Bells Canyon = Leg Killer

I went on a hike last night.  It tried to kill me.  More specifically, it tried to destroy my  legs.

And it was awesome.

I LOVE hiking and I've wanted to do the Bells Canyon hike for a while now.  It climbs up the mountain and passes two huge and beautiful waterfalls.  I'm a big fan of waterfalls--who isn't?  Anyway, because my weekends are full for pretty much the rest of the summer we decided to hike it after work yesterday which meant that we were going to have to go full speed ahead to beat the setting sun.  It is typically a 4+ hour hike and we only had 3 1/2 hours to do it in.

Hubster and I left work and started driving to the trailhead at the mouth of the canyon. We were a bit nervous; it was pouring rain. We didn't want to become a story in the paper the next day about hikers getting stranded!

That is a troubling amount of precipitation...

Luckily, the storm passed us quickly (though not the SLC valley--lots of flooding there!) and we were able to hike in cool (but very wet) conditions. All the plant life was soaking wet and as we passed through the foliage our clothes soaked up all the water. Good thing I had tech gear on!

The reservoir at the start of the hike--pretty!

Before getting completely soaked

Love this man!

The trail is steep--it is 6.3 miles roundtrip and climbs 2,987 feet. It was like being on a giant stair stepper! Feel the burn!

Gorgeous overlook before the second waterall

50% of us are wearing Ragnar shirts...

The waterfalls were GORGEOUS! We've had an unusual amount of snow this winter and it is still melting off the mountains which made for a much higher flow than normal. My cousin who hiked with us said that the waterfalls had double the water he's seen on them in the past. Crazy! They were absolutely ROARING. We were completely soaked within just a few seconds of being at the bottom of them!

Camera HATES the water

Soaking wet!

Can you find us in this photo? Hint--top right.

They were well worth the hike! I'd love to go back. I used to hike at least 2-3 times per week but that hasn't been the case this summer. I hope I get a few more hikes in before the season is over with.

We had a race against the setting sun as we left the waterfalls.  We had to book it!  Mother nature left us with a beautiful sunset as we got to the bottom of the trailhead. Perfect ending to a perfect hike!

Love my Utah mountains!