August 27, 2020 Gloria Falls

 Gloria Falls

hikers: Ethan, Mom, Dad

Definitely recommend this hike!

Ethan was home this week so we decided to do Gloria Falls, since it didn't work out a couple of weeks ago.  And even if it had, we would have taken Ethan there because the falls are amazing.  I think Gloria is short for glorious.  But a couple of weeks ago we didn't know that and not too far into the hike I knew that last time it was a good thing we turned around before we even got to the trail head.

Back to the hike, there are lots of websites with directions.  Here is one I used:

https://utahsadventurefamily.com/gloria-falls-little-cottonwood-canyon/

This time we parked in the red pine/white pine lake trail head parking lot.  I don't know how many times I have driven past that and didn't realize it was even there.  This is where we started the hike, right next to the bathroom.  

and headed down the trail.

and we came to the first bridge.

 I was counting bridges and wondering what qualified as a bridge because i didn't want to miss the turn off to Gloria Falls.  Let me just say that this is the first bridge and you go about a mile before you come to the second bridge where you turn off the main trail.  So relax after this bridge, and just keep going.  It's all uphill and on the side of the mountain and the aspens and pine and the view are beautiful.

Take a good look at Mark because he is finally wearing the new hiking pants that have been sitting in his  closet for over a month, and that might be the last time you see that backpack.  It's his birthday soon and I think it is time to retire his trusty backpack.  

It was about this time, or even before, that I realized it was a good thing we didn't do this hike a couple of weeks ago.  We would have been carrying both little girls.  And we would have been hungry.  The fruit snacks wouldn't have lasted long.

I was wondering if we were headed in the right direction because I knew we had to cross a bridge and since there wasn't any water why would there be a bridge?and how could there be a waterfall:  We were on the side of a mountain and little cottonwood creek was down at the bottom and I saw no sign of water.  But we saw this sign and followed it.

and then this one.

and then we saw the second bridge and water running underneath it.

here is a view upstream from the bridge.

and this is the sharp left after the bridge.

This part of the trail is lots of roots and soft dirt through the pine trees.

Then we arrived at Gloria Falls!  glorious!

We sat on a log to eat the picnic we brought.  There were other groups of people there and a nice hiker offered to take our picture so we could all be in it.

It was only 2.3 miles according to the website and look at and the reward at the end!  There was a family with a child 4 or 5 years old and it is family friendly if the kids are old enough to hike uphill for a mile.  

August 8, 2020 Lisa Falls

 Gloria Falls   Lisa Falls

hikers:  Annie, Landon, Lydia, Lecia, Madelynn, Marisa, Mark, Rees, Sterling

We were having a little family get together and wanted a hike we could all do. We read about Gloria Falls and thought a hike that was just one mile, two miles round trip, was do-able.  We went up little cottonwood canyon and parked thinking we would walk to the trail head.  It was a lovely walk through the woods but before we even got to the trail head we decided that was enough hike.  

So we finished that little walk among the trees between the parking lot and the trail head and then we stopped at the Lisa Falls trail head on the way down the canyon.  Lisa Falls is always a good place to go and easy to get to, whether there is a lot of water or just a trickle. This time it was more of a trickle.  Annie had never been there so we got to introduce her to Lisa Falls. And since it is only .3 miles we were all ready to hike it, or be carried.  

July 24,2020

Julie Andrews Meadow

hikers:  Landon, Annie, Mark, Lecia

This is a hike I have wanted to do for a while. Pioneer day worked well for us to do it and Landon and Annie were able to go with us.  The hike started at the Timpooneke parking lot up American Fork Canyon.  The parking lot was completely full and we had to drive up the road to find parking.  The ranger told us we could park along the road as long as all four tires were off the paved road.  We found a spot and I am sure it added a couple of miles to the hike.  After walking back to the parking lot we followed the directions and maps we had. This is not a "find the trailhead and follow the path" type hike.  You go on well used trails but you have to find the trails and know which forks to take.  I found some directions online for this hike.  It is not on alltrails except for the map of a trail run which wasn't helpful.  Use these websites to get directions:  http://www.girlonahike.com/2016/07/julie-andrews-meadow.html     https://www.hikinginutah.com/meadow-hike.htm   

Even with the directions and maps we had, we found ourselves wandering a bit through the campground and wondering where the trail was but we soon found ourselves at this fork and headed to the right and were on the trail!  

Timpanooke. Do you know how many spellings there are?  I am sticking with Timpooneke because it is on the trail markers. The trails are well marked, but you need to know which trail to take to the Julie Andrews Meadow.  

We went left at this one because we had directions.  There is no sign that says Julie Andrews Meadow, turn left here!


The trail is steep but you are hiking through the forest and its beautiful.  Soon you are on a ridge line and there are views on both sides.

It's all up hill and then you come to the meadow.  The meadow is pretty and you could twirl around and sing "the hills are alive"  but we didn't.  The views from the meadow are spectacular.  Mountains and vistas.  We gazed up at a peak and saw somethings moving.  We watched them decided they must be mountain goats.  What else could they be?  There were white and reflective and then they were gone!  

From the Julie Andrews Meadow the Christ Flat Trail continues on to I don't know where.

Notes on the hike: 

Look at directions beforehand so you can find the trailhead and know which forks to take. 
It was a good hike!  
Once you get past the campground it was all up hill and steep (not for little kids) but it wasn't too far and it was beautiful and there was shade on lots of the trail.  
Coming back we didn't go through the campground we went around it on the Timpooneke Chris Flat Trail and ended up at the trailhead for timp.  That would have been a good way to begin the trail also.
The most amazing thing was we didn't see another soul on our hike.  Not a one.  There were people in the campground but once on the trail it was just us even though the parking lot was overflowing.  All those people were hiking Timp!

 This is the Timpanogos trailhead where we ended the hike.  You go straight ahead to go to timp, there is a trail on the far left, that you can't see, to salamander flat, and to go to the Julie Andrews meadow you go right. 

Shortly after that you come to this trail marker.  If you go left it goes around the campground and will continue on to the Julie Andrews meadow.  

July 3, 2020

Dog Lake (the small one),

Lakes Mary, Martha, Catherine

Twin Lakes 

in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Hikers: Mom and Dad

We thought the 3rd of July would be less crowded than the 4th, which is probably true, but there were still a lot of people out hiking.  We combined 2 trails we have hiked before into one hike.
It was about 7 miles with 1800 feet elevation gain.
 All trails calls this the Brighton lakes loop and rates it as difficult.  I did it so it wasn't extremely difficult but it is long, so  you can just to a section of it, you don't have to do the whole thing. That is what we have done in the past.

We started here at Brighton to hike to Lakes Mary, Martha, and Catherine.  

This is the other side of the beginning of the trail head, looking back at the parking lot.  Lots of cars but plenty of room for parking.  The parking lot at Silver Lake was full but we had already planned on starting at Brighton so that was ok.

It's always nice to see a sign so you know you are on the right trail.

This is a ski run and you go under the lift.

 Something about these rocks on the trail.  It's probably the memories of my boys climbing on them and the photos we've taken here.  They are larger than they look in the photo. 
The trail turns in this area and from here on it is rocky.

Today we decided to take a detour to Dog Lake.  We've never been to Dog Lake  before but it was a nice side trip.

Dog Lake is a small lake/pond.  There is another Dog Lake in the canyon, which we have not hiked to.  Remember that ridge you see on the picture on the right.

 After the little jaunt to Dog Lake we got back on the trail to Lake Mary and shortly before the lake there is a little spillway. 

Our kids always joke that no matter where we go, dad runs into someone he knows.  Only it is not a joke, it is often a true fact.  Even hiking today, Mark ran into a former coworker and had a short reunion.  We ran into him and his group several times on the trail!
I took a picture after our run in just to remind us of this chance meeting.

Lake Mary.

There are a lot of little trails along the edge of the lake and you just have to make sure you are on the right one to continue on to lake Martha.   If doing this hike with younger children this would be an excellent destination. 

 Lake Martha is right next to Mary.  We continued on to go to Lake Catherine.  This trail also goes to Sunset Peak, which is where Mark's friend was going, and Albion Basin in Little 
Cottonwood Canyon.

There were several patches of snow, but none so large we lost the trail.

You keep going up until you are quite a bit higher than the lakes you passed (remember the ridge you could see in the photo of dog lake), and you have some beautiful views of those lakes.  


Eventually you come to this fork in the trail. I have no idea how far or how long but the sign we saw earlier said Lake Catherine was 1 mile beyond Lake Mary, so I guess we had almost come a mile since Lake Mary.  The sign on the right says trail and points right, to the trail that continues on to Sunset Peak and Albion Basin.  I'm not sure what the sign on the left says but it doesn't say Lake Catherine,  I don't know how you are just supposed to know that, but that is where it leads.  Luckily we took the trail on the left.  

 Lake Catherine

We walked around the lake and came to some people fishing and this snow on the far side. For Mark it was reminiscent of a hike up Timp in the snow at this same time a few years ago.  But much,much less snow here.  

We hiked and Mark reminisced about the times he camped here with the scouts and the hike he took with Daniel and Seth when they were small.  Oh, good memories.  Plus he did a couple of polos which really says something because he rarely does polos.

On the way down we passed over these cool roots again, which are really like stairs, you just can't see the angle in this photo.  We continued down the path we went up on until we passed Martha, and came to Lake Mary.  At this point you would usually head back down the trail to Brighton but we wanted to go over to twin lakes.

We have hiked to Twin Lakes before, starting at Silver Lake and going up to Twin Lakes and then to Lake Mary.  This time we went in reverse from how we have done it in the past.  At Lake Mary we went past the dam, you can't go across the dam, you have to go down and then back up.  We came to this building which we usually approach from the other direction.  

Shortly after that we were at the end of Lake Mary and continued on that trail and took the right fork that goes away from the lake.  It goes through some wooded areas, some rocky areas and was beautiful.  It was not as busy as the trail we hike on earlier.  There is some uphill before getting to twin lakes but eventually we arrived.   

Twin Lakes

 Here's the view where you don't see the other people that were there.  It's called Twin Lakes but it is just one lake.

This is actually a reservoir and here is the dam.  
Other than photos at Twin Lakes I didn't take any pictures of this section of our hike.

The trail goes from the dam down to Silver Lake.  It is quite a steep trail but today we were going down this part instead of up! 
You get to the bottom and turn right to go to Silver Lake.

 Here is the trail head to go to Twin Lakes, which is how we have done it in the past.  Or you can go to Lake Solitude from here.  

We continued on around Silver Lake and at the parking lot we walked back up the road to Brighton and there was the car, waiting for us in a less busy parking lot than when we started.  

Friday, May 29, 2020

Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge

hikers: Mark, Lecia, Daniel, Rose

You can tell we really like this hike!  It's close, easy, fun, and a rewarding destination and view.  Since Daniel was here we wanted to do a short hike and chose this one.  
This time we were here mid morning, and there were lots of cars in the parking lots but it wasn't as fully packed as the evenings we have been here.

Ready to go!  Rosie was awake at this point and ready to hike!

Yup.  Both signs are true.

On the bridge

Looking down.

This was adorable Rosie for most of the hike.  I think she liked it!

We ran into this guy on the way down.  I don't think he is a rattler, 

although later I saw on a website there have been quite a few rattlesnake sightings. 

May 4, 2020

Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge

Hikers:  Dad, Mom, Ethan


For F.U.N (Family Unity Night, another acronym for FHE) Ethan and I took Mark on the hike to the suspension bridge since he missed it last time when we went for Annie's graduation.  We did the loop the opposite direction this time.  We did the switchbacks up to the aquaduct trail and continuing on to the Bonneville Shoreline trail and after crossing the bridge going down Ralph's trail.