Gloria Falls by Accident

(June 24th, 2022)

Hike day!! I'm so proud of us that we have gone hiking every week. And we got Daisy back this week. She finished Summer School, so now she can come on all our adventures that happen in the morning.

We planned on hiking Mount Wolverine, but despite having checked all the stuff on the internet, when we drove just past Snowbird, the road was closed. I wasn't sure what to do really. Nothing had mentioned a road closure. The only thing I had seen said the road opened June 11th and we were clearly past that. So we headed back down and I told the girls we would find another trail. There had to be plenty around.

Sure enough, we didn't go very far before I saw lots of cars parked in a lot and the tell tale sign of a trailhead right behind bathrooms. I didn't know what we had scored, but if there are bathrooms, it is a well known trail. We looked at the present map/sign and could understand nothing about where we were. (Useless sign) So we asked some people while also consulting All Trails. (All Trails is an app that shows you all the trails in your area. I actually love it, although it also did not mention a closed road.)

It looked like we were at the White Pine Lake and Red Pine Lake trails. But the people hiking up said they were there to see Gloria Falls. Sure, whatever. We were game to go exploring. Let's go peeps.

The trail was actually lovely. There were lots of trees and lots of water. Little creeks crossed the path and sometimes bigger streams.

We had planned on lots of sun, but this trail had lots of shade, so the girls were pretty cold. You can see Ivory is covered in goosebumps.

Here's another little creek.

The girls are good hikers. We always bring a bag with snacks and a bag with water bottles and we all take turns carrying them. We set a timer for 10 minutes and exchange when it chimes.

Pearl made a little song mimicking the alarm. Daisy joined in and I thought it was cute, so I filmed it. Right after I started the video, Ivory joined in too. I think it was coincidence but it looked like she didn't want to be left out of the video so she had started singing along. 

Oh, we found more water.

And this cute little heart rock.

Selfie time! Got to make sure mom makes it in a few photos.

Then we arrived at the river. I thought this might be Gloria Falls. From here, you could hike to White Pine Lake or Red Pine Lake. I thought we'd go toward Red Pine since I think it was shorter. 

A little way up there was a bridge that took you over the falls. It's all so pretty.

Because of all the water, there are little swampy areas. Pearl saw these cute little green plants that were adorable. Sometimes I take pictures of weird things, but I like to remember them.

On the other side of the river, we met the same people who told us about the falls. They said there was a trail we passed on the left side that would take us up to the falls. (So we actually weren't there yet.) Or we could hike up the right side. Both would work. So we tried the left, but immediately a family came down and said that the view wasn't good from that side and we should go up the right. Always choose the right folks. So we hiked up the right. There were fun little trails all over the place.

Look at these roots we found on the way. Doesn't it look claws coming out to get you?

But sure enough, we found the falls!! They were so beautiful. And the family was right. It was a much better view from the right side.

It was cold, so we didn't stay long. I felt like we had already seen something worthwhile, so we decided to head home. Red Pine Lake, we'll save you for another day.

Hahaha. I saw this tree off the trail. Doesn't it look hilarious? It's like a sad Charlie Brown Christmas tree, or something you would make as a craft. 

The canyon sure was gorgeous. God is quite the creator.

One more shot of our feet. We're on a bridge Charlie.

Hiking is hard work. It was about an hour drive home, and that was enough time for some people to take a snooze. 

I actually had more energy after. I came home and worked on our treat, a crepe cake. It was super tasty, but nothing beats making your own individual crepe, so we probably won't make this particular kind again.

That's it. Another hike in the books and the pictures. You should try some of these places. I haven't been on a hike I haven't liked yet.