Stewart Falls is a spectacular hike any time of year. The photos I took last fall are epic! I love it frozen as well. It is a popular trail and with good reason, but in winter you might get to yourself. This falls in an avalanche area, so be sure to check if it’s safe before you go.
Stewart Falls Trail
This trail begins at the Aspen Grove Trailhead in the same parking lot as the trail to Mount Timpanogos from Aspen Grove that passes Timpanogos Falls. This is also a major avalanche area, so check before going to the falls and I wouldn’t recommend going up to the summit until the summer. The Stewart Falls trail heads off to the left, right next to the restrooms. The trail goes through the pines and aspens. Periodically there are beautiful vistas and little friends.
This trail gets icy in the winter, so I definitely recommend micro-spikes. When you are nearly there, you see the falls on the mountain.
Because of the weird early freeze in late 2020 there were still some fall leaves in early 2021.
The icy falls look incredible! Of course there is running water beneath all of it, but you can only see it well from the bottom.
Be careful not to stand too close, since large pieces of ice often fall off of waterfalls. I zoomed in to see some details and evidence of previous ice falls.
Here is the view looking down towards Sundance.
Avalanche Danger
This hike crosses an avalanche path four times, so be sure to check the avalanche danger here. You can also get the app.
This area often gets avalanches, so don’t take this lightly. If it isn’t green or maybe yellow, I do not recommend it. Last May when I hiked it, there was still a giant avalanche area you had to cross along the trail. It doesn’t look that big in these photos, but it was at least 12 feet high and 20 feet across in May, and the rest of the trail was clear of snow.
Here is a video clip from 2023 of an avalanche that crossed the Stewart Falls trail taken by a Sundance skier. I had been checking the app regularly to find a good safe day to hike and since there was no snow and it stayed cold, I finally got my chance.
Here are a few more images of Stewart Falls!
To find out more about the Stewart Falls Trail and see it in different seasons, click here:
