Utah Lake state park is excellent for boating, swimming, camping, picnics, biking, and hiking. The park is at one end of the bike trail. There is plenty of room to launch and park. Many families like to picnic and swim there. There are plenty of mosquitoes there sometimes so bring the spray as well as the sun block. Getting in will cost you $9 at this time. Camping is currently $20 a night for electric and water.
Connected to the lake is a river which appears to have good swimming and canoeing. You can easily tell where the best swimming holes are on the river by looking for the ropes hanging from the trees to swing on. The bridge outside the state park offers free parking next to it and a wide spot below to put a canoe in or wade about. Walk the road or trail next to the river to get to the swimming spots. We see lots of folks river swimming around here.
Just a short way up Provo Canyon are several green parks along the bike trail. With covered pavilions for picnics, playgrounds, ample parking, excellent mountain scenery, and the river running past they are great for spending a lazy day or as jump off points for a long bike ride. Canyon Glen Park also provides climbing rock structures for the kids or beginning climbing enthusiasts. It’s a good place to stop along the trail for a drink of water as well. Nunn’s Park provides camping just across the street from Bridal Veil Falls. Bridal Veil is usually busy though not too crowded and is where many of the locals go on a hot day to observe the twin falls, climb up to the upper pool or falls, or cool off with a wade in the ice cold lower pool.
We spent the day today riding in Provo Canyon. We drove our scooters in my SUV out to Canyon View Park and mounted up there. There is a bridge that crosses the river and onto the bike trail there. We headed upstream on the paved trail which was not too steep at all. We passed Canyon Glen Park and went through Nunn’s Park until we got to Bridal Veil Falls where we found an empty picnic table for our lunch I had strapped on my back. I like their metal tables on cement slabs there and we lucked out by getting one under a cool tree. We took our time with our sub sandwiches and sodas then laid down for a rest. Even riding a scooter can be hard work. Later, we rode over to the falls, sat on the new pedestrian bridge, took off our shoes and socks, then dangled our feet in the icy lower pool. It was soooo cold and hurt our feet at first but felt wonderful once we got used to it. Occasionally, the breeze would pick up like someone had turned on the air conditioner. We watched the crazies walking about in the pool and the climbers going up the fall while others climbed around the mountain side to get up to the upper fall ledge and touch the power of the falls. Eventually, we mounted our scooters again and headed back down to the car with a quick pit stop at the restrooms and water fountain at Canyon Glen Park along the way and a little exploring of Timpangonos just above Canyon View Park.
Another great place to beat the heat cheap is in the dollar theaters around the Provo-Salt Lake area. On the way home from the falls, we stopped in at one to watch a movie in a cool theater. The theaters are actually $1.50 now but that is still a good deal. Of course, the prices at the concession stand are still outrageous but they do have water fountains so go ahead and bring a cup if you really want to go cheap. The movies they show are current movies after they have been out a little while. We saw “Monte Carlo” with Selena Gomez starring. They were also showing “Bridesmaids”, “Green Lantern”, and “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
The falls sound like a great way to cool off.