Provo River Falls and Mirror Lake Highway

You can enter Mirror Lake Highway Scenic Byway from either Kamas, Utah or Evanston, Wyoming. The scenic Byway itself is 45 miles of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see. This is a wonderful scenic drive and there are many areas to camp, hike, backpack, ride ATV's, watch wildlife, swim, snowmobile, and fish. The road is the highest paved road in Utah. It takes you to nearly 11,000 feet. There are several 10-12,000 foot peaks to be seen on the road. These are really very scenic mountains. The beginning part of the road (starting in Kamas) is just really beautiful with lush forest. There are several areas in spring where small creeks meet the Provo River and the River itself is always pretty. You will see a sign for Slate Gorge where you can pull over and see a 20 foot waterfall far below you in a narrow gorge. My favorite destination here (along with most visitors if the crowd is any indication) is the Provo River Falls. It is very well signed on the road and there is a nice parking area and an outhouse at the falls. This is actually a set of several different very beautiful falls. Notice the huge difference in water from Spring to Fall. My favorite part of coming here is actually walking through and swimming in the falls and river. It is a natural waterpark! Start just below the parking lot and start hiking/swimming up the different falls. Make sure and wear good shoes and watch you step. We have taken small kids through and it is fine just be sure to keep a good eye and help everyone through safely as the rock can be very slick and the water swift. This is high mountain snow water so it is very cold and should be planned on accordingly. As someone who rarely gets cold I found the water in August to be quite refreshing. Once you reach the last of the falls simply follow the easy trail back to the parking lot. The round trip takes around one hour. Do NOT attempt to get in the water during run off. This is more of a late summer to early fall activity due to fast and high water. As you can see in some photos it can get very busy in the summer. You can see the drastic water difference between spring and fall.