Waterfalls in Utah: 11 falls worth the trip

Bridal Veil Falls

Utah County's Bridal Veil Falls drops in two tiers down a cliff face in Provo Canyon, commonly measured at 607 feet, among the tallest waterfalls in the state (World Waterfall Database). The falls sit right along US-189 on Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest land between Provo and Orem, in full view from the highway pullouts. Utah County began a two-year, $7 million reconstruction of the parking area and base trail after Labor Day 2025; as of this writing the lower lot and the trail to the base are closed, with visitors directed to the upper lot or nearby Nunn's Park (Utah County Parks). The project's second phase started in July 2026 and keeps the base trail closed for a full rebuild into late 2027, with completion targeted for September 2027, so plan on viewing the falls rather than walking to them until then. The aerial tram that once carried visitors to the top was destroyed by an avalanche in 1996 and was never rebuilt.

Stewart Falls

A roughly 200-foot cascade on the west flank of Mount Timpanogos, reached by a 3.6-mile round-trip trail from the Aspen Grove trailhead on Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest land, off the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway near Sundance Resort (U.S. Forest Service, Mount Timpanogos Trailhead). Parking at the trailhead requires a $10 three-day Alpine Loop recreation pass, sold at fee stations on the road, unless you're carrying an America the Beautiful interagency pass; driving the loop without stopping is free, and the hike itself has no separate fee. The Alpine Loop closes for winter, typically from late fall through May depending on snowpack, cutting off the shortest approach.

Donut Falls

A short waterfall in Big Cottonwood Canyon that drops through a hole worn in the rock above the pool, reached most of the year by a 1.5-mile round-trip trail from the summer trailhead (U.S. Forest Service, Donut Falls Trailhead). As of June 1, 2026, the trailhead sits inside a new Forest Service fee area covering Big Cottonwood Canyon: a day-use parking pass runs $10 for three days, $20 for a week or $60 for the season, and interagency and Uinta-Wasatch-Cache passes are honored (Cottonwood Canyons Recreation Enhancement Act fee overview). In winter, when the road to the summer trailhead closes for the season, reaching the falls starts lower and adds about 2 miles round trip. Full details are on the dedicated Donut Falls page.

Fifth Water Falls

Fifth Water Falls is a set of three waterfalls along Fifth Water Creek in Diamond Fork Canyon, on the same Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest trail that leads to Fifth Water Hot Springs, about 5 miles round trip (2.5 each way) from the Three Forks trailhead with roughly 700 feet of elevation gain. The second and largest of the three falls is the most photographed. There's no fee to view the falls themselves, though the Forest Service charges for trailhead parking, covered in detail on the Fifth Water Hot Springs page. Because the falls sit along the same approach as the springs, most visitors see both on one trip.

Battle Creek Falls

A roughly 50-foot waterfall above Pleasant Grove, reached by a family-friendly trail that starts on city park land and continues onto Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest as Battle Creek Trail #050 (U.S. Forest Service, Battle Creek Trail). Pleasant Grove rebuilt the trailhead parking lot through the first half of 2026, routing visitors to a temporary lot below the water towers that added a short uphill stretch to the approach; the city's stated target was to finish the new lot by late June 2026, so check its trails page for current parking before you go. No fee is charged. The round trip runs about 1.2 miles with modest elevation gain, short enough for young kids.

Lisa Falls

A short, unmarked trail off Little Cottonwood Canyon Road leads about 0.2 miles to Lower Lisa Falls, on Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest land inside the canyon's protected watershed. Dogs and wading are both off-limits here because the creek feeds Salt Lake City's drinking water supply. Parking is a small, unmarked pullout with room for only a handful of cars. Little Cottonwood Canyon added Forest Service parking fees at its Grit Mill and White Pine trailheads on June 1, 2026; the Lisa Falls pullout is not listed among those fee sites as of this writing, so budget for that to change (Cottonwood Canyons Recreation Enhancement Act fee overview).

Lower Calf Creek Falls

Utah's best-known desert waterfall drops 126 feet into a sandstone amphitheater, reached by a 6-mile round-trip trail through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, mostly across sand (Bureau of Land Management, Lower Calf Creek Falls Trail). The BLM's Calf Creek Recreation Area, off Highway 12 between Escalante and Boulder, charges a $5 per-vehicle day-use fee (Bureau of Land Management, Calf Creek Recreation Area). The trail has little shade and no reliable water source along the way, so this is a start-early hike in warm months rather than a quick stop. Full details are on the dedicated Lower Calf Creek Falls page.

Upper Calf Creek Falls

A separate BLM trailhead about 15 miles north of the lower falls on Highway 12 reaches Upper Calf Creek Falls by a steep, unmaintained 2.2-mile round-trip route down into the canyon and back out. No fee is charged at this trailhead, and there are no facilities of any kind, just an unmarked pullout and a boulder-lined dirt track leading in. The route has no shade and involves scrambling over slickrock, so it draws far fewer visitors than the lower falls despite the shorter distance.

Kanarra Falls

Kanarra Falls, also called Kanarraville Falls, sits in a narrow sandstone slot canyon behind the town of Kanarraville, on land split between Bureau of Land Management and Utah state trust land leased to the town (Bureau of Land Management, Kanarra Falls). Crowding got bad enough that the town now runs a permit system: hikers book a $15 per-person ticket online, with children 7 and under free, and the trail caps at 200 general admission tickets a day; spring and summer weekends are likely to sell out several weeks in advance (Kanarra Falls official permit site). The 4-mile round trip, per the operator, wades through the creek and climbs a metal ladder bolted beside the first waterfall, with a second ladder to get past the falls beyond it.

Emerald Pools

Three connected pools and their waterfalls sit on National Park Service trails a short walk from Zion Lodge or the Grotto shuttle stop, with the Lower Pool an easy, mostly paved 1.2-mile round trip and the Upper Pool a steeper 3-mile round-trip loop for all three pools with about 580 feet of elevation gain (National Park Service, Upper Emerald Pools Trail). No fee applies beyond Zion's park entrance fee. Spray from the pools keeps the rock slick year-round, and the park has closed sections of this trail for repairs before, so check current conditions on the park's alerts page before you go.

The Subway (Archangel Falls)

The Subway is a smooth, tube-shaped stretch of Left Fork North Creek in Zion's backcountry, with the cascades just downstream known as Archangel Falls. It's reachable either as a technical canyoneering descent from the top or a strenuous 9-mile round-trip hike from the bottom, gaining and losing about 1,300 feet along the way (National Park Service, Zion wilderness permits). Every route requires a permit: Recreation.gov runs a seasonal lottery plus a last-minute daily lottery drawn two days before each trip date, covering the roughly 60 people allowed in per day; entering costs $6, and a successful permit adds $10 per person. Do not attempt this hike without a permit in hand; rangers check, and hiking without one can draw a citation. This is the one waterfall on this list where reaching it takes real planning rather than a spontaneous stop.

This guide was compiled from public land-manager sources (the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Utah County and Pleasant Grove City), federal datasets (USGS GNIS) and published trail reports. We haven't visited these sites ourselves. Fees, permits and access rules change, and several changed again in 2026; every listing links to its primary source, last checked August 2026. Verify with the land manager before you go.