Day 11: Payson to Lehi

May 18, 2022

Today is the only "3 Temple" day of the tour. It will be a long but interesting day.

The ride started with a long detour around a road that is closed for reconstruction, converting a 2 lane rural road into a multi-lane suburban boulevard. Other than that, road conditions were very good today. Pretty much all the major arteries have a wide bike lane with a 3 foot wide buffer zone between the traffic lanes and the bike lane. I had never seen that before. Rural Utah isn't very bike-friendly but urban Utah is very bike-friendly.

Spanish Fork river flows into Utah lake.

Today's route is entirely in the rapidly growing Utah Valley metro area. In the morning I pedaled through the cities of Spanish Fork, Springville, and Provo.

Today's first temple stop is the Provo City Center Temple. It's quite new, dedicated in 2016, but it looks very old. I like how the front and side views are dramatically different.

After the tour I learned that Provo City Center Temple is not as new as I thought. It's built on the site of the 1898 Provo Tabernacle which was heavily damaged by a fire in 2010. The roof collapsed, but the walls were mostly intact. The old walls were fortified and reused for the new temple. Two underground levels were also added, so the temple is much larger than it appears.

Provo City Center Temple. The blue tower is headquarters for the controversial Nu Skin multilevel marketing company.

Provo City Center Temple was buzzing with activity. Best I could tell a wedding was just finishing. The temple is very close to Brigham Young University and is apparently booked full-time with eternal weddings that can only be obtained at a temple. I imagine the temple also does a huge number of baptisms and priesthood ordinances as well.

Provo City Center Temple. The side view looks very different from the front view.

Across the street from Provo City Center Temple is the historic Utah County Courthouse which was built from 1920-1926 at a cost of $580,000. A recent restoration cost $20 million!

Downtown Provo appears to be thriving. It's the most perfectly clean downtown I've ever seen, with the possible exception of Singapore. Pretty much all of Utah is spotless, but Provo is extremely clean for a city of 117,000.

Downtown Provo. No trash, graffiti, broken glass, homeless people.

Just north of downtown I stopped to look at the old 1892 Academy building. Brigham Young Academy was founded in 1875. It evolved into Brigham Young University which has its campus a mile to the north. The beautifully restored building is now the Provo City Library.

The 1892 Academy building was the precursor to Brigham Young University. Now a public library.

I ate lunch at a Thai restaurant in Provo. The 21 year old hostess said she was single, but nearly all of the women her age are married. At the restaurant I overheard a woman say she has 41 grandchildren.

No tour of Brigham Young's Promised Land would be complete without pedaling through Brigham Young University. It's a large private university owned and very strictly controlled by the LDS church, with an Honor Code that only zealots can tolerate. Faculty have none of the academic freedom that is taken for granted at most universities, but it's an accredited university and is popular enough to be selective about admissions.

Brigham Young University was founded in 1903.

On the BYU campus I saw a group of 4 young men and 3 young women walking out the back of a 6 story glass and steel building, dragging suitcases. They had expressions of dread on their faces as if they were soldiers being sent to fight in a war. Sure enough the front of the building says "Missionary Training Center". They were starting a 1-way trip to a strange and unfamiliar place for 18-24 months.

Stadiums at BYU. Note the Y mowing pattern in the outfield.

My next temple stop is just northeast of BYU, up a steep hill. Provo Temple is an oddity among LDS temples, one of two modern temples (Provo and Ogden) built in the early 1970's. I doubt the modern design was popular when it was new. The design definitely isn't popular now. It was never repeated. The newer temples are much more traditional looking.

Provo Temple was dedicated in 1972, the second LDS temple with modern architecture.

The modern design did not prove to be popular. Most people prefer traditional designs.

From the hilltop temple plaza I had my first good view of Utah Lake down below, miles away. It's a fresh water lake fed by rivers flowing out of the Wasatch Range. The outlet is the Jordan river which flows north to the Great Salt Lake.

After Provo Temple I only pedaled a short distance on roads to connect to the Provo Canyon trail. I pedaled 12 miles out and back on the trail. The river has a big gradient, so upstream is mostly 2-3% upgrade. The trail gets heavy use by cyclists and pedestrians. One "lane" of the trail is reserved for pedestrians only. It's a good arrangement for such a busy trail, and it separates pedestrians from the downhill cyclists who sometimes go very fast.

Provo Canyon trail. Pedestrians only to the right of the solid line.

I stopped to look at Bridal Veil falls which is right next to the trail. It has a big wading pool that is popular with the many kids.

Bridal Veil falls is the main attraction in Provo canyon.

Bridal Veil falls, trail, and Provo river.

I pedaled to the end of the trail, but the last 2 miles wasn't very interesting. I should have turned around soon after the falls.

From the falls area is a great view looking north across the river towards Mt. Timpanogos which rises many thousands of feet above the river.

Looking across the river at Mt. Timpanogos.

The downstream ride was much faster than the upstream ride. The Provo Canyon trail connects directly to the Murdock Canal trail which I will follow for 20 miles to Lehi. I expected it to be a typical suburban trail with 101 road crossings. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the trail has basically no road crossings. The beginning of the trail goes through back yards, but most of the trail is above the suburban streets. As I pedal north, the level canal trail gets gradually higher above the suburban valley which gets gradually lower going north.

The Murdock Canal trail is awesome for getting across densely populated suburbia with outstanding mountain and valley views, and no road crossings.

At first the Murdock Canal trail goes past back yards with a view of Mt. Timpanogos.

The Murdock Canal trail goes past a huge hole in the ground. I asked an elderly gentleman about the hole. He said it's a future LDS Temple, and that he used to own the land.

This hole in the ground is a future LDS Temple in Orem. Utah lake still visible in the distance.

Today had a high of 80F. Very nice. As usual the sky became overcast for a few hours in the late afternoon. Wind was light in the morning and steady from the west in the afternoon.

I turned away from the Murdock Canal trail in the city of American Fork. I have to see the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple is in the city of American Fork.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple was dedicated in 1996.

Mt. Timpanogos has somewhat more "boxy" architecture than most LDS temples. The most distinctive feature is long narrow strips of very special glass in the windows. The glass has extraordinary reflecting qualities that make the glass resemble glowing lights.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple has exotic super-reflective glass that I did not see on any other temple.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple looks different from every direction.

I managed to get lost while making my way back to the Murdock Canal trail. Probably added 3 miles to today's route. At least it was scenic.

Fishing pond with a great view. I was lost when I took the picture.

The last few miles of the Murdock Canal trail are less scenic, as the trail descends to the city of Lehi (long E, long I). The area is all new high rise corporate office parks. Quite the contrast to places like Orderville, Utah.

Sometime on the Murdock Canal trail I lost a water bottle. I think the bottle slipped out of the bottle cage when the bike fell over. Fortunately the weather is cool enough that I can manage without the bottle.

It was a very long day. I got on the road at 8:15 and arrived at Hilton Garden Inn in Lehi at 6:45 PM. Hilton Garden Inn is the fanciest place I stayed during the tour. The $155 price does not include breakfast. I ate dinner at the hotel restaurant because there are no other restaurants nearby.

It was a very interesting day with 3 LDS temples and 2 excellent bike trails. I no longer see interesting historic houses, though. Everything is new and shiny and suburban.

Distance: 65 mi. (104 km)
Average Speed: 10.1 mph (16.2 km/h)
Ascent/Descent: +1906/-1708 ft. (+581/-521 m)
Miles 346-404 on the route map

Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 455 miles (732 km)

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Jeff LeeUtah County: The epicenter of LDS culture. I lived in Orem and Lindon from 2009 to 2012. I was very unhappy there.

I experienced mild PTSD just reading your descriptions.

It's hard to describe just how oppressive the place is.

I did chuckle at your description of downtown Provo as "thriving." When my wife and I lived there, we thought that Provo was surely the most boring city in the United States of America.
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2 years ago

Wayne EstesI think I understand what you're feeling. Provo is squeaky clean with new construction all over the place. The population is growing and the economy appears to be strong. But it looks extremely boring. I'm pretty sure I would also be very unhappy if I lived there.
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2 years ago