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. 

.  

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!

June 1 - Park City

We spent the night in Park City and in the morning Landon and Jacob went on a trail run.  They went far and fast on the spiro trail.  Mark and I walked up the road from our condo and hiked up Sweeney's Switchbacks.  

It is a gradual uphill with lots of switchbacks as titled. You go under a ski lift several times and pass by the old lift towers.

It was a pleasant hike in the pines with lots of views of Park City since you are definitely up on the mountain. There were a lot of pretty wildflowers.   I'm not sure how far we went but we didn't go to the end of the trail.

2 hikes at Capitol Reef

November 23, day after Thanksgiving
Hickman Bridge and Grand Wash
hikers: Mom, Dad, Landon, Jacob


We decided to head out on a day trip to Capitol Reef National Park.  Mom has been wanting to go here for a long time and we finally made it.  

Hickman Bridge

Hickman Bridge was a fun hike.  The trail was fun and the reward at the end was a beautiful Natural bridge that you walk under.  The information listed it as a moderate hike.  It really wasn't hard but it was nearly two miles there and back and 400 ft elevation gain. The trail is down and back with a little loop at the end. The trailhead is along highway 24 so you don't go into the park to do this hike.  You don't have to pay to go into the park for this hike.  

Spotted this in the parking lot at Grand Wash 

and had to get several photos because it was impressive.

Grand Wash

Grand Wash was our second hike.  Jacob didn't go on this hike and we started at the trailhead in the park.  There is also a trailhead on highway 24, a little east of the Hickman bridge trailhead. Super easy hike because its flat. That would make it good for small kids. You're walking in a dry stream bed. The trail is just over 2 miles, down and back.  We didn't go all the way.  Almost but not quite.  The part we saw had lots of echos, interesting rock, and was pretty but it meant we didn't have time for the Capitol Gorge trail and I'm left wondering if that was more spectacular.  

November 10, 2018

Big Springs Hollow Trail, South Fork

hikers:  Mom, Dad, Landon

 This was the big springs hollow trail that starts at

 Big Springs Park up South Fork. 

Jacob didn't want to hike so he waited in the car.  

The trail is out an back and a total of 4 miles but we didn't go that far.

 I thought this was pretty cool.

It was an easy trail and even though the 

leaves are long gone, the canyon was beautiful.

It was a perfect day for hiking but it must have been 

mighty cold last night and some ice remained in the creek.

Excellent trail for an easy hike and I think it would be great for snowshoeing in the winter.  We definitely need to go back to this place.

September 29, 2108 Little Cottonwood Trail

Hikers:  Mark and Lecia
place:  Little Cottonwood Trail

This was a good Saturday Hike for a fall day.

We started at the Temple Quarry parking lot at the mouth of the canyon and followed little cottonwood trail for a few miles.  It's an easy trail and follows the creek.  Even though you are going up the canyon it's gradual and not a difficult hike.  Lots of bikes!

We did this trail years ago and never made it very far.  We   So today Mark and I went as far as we wanted and were rewarded with this view, which we didn't know existed.  This was a good time of year to see it because the water is low and you can cross the creek to get to it.

Apparently, it is the ruins of an old power plant.  
(You can also get here by parking at the lisa falls trailhead, but you would miss a pleasant hike.)

We were also rewarded with the fall beauty of the canyon!  

September 15, 2018 Logan Canyon

Mark and I were in Logan to watch Landon run the Top of Utah Marathon.  He ran an awesome race!  We don't get to Logan very often anymore so we took advantage of it and after the race we went a few places including the Logan temple, the USU creamery and then we drove up Logan Canyon to the 2nd dam parking lot and took a little hike. 

We haven't been here since Seth and Marisa graduated from USU and moved from Logan. 
It was fun to be back there in the beautiful fall weather.  After crossing the river we went left and just headed up the trail for a while.

The trail kept going but we finally turned around, not knowing where we would have ended up.  There is always the idea that we'll come back and do it again, all the way to the end.  But there are a lot of other trails to hike in Logan Canyon next time we are there.