Springville's Spring Canyon & Heaven


I thought I was familiar and experienced with all the trails and canyons up and down the west side of mountain I live by. Then I discovered there was one more canyon and trail I had yet to see. Ironically, I had lived right down the road from it 10 years ago and never even knew about it. Since Spring Canyon is accessed through Springville, the next city over and only a few minutes drive, I took the dog for a morning walk up the canyon to check it out. From the top of the little canyon, you can also hike up to a point that's actually called "Heaven".

Monday - June 20, 2016

The first mile of trail or so featured benches spaced every couple hundred yards or so.


After passing through a narrow part of the canyon, the trail enters a meadow.  Once again, I was overcome with how green everything was.  The lower sections of the Wasatch can brown out real quick as the heat of summer sets in and dries out a lot of the vegetation, but we had a good wet winter and spring that has helped to prolong the greenery that the Wasatch typically produces in late Spring.


A little further up and the meadow widened a little bit, exposing a view up to Corral Mountain.


At the end of the meadow, I reached a fence with a an opening for hikers to get through.  This marked the end of the trail for Spring Canyon, but as I said above, you can hike to a point known as "Heaven" from here, by taking a Forest Service road, #759, to the right and following that all the way up to the top of Powerhouse Mountain which rises above the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon.


The road started out nice enough.


Within 100 yards however, it gets steep and really rocky for a while.


The road side was lush with wildflowers however.  Most were in the form of wild rose and thimbleberry.  Aspens and Conifers were also thick enough to provide ample shade for most of the way.

Wild Rose

Wild Rose

Thimbleberry


Eventually I was treated to a view back out to the valley I had hiked up from.


Some more flowers dotted the side of the road, this time it was geraniums.


And even a few ferns.


After crossing through another nice green meadow, I soon found myself at Heaven.  I'm not so sure the name fits the spot, as there are lots of stunningly gorgeous places I've been that offered more paradisiacal views, but, I couldn't complain.  The view down into Hobble Creek and out across Spanish Fork Peak, Santaquin Peak, and Mount Nebo to the South and the valley to the west were enjoyable.

Looking southeast down into Hobble Creek Canyon

Spanish Fork Peak

Spanish Fork Peak, Santaquin Peak, and Mount Nebo

Springville and Utah Valley

A selfie from Heaven

I didn't dwell long though, so it was back down the trail I went.  Again, enjoying the pleasant shade of the aspens and flowers that lined the side of the road.


And back through the meadow halfway down the road.


And back through the fence to descend back down Spring Canyon.


Spring Canyon is supposed to have a spring in it, from which the canyon gets its name.  However, the place where the spring should have been flowing was all dry.  Odd, because as I said, we had a pretty good winter and wet spring this year that should have helped keep the spring going.


Once back in the meadows of Spring Canyon, you can see out into the valley for most of the way back down.


And of course, you get a nice view of Springville as you come out of the mouth of the canyon.

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