Battle Creek Falls

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Battle Creek Falls
Battle Creek Falls, Mt Timpanogos.jpg
Battle Creek Falls and visitors
Battle Creek Falls
Location Mount Timpanogos [1]
Coordinates 40°22′03″N111°41′34″W / 40.36737°N 111.69287°W / 40.36737; -111.69287 [1]
Elevation5,671 ft (1,729 m) [2]
Total height50 ft (15 m) [1]

Battle Creek Falls is a waterfall on the west skirt of Mount Timpanogos east of Pleasant Grove, Utah. [3] Access to Battle Creek Falls is from the Battle Creek Trailhead off the Kiwanis Park picnic area. [2] The waterfall plunges into the rock at the base of the cliff without creating a pothole. The base of the waterfall has access directly from the trail. [4] Bridal Veil Falls is on the same mountain side, approximately 10 miles south for Battle Creek Falls.

Contents

Geography

Battle Creek and its waterfall are located in a semi-arid to desert climate in one of the main canyons of the Timpanogos massif. [5] The creek flows from a natural spring located upstream of the waterfall. While flow is largest during the snow melt of the spring season, both the creek and the waterfall are perennial. [6]

Common trees include water birch, maple, Douglas fir, spruce, oak, aspen and cottonwood. Wildflowers which might be seen include western coneflower, clematis, penstemon, and balsam root. There is some poison ivy reported in Battle Creek, and stinging nettle. [3]

Name

The waterfall is named after the creek, which is the original name of the city of Pleasant Grove. The name stems from the place where the 1849 Battle Creek massacre took place in which a small band of Ute people were surrounded and all the men killed by Mormon settlers under orders from the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young. [7] [8]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Battle Creek Falls". World of Waterfalls. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Battle Creek Falls". YourHikeGuide.com. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Battle Creek Trail #050". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  4. "Battle Creek Falls". Intermountain Healthcare. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. "Battle Creek Falls" (PDF). AmericanHiking.org. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  6. Witt, Greg (2012). 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Salt Lake City: Including Ogden, Provo, and the Uintas. Menasha Ridge Press. pp. 216–219. ISBN   9780897329422.
  7. Griffiths, Leonard (2020-05-20). The First 9/11 in America: September 11, 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre (A Senseless, Sad Tragedy). Meadville, Pennsylvania: Christian Faith Publishing. p. 347. ISBN   978-1-0980-1601-2.
  8. Coates, Lawrence G. (1978). "Brigham Young and Mormon Indian Policies: The Formative Period, 1836-1851". BYU Studies Quarterly . Brigham Young University. 18 (3): 436–437. ISSN   0007-0106. JSTOR   43040771.

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