Quick hike gets you to a waterfall that anyone can easily walk up and touch.
On a cloudy Saturday, we were running errands in Salt Lake City, but wanted to try and fit in a quick hike in between a few of our stops.
The Rocky Mouth trail fit the bill for us and we drove towards the base of the mountains in Sandy.
After driving through some beautiful neighborhoods, we came to a street side trailhead with a small parking lot. The lot was undoubtedly full, but there was plenty of street parking nearby.
The hike begins by ascending a staircase and immediately making you think your choice of a hike was a mistake. Luckily, the stairs come to a conclusion and you start to walk a street past some gorgeous homes. After a minute or two, you'll hook right into a small fenced-in area to the main trail.
Again, you'll start ascending some steps and you'll reach the top of this staircase and have sweeping views of SLC to your right.
From here, the trail becomes rather traditional and the only tricky part is a fork, where you definitely go to the left (there is graffiti on the sign that may lead you the wrong way).
On your left, some caves will appear and worth exploring if you have some time. This is also the part of the trail where you're likely to encounter the crowds as the congregate near the waterfall.
After less than 0.4 miles, you'll reach the waterfall area, which has a huge base and then a thin waterfall that is broken into two tiers.
You're likely to encounter dozens of people, many of which are children, at the falls so use caution moving about.
You can easily walk right up to the falls and enjoy the spray from the falling water. I chose to climb up a bit to the second tier, but it didn't really provide much of a different perspective.
There is a lot of space around the falls to sit down and relax, but the crowds can get large quickly, so we chose to head back the way we came.
If you're in the Sandy area and want a quick check-in with nature, this may just be the spot for you.
Know Before You Go
The trailhead lot fills up quick with less than 10 spots, so prepare to park on the road.
The trail passes through a residential area. Please be respectful when passing their homes because we certainly don't want them clamoring to close the trail.
At the falls, its tempting for kids to run up to the falls, but I'd recommend caution as the kids can be slippery and cause a fall.
Simarily, it's tempting to climb the first tier of the waterfall, but the rock face can be slippery and its not too exciting up above.
Resources
Video
Location
Parking is found off of the contentious Wasatch Blvd in Sandy, Utah. If the parking lot is full, there is plenty of street parking.
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