Wasatch Front - Early June Family Backpacking

[DallasUT]

Looking to take the whole family on an overnight backpack trip around the first weekend of June. I've been gearing up the wife and younger kids (4 and 9) over the winter.

I'm mostly familiar with some of the higher and eastern Uintas, and have done longer hikes and multi-night trips there with my oldest son.

I am looking for something relatively close (Within about an hour from Salt Lake County). accessible early June. about a 2 mile hike in to hopefully a decent camp area.

Anything lower Uinta or Wasatch mountain areas that come to mind or would suggest?

Thanks,

Dallas

 

[DrNed]

I live in Pleasant Grove and we've got the perfect canyon here for what you're describing = Grovecreek Canyon.

Hike 2 miles up and then you cross over the river, hike up another half mile or so and reach a large meadow with a large easy to find spring (good water source). Great local hike and backpack. If you want to keep it closer to the the 2 mile range once you cross over the river (there's a foot bridge) you'll do a few switch backs through some pines and you'll find some spots where you could camp that are close to the river.

This was my kids first backpacking trip in preparation for our summer 2013 Unitas trip. We did this the last weekend of May 2013. Nights were cool, but not bad. I think the elevation is just over 7500 - but that's a guess from a not very good memory.

There are also several trails that are kid friendly to hike - and what's not to like about epic views of Timp?

 

[WasatchWill]

There are also good sites up Rock Canyon here in Provo, as well as Silver Lake up American Fork Canyon. There's also a nice meadow up above Malan's Peak just below Mount Ogden that would offer some great sites. The stream that runs through Waterfall Canyon flows right through that meadow before it plunges down the 200 foot or so falls. Take the canyon north of Waterfall Canyon to reach Malan's Peak and meadow though, especially with kids.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

 

[Parma]

The Rock Canyon hike is about 3 miles to the campground. It's a fun one to hit up in the spring.

 

[DallasUT]

Thank you all for such great suggestions. These are exactly what I was looking for. I am very interested in the Grove creek area. I've always guessed there were some easily accessible areas like this. Just have never taken the time to explore these areas before.

We will definitely be giving an area like this a try before the Uintas thaw out a bit more.

How about crowds? since they are so easy to get too...

 

[DrNed]

How about crowds? since they are so easy to get to...

Just as a landmark, if you've ever driven through Utah County and seen the "G" on the mountain, Grove Creek is the
canyon on the north side of the G.

As far as crowds, not a lot of campers, hikers there could be a few. Actually, I would avoid the last weekend of school. There could be more campers that weekend. The only downside is Grove Creek spring is the only source of water, so if there are campers they tend to congregate in the area of the spring.

If you really wanted to make it easy, you could go up American Fork Canyon to the Timpanokee Campground. From there you can get on the Timpanokee Rd that will wind all the way around to front of the mountain. When you get above Grove Creek just hike down about 1/2 mile. I've never done this, but I have seen others do it on motorcycles and ATV's. The road is in good form and would be easy to drive on.