Battle Creek Falls Winter

Battle Creek Falls is an excellent waterfall to hike just about any time of the year. This is one of those trails that offers a great end prize for not a whole lot of effort. Generally pretty easy going with a short steep section near the end. I was hoping to see a good frozen waterfall for the last hike of the year and well this was an excellent choice for that!

Quick Details:

Length: .6 Miles to the waterfall 1.2 out and back. Or the trail does continue beyond the waterfall.
Difficulty: DR3 short steep section near the end.
Elevation Gain: about 600 feet
Restroom: No
Dogs? Yes. Please clean up after your furry friends.
Other Info: Trail has a lot of icy sections in winter. Micro spikes recommended. Also does have avalanches so be aware of conditions.

To Get Here:

From i15 take exit 275 for pleasant grove, and head east. Turn right on state St. turn left on 200 S. Follow that all the way up until the road turns into a dirt parking lot next to Kiwanis Park.

Heading towards the mountains (DBP). We’ll be climbing the canyon on the right there.

The Trail:

This winter has been a little light on snow, but I honestly thought there would be more on the trail.

What in the world?

Whoa!

Battle Creek is diverted for irrigation water a little higher up the trail from here. I think this is an overflow pipe of some sort. For some reason it was kind of spurting out every few seconds. And the tree branches helped create this neat ice chandelier.

A little closer. This is one of the many reasons hiking in winter is worth it. You never know what kind of cool stuff you will find.

Utah Lake.

Mount Timpanogos.

Ice on the trail. We somehow managed to forget the micro spikes today. We made it to the top without incident, but I sorely missed them today.

Some snow in the creek bed.

The neat rock layers.

Timpanogos again.

A lot more ice on the trail! Oi.

Where Battle Creek is diverted.

Fun ice formations in the creek.

Just before the bridge the ice was the worst. Really kicking myself for forgetting the spikes, but we made it across okay.

The bridge means you are almost there, just have a short steep section to get through.

The creek from the bridge.

Looking downstream.

Little cave.

I didn’t get a picture but lucky for us there is no ice on the steeper segment before the falls.

View up canyon.

The steep side trail leading down to the falls.

Whoa! This is incredible!

Close up of the ice formations.

More ice formations. This reminds me of some of the cool formations you can see at the Ice Castles in midway.

With the creek below.

The ice formations around the smaller twin.

Battle Creek Falls is famous for being an excellent twin waterfall. We have come up numerous times trying to see the twin falls and well, this is about as full as the 2nd waterfall has ever been for us as we saw earlier this year. I’m not sure if it’s due to the kind weak snow years we’ve had lately, or if the creek changed slightly but yea, we have not seen a great twin falls yet.

And in winter the twins become triplets with a tiny drip on the other side.

After enjoying the falls for sometime we decided to head on back.

Looking down canyon at Utah Lake.

The fun rock layers.

Canyon walls above.

Little icicles.

Back down to the icy section around the bridge. I considered sliding down on my butt just to prevent that happening forcibly against my wishes haha, but we took it slow and didn’t have a problem.

Fun rock formations above.

Gnarly tree.

Normally I hate hiking into the sun, but today it was highlighting the icy patches for us.

Utah Lake.

Back down to the neat ice chandelier.

Just neat.

Oh, I caught a good spray.

I also took a short video.

Just so you can kind of see the way it was spraying.

Down to the parking lot. I’m not sure what those steam towers are, but they look kind of neat.

Weird little puff ball seed pods of some sort.

I love this short little trail just about anytime, but it was particularly exceptional with the waterfall being partially frozen. As I mentioned we handled ok forgetting the micro spikes, but they were sorely missed and I really wish I had them. Probably the iciest trail we’ve ever done. oi. We had excellent timing today and even though the trail is very popular we had the falls to ourselves for a good while, only ran into 2 groups on the way up and a few groups on the way down. All in all it was a great end of the year hike and I am happy we came out today. DR9.

As for difficulty, for the most part it is pretty easy going but there is a steep section near the end. And in winter you have the additional ice hazard. DR3.

Dogs are allowed! Please remember to clean up after your furry friends.

Taylor Canyon Pond

The Taylor Canyon Pond, AKA: 27th St Pond, Dog Pond, Pond Trail etc. Is a tiny little pond that is fed by a natural spring, Kristin Spring from what I can tell. There isn’t a whole lot to it but it is a neat quick adventure. It is a good quick side trail to add while doing any of the 27th St. Trails, or if you just need to get your dogs some exercise. We decided to tack this on to our Ogden BST Christmas Tree adventure today. I decided to make this it’s own post so if, like me, you saw it on a sign post and wondered what it was well, here it is. I was curious about it, and I found some info, but not a lot so I decided to just seek it out today.

Quick Details:

Length: .8 mile loop.
Difficulty: DR3 super easy
Elevation Gain: Not 100% sure but I would guess maybe 100 feet.
Restroom: No
Dogs? Yes, leashed. Be sure to clean up after your furry friends.

To Get Here:

From Harrison BLVD in Ogden take 27th east till you hit the end of the road. Park.

The Trail:

For the loop we did you can take either trail, but I recommend taking the one to the north as there will be trail markers at all of the major junctions.

Follow the trail up towards Taylor Canyon.

Before long you will reach the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) You want to hang a right here.

Cross over the dry creek.

A little ways after the trail marker that designates the split to the Pond Trail. Take the right split.

Nice little winter tunnel.

Before long we have reached the pond… Uh… It is tiny. Not so much a pond as it is a little pool. But hey it is something different to see.

It is super tiny, but it is kind of pretty.

Little bridge over the small outlet stream.

From the little info I have found, some people say they will drink the water, but I think I would still filter it. If you want amazing spring water go to The Stump just north of here. The city tests it periodically so you know its safe.

The pond with the mountains above.

Another one of the handy trail markers. You can take the pond trail all the way to Waterfall Canyon or a little further down and then back down to the 27th street trailhead. We decided to take the shorter direct route by crossing the little bridge and following the stream down.

One last look at the pond.

The stream heading towards the woods.

This trail is used a little less, but still easy to follow.

Another little spring.

With amazing hoarfrost crystals.

Another little bridge.

Mount Ogden.

Eventually the trail his the old access road.

Mount Ogden again.

More hoarfrost.

Ben Lomond and.. I’m not sure what the closer mountain is called.

Taylor Canyon.

You can just see the Ogden BST Christmas Tree from near the trailhead.

Zoomed in a little closer.

Back down to the trail head.

Looking down 27th St. Ick.

Well, that was a neat little trail and I am glad we decided to check it out. I am glad we added it to our Christmas Tree adventure rather than coming up just for the pond, because that probably would have been a disappointment. But it’s a cute little tiny pond a a nice alternate route down the mountain. 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it’s super easy and not much elevation to it. DR3.

Dogs are allowed! Please clean up after your furry friends.