Utah Valley-Day one,Alpine Loop&American Fork Canyon

Utah Valley  is a valley in North Central Utah located in Utah County, and is considered part of the Wasatch Front. It contains the cities of Provo, Orem, and their suburbs, including Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Elk Ridge, Genola,Goshen, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Mapleton, Payson, Pleasant Grove, Salem, Santaquin, Saratoga Springs, Spanish Fork,Springville, Vineyard and Woodland Hills.

Utah Lake is a natural shallow fresh water lake in its center. All rivers in the valley flow into Utah Lake, which itself empties into the Jordan River to the north. That river flows into the Salt Lake Valley through the Jordan Narrows, a gap in the Traverse Mountains.

As there is so much to see and hike in the area,we had to make a weekly plan and use the time wisely.

Today we explored the North Part of the Utah Valley,traveled the Alpine Loop and the American Fork Canyon,on Hwy 189 just out of Provo  is the magnificent Bridal Vail Falls (there are so many falls with this name…)

A short hike from the parking lot and you can get yourself wet from this high waterfall or watch the falls from the view point next to the Hwy, there is a beautiful park along the river with picnic tables and it is possible to enjoy the falls while staying in the park.

Hwy 92 just of Hwy 189 is the beginning of the Alpine Loop,and the name tells the story of this loop,the road is climbing with majestic mountain from both sides and it is difficult to keep an eye on the road with all this beauty.

After passing Sundance we parked the truck (6 $) and hiked 4 miles R/T to one of the most magnificent Steward Falls,it sure is on the top 3 falls we have hiked,the trail is quit easy ,scenic and mostly in the shade,we saw many families with children doing this hike, in any case it is for sure very rewarding.

Load roar was herd about 10 minutes before the falls come into vision and when it shows it was a wooow.

We took our time enjoying the falls before starting our way back to the T/H,sitting down eating our fruits we tried to see all the angles and take it all in, it took us total of 2.5 hours to made the round trip including half an hour at the falls.

 

Unfortunately a lady slipped and hurt her  leg and had to be dragged out on a special carriage pulled by a rescue team.

After a short drive up to the summit with some stops on the way to watch the scenery ,it was all the way down through American Fork Canyon,it was a narrow zigzag road and many times one vehicle had to stop to let the one coming from the opposite direction to make it.

Weather people predicted rain and thunderstorms, but it was a beautiful day and I could not keep thinking that this is the only profession  where one can be mistaken all the time but still keep his job.

On the way “home” we stopped for a while in Utah Lake S.P and watched the boats on the lake,it was a great place to end this great day.