Maple Canyon

Maple Canyon

(aka Mapleton Canyon, Left Fork Maple Canyon Trailhead)

Pretty little canyon that doesn't get a lot of traffic, has a nice out and back trail with beautiful stream crossings and log bridges.











Location: Mapleton
Distance from Provo: 25 Minutes
Length of hike: It's out and Back so as long or short as you like- there's nice log stream crossings within the first mile
Cool Stuff: Lots of Scrub Maple and Box Elder Trees. Not a lot of people. Fall colors,

Salem Lakes/ Salem Pond/ Knoll Park

Salem Lake

Location: Salem
Distance from Provo: 22 Minutes
Length of "hike": 1/2 mile walk around the lake
Cool Stuff to do: Fishing, feeding the ducks, walking over bridges, checking out the wetlands, playing in the water, playing on the playground at Knoll Park.

Another pretty little Sunday stroll, Salem Lake is a gem that's closer to Provo than you think, quiet and peaceful, and a great place for an afternoon picnic, a family outing, or to drop a line and try to catch some fish.

 

Why did the Crawdad cross the road?

West Mountain Drive

We discovered this little gem on a Conference Sunday when we were out for a drive-It's a great way to get another viewpoint of Utah County and doesn't require any walking.

This map shows that the road is only 4.3 miles, but because it's dirt it will take you longer than 18 minutes, I think it took us about 30 minutes each way.  The road is gravel, but well graded as it services the antennas and reflectors on top of West Mountain and I would have no problem taking just about any car up it as long as it can go uphill. 

You can drive to the summit of West mountain, overlook the whole south end of the valley, stroll around among the reflectors and transponders and in general just get somewhere cool without any physical effort

It all starts when you turn off before Lincoln Beach on Lincoln Beach Road, here:

And here's the view from the top!

Rock canyon overlook

Stewart Falls

Stewart Falls is an excellent hike with a beautiful destination-some big waterfalls that you can get right up in. 

Length: 3.5 miles round trip

Distance from Provo: about 20 minutes

Family Friendly: this is a dirt trail that's not suitable for strollers, it's not steep but may feel very long to a small child. 

This hike is shady most of the way and has cool water to play in at the end. 

Other notes: It costs $6 to enter the national forest area (Unless you have an annual national parks pass then it's free) -there is a booth right before the trailhead where you can pay. You will get a pass for 3 days so you can take advantage of that and drive the alpine loop, or go check out silver lake or other cool stuff in american fork canyon.  

How to get there: Drive up provo canyon and turn left at the Sundance Resort (US 92) turn left and go for 4.4 miles-through the booth and park at the large lot at the trailhead.  

The Trailhead has trails  to both the Timpanogos Peak trail(Right) and Stewart Falls(Left) go left. 

 

Hogle Zoo

Bridal Veil Falls

This is a great little family hike with a beautiful falls at the end of a short paved trail.
There are also fish you can watch and feed and in the right seasons you can walk up to the foot of the falls and get sprayed by the mist

As an extra hike you can walk up to ___ Falls, it's another little while past Bridal veil as you walk along the Provo River trail, then you go off road along a rocky and at times steep, but short side trail.
This waterfall is smaller than Bridal veil but also a lot less crowded and adds a nice viewpoint to your outing.

Battle Creek Falls

Location: Pleasant Grove
Distance from Provo: 17 minutes
Length of hike: .75 miles to the Watterfall
difficulty: 2 (graveled trail slightly uphill)
Family Friendly:  4/5


Battle Creek Falls is a great little hike, with an swell waterfall less than a mile up the trail. The trail is wide, graveled, and not too steep-though it will get you breathing hard if you're 6 months pregnant like the last time I went.

The trailhead is at Kiwanis park in Pleasant Grove here is the link to it on Google Maps

Once you get to the parking lot above the water reservoir take the road-like trail to the east-(the bridge to the left just goes into Kiwanis park-which does have a seasonal restroom). Just follow the wide trail over a couple small bridges and through the canyon until you can hear the falls- you can take the small footpath to the right to go to the bottom of the falls, or you can stay on the main trail to the left to go to the top of the falls-don't let your kids or dogs get too close to the edge!

Warning: Do not go under the falls when there are people up above, I've seen rocks get knocked down and nearly hit people below


Added bonus: you can rappel here from two sets of anchors, you can also explore a small cave on the trail and the trail does continue past the falls if you're in the mood for a longer hike.




http://hiking.mryantaylor.com/photos/Battle_Creek/Battle_Creek_Trail%20(3).JPG

You should hike here. It's cool