Lisa Falls

 

Plus a little bonus trip to the top of the canyon. I had originally planned on seeing Secret Lake today, and while in the canyon do this quick little side trip. Well the directions I had were drive 2.7 miles up little cottonwood canyon, and hike north.

The mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. (DBP)

We got 2.6 miles up and saw a parking lot and a trail south, but nothing north. We started driving further and the odometer spun to 2.7 within 10 or 15 feet. Still not seeing anything we pressed on for Secret Lake.

After passing Alta we hit the last parking lot before the last jaunt onto the dirt roads to the Albion Basin. Here was a ranger station that had signs saying Albion Basin lots full. I knew they had a shuttle service so we got in line for the ranger station so I could ask about it. When we pulled up the ranger, or.. whoever was manning the station suddenly got all excited about a potgut squirrel and proceeded to spend the next few minutes playing with it and feeding it bacon. I didn’t mind too much, potguts are cute so whatever.

After he finally turned to us I asked how often the shuttles run. Till 5. Well, that’s good to know, but how often do they run? He say there really isn’t a schedule but every 15-20 minutes or so. And one has stopped running because of the rain. ooookayyyy. I was just about to ask about something else when he says now if you don’t mind I have a line. Seriously? Yes. I hate to be the guy holding up a line, but it wasn’t my fault. He spent 2 minutes messing around with a squirrel! Blarg. So we pulled over to the parking lot to use the restrooms.

It sure is pretty here up just above Alta.

So even though it said lot full we were seeing more cars going up then down so not wanting to waste the trip and realizing even if we did find a place to park, it was probably extremely crowded today. Secret Lake is not so secret. And we didn’t want to risk taking the shuttle up and not being picked up. So, we got back in and drove down to where we thought Lisa Falls was.

This time we parked at the upper north parking lot and we found a small trail.

Quick view up the canyon.

This is not a marked trail in anyway. You just have to know where it is I guess.

Pretty trail. Fairly rocky though.

It follows a dry creek bed, which was concerning me that maybe I had come too late in the year and it was not flowing anymore. Luckily not much further up you start to hear it. But still, what’s with the dry creek?

Towards the top of the trail you have to scramble across the dry creek bed and boulders.

After emerging from the trees you get your first glimpse of it coming down the granite cliff face.

It really is a lot bigger than it looks in photos. It’s also a pretty cool waterfall just coming down a rock cliff.

You can see a pretty mountainside across the canyon.

Quick close up.

I like how it comes out of a narrow channel, fans out, then hits the ledge and recollects as a narrow channel.

I don’t know for sure, however it appears the waterfall originally flowed down the now dry creek bed we hiked up. Then there was a rock slide that dammed that up, and now it flows slightly to the south.

From the new creek bed, the waterfall is almost invisible.

The narrow canyon the creek comes out of.

 

Back to the lower falls. I just love the colors of the rock here.

The waterfall and some large boulders.

Debris flow in the original creek bed.

The trail is really short, Landis tried his new pedometer app and said it was .21 miles from the waterfall to the trail head. Before long we were back to the car. I noticed another car was from Oregon and couldn’t help to think, you came from that gorgeous state, with some of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen, to see this? Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty, and worth doing, but we have better here!

Nice DBP shot of the canyon coming down.

Terrible, terrible DBP shot of the rock that always has a stick “propping it up” for as long as I can remember, ever since I was a kid this has always delighted me. I know the stick has been replaced a few times, but it’s still fun.

Rain soaked windshield. (DBP)

All in all it is a nice, quick excursion with a nifty little waterfall down the side of a granite cliff face. It’s totally unmarked so not too many people on it. Big Cottonwood Canyon has Hidden Falls. Little Cottonwood Canyon has Lisa falls. Both aren’t very far up the canyon. Both quick little jaunts, both hidden from site until you come upon them. Both different and neat, family friendly and worth checking out. 8 out of 10 squirrels.

 

As for difficulty. It’s a little rocky at parts, and slightly uphill, but it is really super short. So even though there is a short section with really rocky footing, I am going with a DR3. I think you would be fine bringing the little ones on this one.