Ricks Spring - Summer

Ricks Spring is a really neat feature located near the top of Logan Canyon. It is not actually a spring, but a crack in the rocks that diverts a good portion of the Logan River during high waters, but it took a while to figure that out so the original name has stuck. It does look like a spring though coming out of a large cavern in the side of the mountain. Last time we came here was in winter and it was not flowing. I thought it was a little late in the season but figured it would hurt to stop by again anyway and it was flowing pretty good!



Quick Details:

Length: NA its right off the side of the road. Maybe 50 feet of walking.
Trail Type: Get our and look
Difficulty: DR1
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: No. There are a few places in Logan Canyon that do.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:It’s cool, but probably not destination cool. We did this on our way to Bear Lake.

To Get Here:

This is approximately 15.4 miles up from the mouth of Logan Canyon on the left, North side of the road.

The Trail:



View across the road.



It’s flowing really good right now! Hooray! I am happy to get to see it.



The cave.



There is a very short walk over the stream to an additional view point.



The yellow monkey flowers are quite happy here. There are a bunch!These flowers like very moist environments. I first learned about them visiting Yellowstone as they also love the hot springs up there! It was really excited when I first learned they grow in Utah as well.



One of the signs. This one covers the reason for the misnomer. Basically it was originally believed the be a fresh mountain spring, and people drank from it, and even carried jugs of it back home. Until people started getting sick. It normally flows from April to November. However one particularly nasty winter in 1972 caused an ice dam in the river, and suddenly Ricks Spring was flowing again. Another ice dam occurred and scientists started to get an idea of what was happening. They poured green die into the river, and it came out of the spring here so they now knew they were connected.

The only thing I am still curious about is how far up the river the diversion happens.



The main pool in the cavern.



You can see the crack in the photo. it is wider underground.

Here is what it looks like in winter from our 2016 trip.



Here you can see where the water is bubbling up.



The stream.



More yellow monkey flowers.



This sign goes over the man who discovered it, and who it was named after: Thomas E Ricks..He liked to explore Logan Canyon looking for new sources of timber. In 1889 they built a road up this far with the intention of eventually reaching Bear Lake Valley.



This one covers the reason the ‘spring’ exists. The layers of rocks being uplifted folded over, and enough pressure can create cracks. Eventually the water coming through the crack eroded and dissolved the limestone widening it enough to allow the flow we see today.



The cavern again.



Yellow monkey flower.



The spring from the other side.



Couple little small side caves.



I saw a large bird flying up above. I probably could not have identified it as an osprey if it weren’t for hearing the noise of this one, and seeing and hearing one the next day.

That was the end of our first stop. However, I wasn’t particularly happy with the lighting today so we stopped back by on the way back down here are those images.



The spring coming out of the main cave.



The spring in the cave.



With the crack above.



Another view of the crack.



Yellow monkey flowers.



They really seem to like this area.



The cave again.



The boardwalk back.



The little side caves.



The cave and the outlet.



The cave again.



View across the way.

This is a really neat thing to see while passing through the area. Definitely worth the stop. It is super short, but super neat. I highly recommend stopping by. winter is a little meh, but still cool, but summertime makes this neat feature really spectacular.10 out of 10 squirrels.



As for difficulty, this is pretty much get out and see. just a smidge of a walk. DR2.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.