Random Rambler: Gloria Falls

Gloria (Gloria)

I think they got your number (Gloria)

I think they got the alias (Gloria) ♫

Cough, sorry it was stuck in my head for much of the hike. Anyway, Gloria Falls is an absolutely beautiful waterfall located in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trail features a nice mixed forest, wildflowers, 2 creeks, several little streams, and nice views. It is a very popular trail since it is pretty short, but it is a bit of a rocky climb! Still, it is one we love and tend to do fairly often.

Quick Details:

Length: About 2.6 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back.
Difficulty: Ooof. It is rocky, and almost a constant climb. DR4.
Elevation Gain: About 640 feet.
Restroom: Yes, there are vault toilets at the trailhead.
Dogs? No. Little Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

From the point where North and South Little Cottonwood Roads merge at the mouth of the canyon, go about 5.4 miles up. The trailhead will be on the right. It used to be signed as the White Pine Trailhead, but I didn’t see the sign today.

Note: There are several popular trails here so the parking lot tends to fill up, so you may need to park on the side of the road. Just pay attention to signs and you should be fine.

Some of the ephemeral waterfalls along the granite cliffs (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Another waterfall (PSP). At some point I thought this might have been Gloria Falls, but not only does it not look right, but it’s not quite in the right place. It’s like 2 or 3 side canyons down. If it has a name, I haven’t figured it out yet, nor if there is a way to get to it haha.

I guess something was wrong with the light for the one lane road construction area (it was flashing red) so they had manual flaggers today (PSP). I wonder if they had them doing it all night too. Cause normally you treat a flashing red light as a stop sign, but uh, you can’t really do that here. Hopefully they fix the issue before long.

Overflow parking along the driveway leading to the parking lot. There is additional parking along Little Cottonwood Road, which is where we ended up parking.

The Trail:

The trail is at the southwest corner of the parking lot, behind the restrooms.

Holy crap. How old is this sign? I’m thinking 1970’s or older.

Pretty forest.

Tree stars!!! Actually they are thimbleberry leaves. But as a kid who grew up with The Land Before Time, they always make me think of tree stars.

For comparison.

With thimbleberries.

Less than a 1/10th of a mile down there is another trailhead kiosk. It only provides information for White Pine and Red Pine though.

Bridge over Little Cottonwood Creek.

Downstream.

Upstream.

Now, the climb.

Oof. I forgot how rocky this trail is.

The first of 3 little side stream crossings.

Monkshood.

A chipmunk singing the song of his people.

More rocky trail.

Asters of some sort.

Aspen with a gnarly burl.

View across the canyon.

With a little meadow below.

Fireweeds.

Baneberry, I think.

Continuing the climb.

The second little side stream. No bridge, but it is not a concern crossing it at all.

Really it is just a trickle.

Purple monkey flower.

Monkshood.

Continuing the climb. Oi.

Some other type of aster.

Third side stream. This one has been piped underneath the trail, but even if it wasn’t it wouldn’t be an issue crossing it either.

View across the canyon again.

Rocky and dusty.

We made it to the ridge into White Pine Gulch.

As we head into the gulch the trail slowly starts to mellow out a bit.

Peak.

Seriously starting to mellow out.

Pretty yellow flowers.

Looking across the gulch at the mixed forest.

Okay, a nice break from the climb for a minute.

Pretty forest.

This looks like an old road that is being revegetated. I have no idea where it might have led. Although, playing around on the map it looks like it might have been an old route that connected to the White Pine Lake Trail.

More forest.

Flatter, but still rocky.

Just over a mile later we have made it to the White Pine/Red Pine Junction. Left leads to White Pine Lake which we have not done yet. Right leads to Red Pine Lake and Gloria Falls. So, right it is.

Another trailhead kiosk. I cant prove it, or back it up in anyway really, but I suspect way back before I was alive people might have been able to drive up here. If that was still an option today, I am not sure I could do it o.O.

The trail we want is just to the right of this sign, don’t cross the creek here.

After the junction the trail is a little more thin, but still established.

The bridge over White Pine Fork.

Upstream.

Pretty much immediately after the bridge you want to look for a trail on the left and head uphill.

Monkshood.

Here you have the option of following a trail next to the creek, or a trail that is a little set back to the right of the creek. The first time we did it, the creek side trail seemed optimal to ensure we got where we needed to go, but there was a part I really, really did not like. But the trail to the right is a better option for me so that is the preferred route for us now.

As a side note, I think the pink ribbons might be subtle trail markers? I am not 100% sure on that though.

It is a lovely trek through the woods.

First view of the falls.

Back to the creek side trail.

The creek.

The last little bit.

Gloria Falls. We actually had it to ourselves for a second. Hooray!

Super pretty.

Yellow monkey flower.

The falls from below. They are bigger than pictures make it seem.

Again.

The stream below.

Pretty waterfall.

Quick video.

Another angle.

Again.

Longer exposure.

Again.

Downstream.

The trees above the falls.

One last look.

The creek.

Gnarly looking wasp.

Heading back. Note there is a short climb up out of the gorge before going downhill again.

The creek.

Thick forest.

Monkshood.

The way we came down spit us out a little further west onto the Red Pine Trail then where we went up, into this marshy area. No matter, just head right to get back down.

Another little bridge.

More monkshood. They seem to like wet areas.

Back to the main bridge over the creek.

Downstream.

Upstream.

Some sad looking flowers.

The creek again. This is at the main White Pine/Red Pine junction.

Itty bitty side waterfall.

Forest.

More thimbleberries.

Western cone flower with a bee.

The junction.

Continuing down.

Forest.

Squirrel. The squirrels were acting weird today. They were chasing each other, and winding around our feet and just being extra. Landis looked it up when we got home and yep. It’s mating season. So they were literally chasing tail.

View across the canyon.

Continuing down.

A spring below the trail.

View down canyon and the ridge on the other side of White Pine Gulch.

Aspens.

The trail as it curves its way out of White Pine Gulch and out into the main Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Thimbleberries.

The ridge on the other side of the canyon.

Little Cottonwood Road below.

View across the canyon again.

One of the little side streams.

Closer.

Forest.

Little clearing below.

The ridge on the other side again.

Panoramic.

Thimbleberries.

Monkshood.

Some leaves getting a jump on the fall change. I have a feeling this years leaf peeping season is going to be short.

The ridge again.

Another side stream.

Closer.

The ridge.

The clearing below.

Another panoramic.

Aspens.

Baneberries.

Butterfly.

Asters.

Aspens.

Avalanche damage.

Another side stream.

Upstream has fireweeds.

Downstream has monkshood.

Geranium.

The bridge over Little Cottonwood Creek.

Right now these boards aren’t helpful, but during the spring run off, the creek fans out quite a bit here.

The main bridge.

Thimbleberries.

The last little bit is back uphill. But its short and not steep so its not a problem like that can be sometimes.

These are cute.

Ferns.

Back to the trailhead.

There was a family resting on a picnic table and they asked me if I could see what was on this peak. They clarified, that maybe with my camera I can get a better view and see what it is. At first I speculated that it was possibly a ski resort winter lodge of some sort.

Eventually I thought to pull out my telephoto lens and got a closer image, which I showed them as well. With the antennae's and satellite dishes my next guess was a weather station. Landis thought maybe a signal bouncer. That kind of makes sense as I bet it has a direct line of sight down the canyon from there.

Aspens and ferns.

Back to the one lane road (PSP). Oi. I swear we can’t go a single year without there being a multi month long closure in the canyons.

View down the U shaped canyon (PSP).

Roadside sunflowers (PSP). I swear they are early this year as I tend to associate them with the end of summer.

Well, that was fun! I really enjoy the waterfall and it was nice to get to see it without a lot of people this time. These shorter trails with a great end prize tend to get crowded sometimes. But, we had some time alone, and otherwise it didn’t get crazy haha. 10 squirrels today.