Saturday, August 30, 2014

I caught just a little bit of a commercial inviting everyone to join in the Swiss Days Celebration.  I thought I heard them say it was Labor Day weekend in Heber City.  Since it was the Labor Day weekend and we were ready for a drive in the mountains, we headed out.  It was overcast, but that just meant it was cool enough for Sam to ride along.

Our route took us north on US 189 which followed the Jordan River. We passed 10 parks on our way and we noticed a walking/biking trail also followed the river most of the way.  We passed a lot of hardy souls who thought it was warm enough to be tubing down the river (I suspect they were pretty blue when they got out of the water!). 

Heber City is just a 30-mile drive along Hwy 189 from our site in Springville/Provo KOA.

The Jordan River flows out of Deer Creek Reservoir where we saw a watercraft density to rival that of Lake Lanier in Georgia on its busiest day.  It doesn't show well in the pictures (we didn't stop because the parking seemed to all be taken), but believe me, we followed the shoreline for more than six miles and I never saw a break in the lake traffic.

We stopped in Heber City for some lunch and tried to get our bearings. We didn't see any signs or banners and found absolutely no celebration!  Heber City appeared to be pretty upscale with a lot of new shopping areas.  We walked around a couple Sam friendly stores (mostly to walk off some of our lunch) and finally learned the Swiss Days celebration (in Heber Valley - not Heber City) was in the adjacent town of Midway about three miles west.  A clerk cautioned that it would be extremely crowded - that (and rain) was all it took to talk us out of visiting.  Where did our sense of adventure go?

Fall has begun in the mountains.  Where did the summer go!?

There were a lot of little waterfalls along Hwy 189, but Bridal Veil Falls was the most impressive.  There were crazy people climbing all over the loose boulders.  I spotted people more than 2/3's of the way up the falls. 

A falls looks far less impressive when it is just off the side of the road.  Somehow a two or more mile hike seems to add to the majesty.

That is just an observation, not a complaint.  With the threat of rain, this was not a good day for a hike.

Nice outing even without the Swiss Days Festivities!