I left Rexburg about 9:45 AM for Mesa Falls. The trip takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to travel to the Mesa Falls parking lot. Head north on 20 from Rexburg until you reach Ashton and take a right on Idaho 47. Stay on this road for about 15 miles and you'll be at Mesa Falls lower and upper parking lot. The signs are hard to miss which come after signs that say the road is no longer maintained to keep the snow plowed.
Unfortunately this time of the year, there was snow already on the road but was still drive able in my Mazda 3. However, the road going down to Upper Falls looked very packed with snow and I almost got my car stuck so I turned around. I was disappointed but I didn't want to risk getting stranded so I headed back. I was able to get pictures of the lower Mesa Falls from a distance but I wasn't able to make it to the upper Mesa Falls on the trail I planned to hike. I came up with a little back up plan.
I found a campground called Warm River campground about 4 miles heading back that was at the bottom of the bend of the road that crosses the river. I decided to check it out and turned left right before the bridge and followed the road all the way to the end. I entered into the campground and went to the very back where a trail head started. I got excited to see another trail so I started exploring it. From this trail head, Bear Gulch was about 4 miles down. I hiked only about 2 miles and headed back because of my toe injury. The trail wasn't named but it was pretty as it followed the Warm River. When I came back, I stopped at the campground for a bit and had my lunch and just relaxed. It was very nice and there were some people in the river doing fly fishing with success.
Overall this was thought to be a disappointment to not see the entire Mesa Falls but the Warm River campground made up for it. It's a nice place to have a picnic or do some fishing along the river because I saw some fish jumping for the short time I ate my lunch.
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