Scout Falls

I'm still in training to hike the Narrows.  We had nothing on the agenda today until 3:30pm, so I decided I would take the kids hiking today.  A friend had posted pictures of a beautiful waterfall she'd hiked to with her kids, all younger than Blythe, so I knew they could make it.  Whether or not they could make it without whining remained to be seen, but I was determined that was how we were going to spend the day.  Brandt and Blythe both had a couple of hours of TV watching under their belts before we set off, and while Blythe said, "I'm not going," I informed her she was NOT going to sit on the couch all day watching stupid animated television programming.  She came along grudgingly.  I didn't care about her attitude, however.  We were hiking.

The trail to the falls starts at Timpanooke campground, where you begin a hike to the top of Timpanogos.  It's only 1.5 miles to the falls, and I assured the children we would be there in about half an hour.  It took a bit longer than that, but not much.  I don't know how much "training" I'm really getting in, but I suppose some hiking is better than none.  The kids were good to hike, they didn't stop often, and they seemed perfectly content to be there.  This is typical.  They fuss before going to do something, then are happy to be there once we arrive.

 The falls off in the distance.

"Look Mom! It's a giant gun!"

He's such a boy.

Everything was beautiful.  The trail is partially shaded, we could hear the water the whole way, and the wildflowers were blooming.  We walked through some water and saw numerous falls and streams and apparent springs coming all along the trail.  There was a breeze the whole time we hiked, and the mist coming off the falls was cool.  Lots of water coming over the cliffs, and still lots of snow on the north side of the mountain.  It was just all around a fabulous hike.

Brandt chose to hike without socks.

His feet were filthy when we were through.

 

Water crossing the trail.

I did lead us astray at one point.  After reading about the hike on several websites, I knew that we would branch off the main trail to the left.  We came to a juncture and a log that had a small sign that said, "Scout Falls" and an arrow pointing to the left, as though we should continue along the main trail.  Brandt was certain we should keep to the trail, but I said, "I think we should go to the left here," stepping over the log that was clearly meant to dissuade one from going that way, and forged on.  We ended up at the base of a rockfall and had to scramble up rocks to get to the trail we should have stayed on.  When we went back the proper way, there was a clear sign indicating where we should have turned off the main trail.  Brandt was totally right.  The rockfall way was shorter as it practically went straight up the mountain, but I certainly don't advocate or recommend getting off the main trail.  Still, no real harm done.  Except Brandt will tell you he hurt his knee on a branch protruding from the side of the mountain that he grabbed to steady himself, and that is all my fault.

The view with the falls behind us.

We would have gone up these tree roots if we had stayed on the trail the proper way.

Instead, we just came down them.

 

The sign we should have followed, clearly indicating which way we should go.

There's a lesson here.

This part of the trail was actually a stream we tromped through.

So many small waterfalls all along the trail, and most of them with a fair amount of water

as a result of all the snow we got during the winter season.

Here are pictures of the wildflowers we saw all along the trail.  There was wild rose, forget-me-not, a wild geranium, columbine, Indian paintbrush, morning glory, lupin, Jacob flatter, and a white ballish flower I don't know the name of.  All beautiful and all over the mountain.

This wild rose was incredibly fragrant.

Although the falls you see in the background are not the falls we hiked to,

the area above is where we were hiking.

Glorious!