Provo-Notta-Lone

Provo Canyon was suggested as a delightful drive and a place to see some tall waterfalls. The rock walls towered over us on both sides as we drove through the pass in the Wasatch Mountains. We first came upon Bridal Veil Falls. We found a parking spot in the shade, and took the short walk to the falls. I thought it was quite impressive, falling over 600 feet over two ledges before cascading to the valley floor where it flows into the Provo River. As a bonus, just a short distance up the road we found Upper Falls. This waterfall is nestled among the evergreen trees and puts on its show about halfway up the mountain side. In my humble opinion, it is just as beautiful from below without climbing a mountain. You can hike the short trail up to the base of the falls, but since it was rather warm out, we opted to continue our drive in the air conditioning.

We next traveled up Alpine Loop Road, stopping at Sundance Ski Resort. This is where the famous Sundance Film Festival began. It was fun to see the ski slopes, the lifts, and the chalet, but I could only find one patch of snow, way up near one of the peaks, so no skiing yet. Walking along the paths I stopped to enjoy a nice little park area with a stream, a pond, and a couple little waterfalls. In the general store, there is a hallway with several photographs from the past, documenting the history of the area, Robert Redford, and the Sundance Film Festival. In the 1970’s, Robert Redford was dismayed the way Hollywood was going with big budget movies and little or no storyline. His dream was to set up workshops for independent filmmakers and screenwriters to hone their skills and develop better movies. The movies they debuted became the film festival and it grew from there. It exceeded what his idea or intention was.

Everyone should have dreams or goals. It is what propels you forward in this life. Tom reminded me of just that. He asked me what my goals were, and I initially couldn’t think of any. It seems like goals should be some momentous thing, like curing cancer or going into space, but they can be much simpler and everyday. Goals like seeing the Pacific Ocean, exercising and stretching more, eating heathier, finishing a project... the list goes on. They have the ability to give me motivation, which would be a good thing. I am open to suggestion on goals, big or small, that I should aspire to achieve.

We continued up and over the next pass seeing grand views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. We came to the Timpanogos Cave National Monument. I went into the visitor center and found out that the tour would take at least three hours, but we had limited time this day and we passed on doing it. It was a good day, but it would have been a better day if I had contributed more to the conversation and worked to resolve things.

Today was another travel day, continuing our way south. The wind was not too bad this morning, but this afternoon it is whooping it up out there. Tom got to the site and had everything set up by the time I got here after running to get new air filters for the truck. Who would have thought all these dusty roads would have them in this clogged state and in need of replacement. Tom is taking the time to clean up the inside of the truck this afternoon too. It has been too long since it has been done and too many miles of dusty roads. I also made a return trip to Pando today to check on the progress of the fall colors. I can say that it is definitely more colorful, but like the timer on a turkey that hasn’t popped, it’s not quite ready yet.

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