Fifth Water Springs

Hike: Fifth Water Springs

Distance: Around 3 miles

Elevation Gain:  About 1000 feet

Time:  Around an hour

Overall Impression:  Fun, but too busy and kind of dirty.

This Sunday after meeting at the Park Cafe for way too much delicious bacon, we went with two other couples to check out the hot springs at the Fifth Water Springs near Diamond Fork, Utah.  This was in and around the Provo area, about an hour-ish away from Salt Lake.  Sorry about my lack of precision...

We set off and walked through the beautiful Fall scenery along the babbling brooke.  There were lots of friendly people around, walking their cute dogs and making us jealous that they have furry friends to take along with them.  Steve and I aren't ready for the commitment yet, but we can dream.

 This is Steve leaving the parking lot.  We always look way dorkier than anyone else out hiking, but I like the way he looks here.  Way to nail it, babe!

This is the view of the stream we hiked along.  The hot springs feed into this water.

As we made our way closer to the hot springs, it started to smell like sulpher.

Mid-October hiking in the Wasatch is wonderfully beautiful, in case you didn't know.  I was an East Coast snob, thinking our colors were prettier than these Western states, but no.  Utah's got it going on.

I didn't really take any pictures of us in the hot springs, but this is the picture of us standing around trying to figure out how to change and get into the hot spring.  It was busy with people, kind of dirty, with trash laying around here and there, and lots of dirt floating in the water.  And we were a little disappointed by the man-made feeling of the springs themselves.  I'm not sure exactly how much intervention there has been to provide the public with this hot spring service, but there are pipes and what looks like cement in and around the springs.  We didn't love that.  Plus, the water could have stood to be hotter, in my opinion.  I mean, if you're going to run a pipe, why not put in a heater? ;)

It was tough and cold and muddy to change back into my clothes afterwards too.  Wah, wah, wah.

Then we hiked up higher to find a place for lunch.  Some of us attempted this death defying stunt.  I took the long way around.  Later, I slipped in some wet mud while trying to climb up a bank and bruised and scratched my elbow.  Steve worried about the camera in my hands instead of whether or not I was hurt.  The nerve!

We found a very pretty spot to sit and eat our sandwiches and cup o'soup that we brought along, and enjoyed chatting with our new friends and getting to know each other.  Gotta love other transplants all here in similar situations as us.  :)

We walked back down the hill, chatting away still.  At the end of the hike as we stood in the parking lot saying our goodbyes, one guy found this preying mantis.  Pretty striking, isn't it?

Alpine Loop and Cascade Springs Interpretive Trail

Distance: Very short (probably around 1 mile)
Elevation Gain: None, although there were a couple of short, steep walks, and a bridge or two were quite curvy.  :)
Highest Peak: N/A
Time: About 45 minutes if you walk around the whole place
General Impression:  It was very pretty, but very crowded and not much of a hike really.  I would go back with older relatives or younger children, but I wouldn't rush back again just for myself.

On Thursday of last week we decided to check out a free Boot-camp provided by LuluLemon at 9th and 9th.  And it KILLED us.  I mean, it was literally painful to move in any way, shape, or form for days afterward.  I can't begin to count how many burpees the instructor made us do, but it was 10 times more burpees than I've ever done before.  Steve basically did die for about an hour after the class, but luckily he came back to life after eating some Thai salad rolls and soup.

So on Sunday, our usual hiking day, we were a bit weary of taking on a big, multi-hour hike.  We also wanted to check out some more Fall colors, and a friend recommended Alpine Loop.  This is technically a drive, not a hike.  And WHAT A DRIVE IT IS!

We paid $6.00 at the entry to the canyon/park place as we were planning to stop.  If you plan to drive right through, you don't need to pay.  Then we stopped at the visitors center to empty our bladders and check out the info.  There were lots of kids everywhere.  Kids, kids, kids.

Driving on from there, we headed up into the mountains and passed more and more beautiful views of mountains, trees, and colorful leaves.  It was amazing.  And our Phish soundtrack didn't hurt.  We got out a few times to take pictures, which I'll let speak for themselves.

Along the drive, we took a little detour to stop and check out the Cascade Springs, which are some naturally forming pools with sediment or something/I'll let Steve explain this one a bit better.  They have built a very accessible boardwalk and path in and around the springs, consisting of three short loops you could walk around for a total of 45 minutes, so this is what I'll consider our "hike" for the purposes of this hiking Utah blog.  There were again lots of kids and families and flip flops here, so remember this one for visiting family or when we have babies or something.  But it was very beautiful and a nice, easy walk in nature.  We felt lucky, again, to be living in Utah.

There was no real elevation gain to speak of, and it's really the easiest walk ever, but it's pretty!