I decided to start my birth week with a solo hike Lake Blanche.
My knees are protesting but it was so pretty. I love Sundial Peak and Dromedary had snow and was so pretty. Lilian Lake was also so pretty. Pretty much pretty all around!
Tami and Kelly had a little early Bday celebration for me. A quick overnight in the Uintas at Tami’s place. These two are awesome. We had a great time chatting and laughing and seeing pretty stuff along the mirror lake highway. I especially liked seeing deer, watching the ground squirrels, spotting a marmot, and hiking to Bourbon Lake. Happy almost birthday to me.
Kenz and I got on a summer hike. She hustled up Pine Hollow. I tried to keep up and the good thing about her leading was she got most of the spider webs. Then we went home and grabbed Sadie for some breakfast at The Original Pancake House. Hiking with Kenz and food just go together for me.
A couple of things that have made me smile yesterday and today - Olive Garden with KCS, Sadie and Baylie on the tramp, outside book reading, the park, Tuesday library crew.
A 3 day Draper family campout kind of reunion that I wasn't looking forward to ended up great. Clayton and Sandee, Josh and fam, Becca and kids, Jenn and kids, and Batemans were in on the fun. We boondock camped at Soapstone Basin and it was such a gorgeous place to be. I couldn’t get over the green and expansive view. Best part was hanging with those niblings of mine. Drawing, morning stroll, flower finding, necklaces, hammock pushing, and more. D and I hiked to Long Lake over on the Mirror Lake Highway. I struggled of course but made it through the snow to the lake which was cool with ice and mountains. Also cold with wind. We stopped at Provo River Falls on the drive back and they were raging. Not a lot of wildlife but we did spot a golden eagle (totally cool), a marmot, a few deer, and a bunting bird. :) It was a cold camping trip but also beautiful and we had a fabulous camping breakfast this morning.
Another Granite Flat camping/mountain evening adventure is in the books. We had a fabulous time around the campfire with all of us - hot dogs and watermelon, s’mores extravaganza, stick lighting and fire poking, mini Cornhole, laughing, chatting, and getting a photo with all of us. Sigh.
Rylie had bridal pictures and Cam was a big help.
Memorable hike today. We attempted silver lake from Tibble fork. We got within 1/2 mile of the lake (6 miles from the trailhead) before snow and thunder turned us around. We even made it past the river crossing. But we had some amazing views when it stopped raining enough for us to see. We were drenched! Even with our rain gear we were wet. There were so many worms. Like so many. It was kind of icky, especially when someone stepped on one and you come behind and see it wriggling. There was plenty of mud. And did I mention we were so wet? Lorien and Deb slid down a bit of the muddy trail but somehow I remained on my feet. We hiked 12 miles. The clouds hugging the mountains were cool and the green was amazing! While we were wet, a bit cold and slap happy from the many miles, the mountains were as pretty as I’ve ever seen them. After the long hot shower I am still tired but warm again so all is well.
Rocked our hike up pine hollow today. It was such a great nature and exercise fill. So much green with overcast clouds, a few flowers, and a fabulous viewpoint. We made it to the first meadow in 30 minutes. Went to a lookout of the west part of the canyon plus Timp plus more mountains. Sigh.
Today went a little like this:
Picking some strawberries out front after my little morning run is one of my favorite summer things. It only lasts for about a week but it’s awesome during that week.
The girls made chocolate strawberries with our little berries this week and they were delicious!
I also made it on 2 hikes this week.
Spent two nights in
Halls Creek canyon with some cool people for a late spring backpack.
Taylor, Kendra, and Brian came out from Kansas plus Darren, Mason,
Bridger and I for some good times in the southern end of Capitol Reef.
Super cool that we were the only ones down there. Well, besides the frogs. And biting flies and gnats. (Those biting flies were the worst. Luckily they were not at camp.) We saw zero people until we were almost back to the trailhead on Friday. Zero people. In an awesome place. It was fabulous!
