Battle Creek Falls - Winter

Battle Creek Falls is a stunning twin waterfall in Pleasant Grove. At about 6/10ths of a mile it is a pretty easy, great destination. The canyon it is situated in is also quite scenic and makes the trip up enjoyable. You should know in the winter time the trail gets quite icy! I highly recommend having at least micro spikes. The amount of people we passed who were penguin walking their way down was almost comical. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them did not actually make it to the falls cause the trail down to it is steep, and was quite icy today.

Quick Details:

Length: About 1.2 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back, with a loop option.
Difficulty: DR3
Elevation Gain: About 600 ft.
Restroom: No. I have seen porta pottys here before, but not this time.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info: As mentioned above: Micro Spikes or better highly recommended. Also, this canyon can be prone to avalanches, so be aware of avalanche conditions.

To Get Here:

Head south on 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.

The inversion made a strong comeback after the small storm last week (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Trail:

There are a couple trails here. You want the one behind the Kiosk, or this shortcut just to the right of it.

Very shortly you will come to this signed trail split, which actually is not very helpful for our purposes today. But, you will want to go left.

Battle Creek Canyon.

Fun rock formations.

I was kind of surprised to see the trail so dry. But there have been a few patches of snow.

Okay, this is more what I was expecting.

Mount Timpanogos above the canyon.

The creek, mostly iced over.

Fun rock layers.

The trail again. This looks like snow, but trust me, it is ice.

Creek again.

Up to the diversion dam. The fence is new.

FYI, This is approximately 2/3’s of the way.

The diversion dam.

Quick wooded section.

Fun rock formations.

Ice fall.

Up to the bridge. This is where the climb begins.

The creek.

Little baby tree.

Little mine.

One of a few slide areas. Luckily there wasn’t much snow on any of them today.

A pretty epic ice fall.

Another slide area.

The ice fall again. In the summer months this little crevasse can appear slightly damp. There must be some kind of trickle that goes down it. We have seen it iced over before, but this is pretty impressive.

Similar angle from our June 2020 hike.

Battle Creek Falls from the top of the side trail that goes down to the base.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but the trail down is a little steep, and quite icy. I was a little worried going down it, but it wasn’t too bad with the spikes.

From the base. Holy cow, look at the size of that ice base.

Detail.

The falls.

The big ice fall. I don’t know if there is a better term for this?

Couple smaller ones.

Down canyon.

The twin falls again.

Some detail shots.

The big ice fall.

The waterfall again.

The left twin and its big ice pile.

Again.

Icicles.

I thought it would be a cone, kind of like a volcano. Turns out it is a solid chunk of ice. I suspect it might linger for a while once it starts to warm up.

With the waterfall above.

Here you can kind of see the waterfall splashing off the ice mound.

The ice fall again.

The area below the falls is one big ice rink. with the micro spikes that is not a terrible problem.

The waterfall again.

Detail.

Little further back.

The big ice fall.

Once last shot before we head back down.

From the trail split. again, I failed to get a picture of how steep and icy the trail down to it is.

View up canyon.

The ice fall again.

View down canyon.

The creek.

The little mine again.

View down again.

Back down to the bridge.

Crossing the creek.

Rock formations above.

Little forested section.

Down to the diversion dam.

Rock formations above.

On the other side.

The other side again.

View down again.

I have wondered what these whispey things were before, and I believe I stumbled upon the answer one day: Clematis seeds.

Looking back towards Mount Timpanogos.

Utah Lake from the parking lot.

I wonder what factory that is that releases all the steam.

More clematis seeds (I think).

Little bit of a sunset.

That was a great adventure today. The waterfall is always a treat, but is extra neat during winter. The trail wasn’t terribly busy, and we even got some time alone with the falls. Going with 10 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is normally a very easy trail. But in winter is ices up something fierce and you definitely need good traction to keep it as an easy trail.

Dogs are allowed, but must be leashed. Please clean up after your furry friend.