversing those loose rocks and trying to keep our balance! When we finally got off the rocks, and as we were walking by the water, Sophie spotted a snake on the creek bed! He was a decent size, and we're pretty sure he wasn't poisonous. ;) Can you spot him? 


And once again, Joey was an absolute champ. He loves his hiking back pack, which is good. We intend to do a lot of hiking!


We were hot, tired, and a little sore once we made it back to the car...but we had a blast. This hike ended up being 3.9 miles, with over 1000 vertical feet. And we managed it in 3 hours and 38 minutes. The whole family loved this trail, and I was again feeling blessed that we live in such a beautiful area. Can't wait to get out on the trail again!

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