Backpacking at Brighton

For this year's backpacking trip, we decided to do a hike up in Big Cottonwood Canyon (a very beautiful canyon, mind you). We started our hike at the base of the Brighton Ski Resort and hiked up the grassy, full of wild flowers slopes up to Lake Mary.

All ready to go! Elanor hiked the whole way by herself this year and carried a little backpack. It was 2 miles in!

Walking on the ski slopes.

Chairlift.

Lake Mary.

Lake Mary is such a gorgeous alpine lake but they don't allow swimming as these lakes are part of the watershed.

She climbed up that rock.

Lake Mary was about a mile and a half from the trailhead.

After Lake Mary, we had another 1/2 mile to go, but Elanor was getting tired so it took a bit longer. We passed another small lake above Lake Mary, but our destination was Lake Catherine.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music."

So many wild flowers!

We made it to Lake Catherine!

It was getting late and we were tired, so we set up camp a little way away from the lake, made dinner and went to bed.


I woke up around seven before the other two and went outside to snap some pictures, but no before I got a quick photo of Elanor sleeping!

Our view right out of our tent.

Our campsite in the morning light.

A few feet from our campsite, there was a view of Lake Mary and the other lake which I cannot remember the name of to the west.

To the east, there was a view of Lake Catherine.

 I then climbed up a huge rock formation to get some better shots.

I love the morning light (this has not been edited at all!).

This was at the top of the rock formation I climbed up. I added a stone.

Lake Catherine.

More chair lifts.

Lake Mary, farther away, and another lake.

Lake Mary.

More of the same, but it was just so beautiful and I could not help myself!

 Wild flowers!

Back at the campsite.

This little girl woke up!

She was pretty proud of herself for climbing all the way up there.

An attempt at a family photo.

 We then ate some oatmeal, packed up, hiked down (last 1/2 mile was hard again).

Lupins!

At the bottom of the trail we met up with some friends and went to lunch (we were incredibly dirty) and then went home, showered, and took naps. It was a beautiful hike and I am so glad we all like to hike and backpack. It would not be as fun if I had to force Tyler or Elanor to go. The mountains in Utah are beautiful. The valley is nice and the views of the mountains are stellar, but sometimes in the heat and smog, I forget how beautiful Utah is. 

These mountains are heavenly. 

The Weekly Photo

We went backpacking this weekend and I will post some more pictures tomorrow since it was so beautiful!

Sunshine

I have been having far too much fun/ have not really wanted to blog. It has been sunshiny and hot. We have been swimming, backpacking, celebrating Harry's birthday, playing with the hose/kiddie pool with friends everyday, and generally having a very fun summer. So, I have not felt too much like blogging since I am outside most of the day. When I am inside, I am doing the necessaries such as cleaning, dishes, making food, etc. and I made Elanor an adorable owl costume for our Harry Potter party.

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing to tide you over until I feel more like blogging (I do have several posts I have been meaning to write!):

 Pioneer Day is big here in Utah and you generally celebrate with fireworks, much like the 4th and just as fun.

You might have noticed how unclothed Elanor is in many of these photos. It has been difficult to keep her in clothes lately. As mentioned above, we have played in the kiddie pool and with the hose a lot, and Elanor seems to think that if her clothes get a tiny bit wet then they must all come off.

Be ready to read about the Harry Potter party and Elanor's owl costume this week!

The Weekly Photo

Backpacking in Millcreek Canyon.

Birthday/Father's Day Backpacking Trip

Tyler and I were able to buy the backpacking gear we were missing this year (thanks tax return). We have slept in our new tent a few times, but this was the first time we took it backpacking! I asked Tyler a day or two before his birthday, "What would you like to do for your birthday", he said, "Go backpacking", so we did. It was a pretty spur of the moment thing. Tyler had hiked with his work to Red Pine Lake last summer and we had mentioned to some friends of ours that we should backpack up there together. However, Tyler could not remember how hard the hike was and if there were many places to camp, so he wanted to check it out before we brought someone with us. It was a good idea we did. There was still quite a bit of snow, so it was slow going for the last 3/4 of a mile. We were not really expecting that.... It was really pretty warm, but my feet got soooo cold. It was a pretty strenuous hike as well. The trail was not very easy (as in tons of rocks, half the time the trail was a stream, etc.), but it was worth it. The lake was beautiful, gorgeous, perfect, idyllic. We also found the perfect campsite a little up hill of the lake. Elanor was a trooper. She did great in the backpack and hardly complained at all. She also slept pretty well (though she got to bed a little later), and for the first time she stayed in her sleeping bag the whole night! They only problem was that we had just barely enough water. We are going to bring more next time.

View of Little Cottonwood Canyon on our hike up

Red Pine Lake...beautiful.