June 2, 2019 - Bloods Lake

hikers:  Mark, Lecia, Seth, Marisa, Rees, Lydia

Seth is here for a few days so of course we needed to get up the canyon and hike!  To get to Blood's Lake we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and turned up the Guardsman Pass Road.  
Before we got to the top  we came to the area where the scouts have done snow caves for I don't know how many years. All our boys have been up there to dig caves and camp in the snow, and learn they can do hard things. 

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trash duty-sometimes boys lose things
in the snow and they reappear in the spring!

showing Lydia around

After reminiscing we drove to the Guardsman Pass overlook.  It straddles the border of Wasatch and Salt Lake counties. From the top of the mountain you can see down both sides and it is an incredible view.

Looking towards Midway.

Looking back towards Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The trees are hiding the view but you can see there is still snow on the mountain.

 Not a ton of parking, but luckily we found a spot.  This is the trail head, although it is not labeled.  The hike to the lake is downhill!  Part of the trail was covered with snow, but with so many hikers it was not hard to follow.

I was surprised to see green growth poking thru the icy snow.

This is one end of the lake.  It is beautiful but the water must be very cold!  There was still snow all along the edge on one side.

The last part of the trail was very steep so going back we were hiking up a steep hill.  But it wasn't very far.  In fact the entire hike was about 1.3 miles round trip.  It was worth the drive and maybe some day we'll go over the top and come out through Midway or Park City!

Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - Little Cottonwood Trail and Lisa Falls

Hikers:  Mark, Lecia, Marisa, Rees, Lydia!

Mark and I have hiked the Little Cottonwood trail before, from the bottom, and this time we started at the trailhead across from Lisa Falls and walked up to the old Power Plant.  It wasn't a long hike but the canyon sure is beautiful and the creek is full of water this year!

 I think this is the first time we have hiked with Lydia when she wasn't in a back pack or front pack, but she's bigger now so she walked a bit and was carried a lot.

After the Little Cottonwood trail we got the cooler, crossed the road, and headed up to Lisa Falls for a picnic.  Two short hikes in a day, and it was just right!