(Yes, I am aware that the title of this post is convoluted. It is my lame attempt to play on the name of the falls we visited.)
Within 6 miles of my home is one of the more popular destinations in the area – Bridal Veil Falls. It is a 607 foot double cataract cascading waterfall in Provo Canyon on Highway 189.
On most nice weather days, the area is crawling with visitors of all kinds: families, pets, out of country tourists, cyclists, hikers, climbers, and almost all of them take pictures.
Pictures? I mean, who does that?
Ann and I chose to visit the falls again and climb up to the top of the first Cascade. I have climbed up to the base of the first Cascade before as shown in this post.
However, I have never been to the top. Ann has done it before and she knew the path. I thought I knew the path, but as it turns out, the path that I knew went to the base, but has an offshoot to the trail that goes to the top. I just didn’t see it.
We found the entrance to the trailhead and it’s accompanying warning sign telling of steep paths ahead. We discovered that was very true!
Once we got on the trail we noticed that we had options. We could climb straight up on a very Rocky and very steep path that would test our endurance, courage, feet and legs. There was also a less steep switchback option.
We actually took both. We started on the super steep rocky path for about 100 yards and then decided to hop on the other trail. Even this second trail had some difficult maneuvering required. Even so it was super fun.
When we got almost to the top, we made the decision to abandon the path and climb up on some the ledges of the cliffs that border the falls.
When we started edging our way on the ledges toward the falls, we noticed something pretty cool. There was a young man sitting there quietly reading a book with the sound of the rushing water nearby and an amazing view of the canyon to his right.
Oh course, you know that I had to take a picture of the scene (below). I think it is a terrific image. In hindsight, I wish I had shot a bit of video of him to better highlight the scene. However the videos I did shoot give a sense of the scene.
As cool as shooting the young man was, I was super pleased with the images of a friend sitting on the ledges. Of course,
I REALLY love the one of her taking pictures of me.
If you look closely, you can see her hair hanging over the ledge. There is also something magical about seeing her with a camera in her hands.
Here is the picture she was taking in that photo.
Below you will see several pix from the visit to the falls. The first one is a tight shot of the water rushing over the edge of the lower falls. The larger vertical shot gives you a perspective of where we were on the cliff. We were to the left of the water about 15 feet down from the top.
Below are a few of the fun videos we took while on top.
We chose the trip because it was so close to our home and we did not have a lot of time left in the afternoon. It did not disappoint as we had a great time.
I look forward to returning and climbing even further up the mountain. I am certain Ann will join me. I either have to do it within a few weeks or wait until after snow melt next Spring.
Stay tuned!
The Umenum 