Scout Falls

Scout Falls is a beautiful 30 ish foot waterfall located high in American Fork canyon. While the trail itself is fairly easy with only a gradual steady elevation gain, in order to actually see the waterfall, well, you should be part mountain goat and not particularly faint of heart.

Scout Falls

Quick Details:

Length: 1.5 Miles to the falls, 3 miles round trip.
Difficulty: DR3 For most of it. I would bump that last 2/10’s up to a DR5.
Elevation Gain: About 1,000 ft..
Restroom: Pit toilette at the TH.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Fee Area: $6.00 day use fee. If approaching from American Fork Canyon this will be paid at the ranger station. If approaching from any other direction there are self service stations.
Extra Info: The trailhead is next to a campground, which would make an excellent base camp.

This is along the scenic Alpine Loop and can be reached from multiple points. The quickest from SL County is to head up American Fork Canyon. After the Ranger Station you will head 8 miles up canyon. Take the right fork just after Timpanogos Cave, (sign for Alpine Loop) and then at about the 8 mile mark (from the ranger station) the right fork again towards the Timpooneke Campground. Follow the campground road back to the Timpooneke Trailhead.

Now for a first timer here it was a little confusing as there are like.. 8 trails here, all spurring off of the main parking lot trail. The first split hang right. The 2nd split, hang left. You will come to an old ranger shack that has a sign on the window pointing towards Scout Falls. This is all within less than 50 feet so if you don’t see the shack, come back.

Mt. Timpanogos from the Mt Timpanogos Highway (DBP). I learned on this trip that is is absolutely worth taking the Commuter Route which has a higher speed limit and bypasses all the lights. Well, I learned it on the way back, but will definitely consider it next time I head this way.

And the mouth of American Fork Canyon (DBP).

The line for the ranger station (DBP). From the few times we have been up this way, this seems about standard for a weekend day. Probably due to the very popular, and also very worth the trip, Timpanogos Cave.

Not far from the mouth of the canyon you will come to the area of the cave (DBP). It is seriously up, but it is paved so its not too bad and the cave is amazing! I do need to pay it another visit someday.

Spanish Fork canyon is quite narrow and very forested (DBP)!

After the first road split, the left heads towards Tibble Fork and I think is called North Fork, the South Fork road gets a little thinner (DBP). And, I forgot how much .. well.. uh scarier. I didn’t get any pictures of that part because even as a passenger, I am just focusing on watching the road and trying not to look down. Which sucks, because the view looks great! I’m terrified of heights, and add thin canyon road (with slim to no barriers) to that and it is seriously just amplified.

After the 2nd split, heading towards Timpooneke Camp Ground the road gets even thinner, but there aren’t the same drop offs as before (DBP).

And finally, the trail head! Great views from here.

Pretty blue wildflowers.

And the trail.

Looking south towards Timpanogos. It looks.. weird from this vantage.

Old ranger shack, with the sign for the falls.

Neat old forest sign.

Wildflowers.

Right off the bat you are deep in the woods and it is incredible!

Indian Paint Brush. I know there are tons of species of this (over 200), but I was a little surprised by all the different ones we came across on this trail.

I love these ones.

Great views of the peaks above when the foliage opens up.

Little dell below. I actually just looked up the term dell today and it means a small valley, usually among trees..

Heading into the aspens.

Pretty sunflowers.

More aspens.

Wild daisy's.

Nice peak with a landslide,

Pre-bloomed paintbrush.

Fun scraggly branches over the trail.

Lupine.

Beautiful views of the cliffs above.

Before long, you can even see your destination.

Cropped in a little closer so you can see it better.

Lupine, lots of lupine!

Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, and other wildflowers.

The peak across the valley.

Another shot of our destination. If I remember right, this was about halfway there.

This slope is filled with wildflowers.

Some rocky cliffs looking towards Timpanogos.

Parts of the trail are quite overgrown.

And very, very green.

Stones polished by years of hikers.

I thought this tree was gnarly looking.

Water running down the trail. There is a small stream trickling down up there somewhere, but you can’t see it through the foliage.

More wildflowers.

Over grown trail! Actually, this was probably a good thing. The trail along this steep slope was making me a little nervous, but the thick foliage helps to obscure that.

I never know how to word this right. The trail itself is not steep, it is running perpendicular along a steep slope, so steep slope down to the left and up to the right.

The first of a couple little streams you will cross. This time of year anyway, they are low enough that you won’t get terribly wet.

The 2nd one.

Getting closer!

Beautiful columbines.

These are easily identified by the way the petals appear to burst from the back.

Another wet part of the trail.

Another lovely side stream.

And the 4th is the biggest one (5th if you count the one you cant see), where you will get the most wet.

Too much debris to be pretty.

So right after this larger side stream you will come to a trail split. Scout Falls is supposed to be a signed spur trail off of the Timpanooke Trail. There was no sign here, so I am not sure if we went the right way, but, we went left and made it to the falls. We went right a little ways… Back to this creek, but I think that way continues to Timpanogos Peak. I don’t know, maybe it switches back again and we missed an easier way to reach the falls?

Mossy cliff. I wonder if the waterfall ever expends out that far.

After the split, it gets quite a bit more steep, and rocky!

And then you come to this landslide/scree you need to scramble up.

Fantastic view of the valley below.

Okay, seriously? The trail appears to be up the scree now.

Uhg, it just keeps going.

Landis is much more.. mountain goat than I am. I wussed out a couple times, but managed to get myself going again a few times.

We are so close!

Itty bitty side waterfall.

And that is far as I was able to muster. it just got too steep for me, and I couldn’t find a way up that I was okay with. Landis was able to make it up okay though (you can see him next to the thin waterfall). He is definitely more mountain goat than I am. I hate when this happens so close to the end. But, I would rather turn back when I am not okay with the trail then put myself in a dangerous situation.

Back to the nice view.

Landis came back down and grabbed my camera for me. He got a nice shot of thin thin side waterfall.

And a fantastic shot of the falls up close! Now this is a twin waterfall! I have been trying to catch Battle Creek Falls in it’s twin state and have not had any luck with that yet. Man I wish I had made it up this far! I probably could have if I really willed myself to. Maybe if I camped up here and wasn’t still worked up from the drive up.

Fantastic, my baby does good work. I really love the dripping moss between the falls.

And an great shot of the view below.

We found a side trail that didn’t seem as bad.

I managed to get close enough to enjoy the waterfall. Not the best view in the world, but at least I didn’t come all this way and not see it.

Yellow Monkey Flower.

I scrambled over a little to see if I could get a better view. Not so much.

The trail continued to this other steep scree. I thought maybe there might be an easier way up, but no. Frankly all the scrambling I did trying to find an easier way up could have been avoided if I just got past my issue and mountain goated up the first one.

Nice view down though. Well, I have had enough scrambling for one day. Time to head on down.

Back down to the bigger side stream but from the upper trail split. As I said earlier, perhaps the trail switches back again towards the falls, but we did not follow it past this to see if that was the case.

Back down to the lower section part of this stream.

Down to the next stream.

Primrose buds.

Monkshood.

And the next stream.

The view down.

Random berries. (Just a quick PSA, don’t eat random berries you can’t identify for sure).

I forget what these are.

Another yellow monkey flower.

The trail again. It is really incredible.

The valley below.

These guys are pretty, and all along the trail. I think they are Giant Hyssop.

The wildflower slope.

More lupine.

More flowers.

I caught a pair of mountain bumble bees! I love these guys.

Back to the aspens.

Different species of Indian Paint Brush.

Looking back up towards the falls.

We wandered into the valley below a bit and I got this panoramic.

Moose tracks.

Looking up the valley towards the falls again.

Weird fuzzy balls.

Back on the trail.

Wild daisy's.

More aspens.

Wooded hillsides.

I love these pretty red star shaped flowers. I think these are Scarlet Trumpets.

I love the forest.

Dr. Seuss looking plants. What the heck are these?

Mount Timpanogos.

Towards the bottom of the scary part of the canyon road (DBP).

Found a random arch (DBP).

On the commuter lane back, can’t see the mountains. Is this dust kicked up from the storm, or is there a fire? (DBP).

And again heading towards Salt Lake. Ick. (DBP),

I really did enjoy the hike. A nice trail along beautiful forests and loads and loads of wildflowers! But I am removing a squirrel due to fee area, another for scary road, and one more for having to be a mountain goat to get the the actual waterfall. Final rating 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, most of the trail can be considered DR3, easy, slight elevation gain no worries. If you want to get close to the waterfall, I would bump it up to a DR5.

Dogs are allowed, but should be restrained. Please clean up after your furry friend.