An Abridged Backpacking Trip

I was still sulking from our missed adventure in Wyoming, when I thought that we can just go into our local mountains and have our own mini adventure. So Friday afternoon, I raced home and we packed up in about 2 hours. We had to pack a little bit “lighter” considering we could only take one pack, since the other one would be carrying Anna. Along with the bare essential sleeping gear, we took oatmeal, granola bars, and the water filter. I even sacrificed a change of clothes so I could fit my small camp pillow. We all have our priorities. The only things we brought for Anna was a fleece-bunting-sleeper, some pre-packaged baby food, graham crackers, diapers, and sunscreen. Here we go! In the end, Anna and her gear weighed as much as the Bora80 loaded down! It kept us from arguing who would carry the heavier pack.

We got to Crystal Lake Trailhead (below Mirror Lake) around 5PM. Our destination was Island Lake, about 3.5 miles away. Bevan carried his fishing pole IN HAND the whole way and threw it in every chance he could. There was nothing! Every lake was as calm as glass and the fish (if there WERE any) weren’t biting. He was so disappointed. At least the bugs weren’t bad. We arrived at Island Lake and set up camp out of view from the water. By this time, we learned that Anna sees water and runs straight for it! Luckily our campsite had plenty of dirt to play in and rocks to suck on. She was worn out and slept through the night.

Saturday morning brought the bluest skies ever! We decided to bushwhack over to another lake on our way out. By the (non-topographic) map, it should’ve only taken us 15 minutes. 2 HOURS LATER, we arrived at the lake. The silly lake was at the bottom of a cliff. Like I said, a topographic map would’ve been handy. Anna appreciated the nap, although the ride was a little bumpy. Won’t do that again! We found the trail and stopped at the rest of the small lakes on our way out. The only fish that Bevan caught was in the LAST lake on the loop. By this time, afternoon thunder clouds had welled up and it was starting to rain. We booked it back to the car, completely exhausted. It wasn’t the Wind River Range, but it made a few more amazing memories.



By the time the clouds rolled in, Bevan wished he had brought worms.

Pioneer Day in the Mountains

As last week was starting out, we were mucho depressed about not going backpacking in Wyoming with my sister, Vanessa.  We just got so busy at work, so alas we stayed home and went about our normal routine. Luckily, Pioneer Day broke it up a little. Though it is not as thoroughly celebrated in the “non-pioneer-spirited” communities up here, my boss graciously let me have it off. Right on!
Bevan and I signed up for a race in Charleston that morning. Bevan placed 2^nd AGAIN, and I actually had a decent time, considering I haven’t ran in about a month and I was pushing Anna in the jogger. I was feeling pretty good about myself and celebrated with chocolate chip pancakes, which Anna LOVED! The only sad part of the morning was that I didn’t take any pictures. Bah!

Later on that afternoon, we decided to go to Deer Valley and take the lift to the top of Bald Mountain and hike down. Why not?! We still have our season passes from the winter, which are actually still valid. We called Beverly and Lloyd and they seemed pretty happy to join us. Bevan was able to show off Anna to all his buddies and it was interesting to see the resort so green! There were mountain bikers everywhere, but they have to stay on separate trails, thankfully. You should see these guys! And they say skiing is dangerous??? Snow is softer than ROCK! The view from the top was beautiful and once again it was interesting NOT to see the ski runs covered in snow. I still can’t get over it! We hiked down in about 45 minutes, which seemed anti-climactic. You’d think it would be this long, grueling trek from the TOP of BALD MOUNTAIN, but it’s really only 2 miles. Oh well. It was long enough for my stiff legs.

We feasted at Red Banjo Pizza on Main Street and drove home. If we couldn’t go backpacking in the Wind River Range, this was starting to make up for it. We were on a roll, and I was starting to get a good idea for the weekend…

I was getting strange looks...

No wonder.  I was driving around ALL DAY with this poor bird in my grill.  I remember it flying in front of me that morning, but never followed up to see what happened to it. 

A Race and a Rock

Bevan never can turn down a good race, especially when it's back in his hometown.  We woke up extra early Saturday morning to get to the AF Steel Days 5K on time.  The best part of watching a 5K is that the racers are back in no time, especially Bevan!  He had an exceptional time, and placed 2nd is his division, again.  Later on that day, we took Bevan's nephews to Slide Rock.  6 years running!  There was hardly anyone there (for a Saturday?) and the boys made a contest of the number of times down the rock.  I think it was 24 times.  I was mostly on camera duty, so I didn't make it down nearly that many times.  Anna stayed back at Grandma and Grandpa's for a nice long nap. 

The rest of the day was spent with some leisurely games of croquet, a fantastic barbecue, and Lloyd's own homemade root beer! American Fork has some pretty spectacular fireworks, seriously! For a city, they do a great job! The hardest part of the day was the drive home, especially since we were all so tired! Best Steel Days ever!

Family Reunion Double-Header

I love "reunion season"!  It started early this year with the Allen Family reunion being a couple weeks sooner than usual, which sadly coincided with the annual Hawkins reunion, at the EXACT same time.  Bah!  We tried to do both, but arrived fashionably late to mingle with Bevan's side of the family.  Of course there were plenty of snow cones left over.

Camp was a success!

Now that the dust has settled, I can start reminiscing about girls camp.  They called me about 7 months ago to be in charge of the whole shebang.  I had no idea what I was doing and claimed that the girls would probably not like the way I camped anyway.  Our bishop said that they wanted something rugged this year, like a rafting/ rappelling/ hiking trip.  OK.  How about Moab... rugged enough?!  Great!  100 degrees every day?  Perfect!  I'm glad I had 7 months to plan because that's what it took.  It probably wasn't the most spiritual girls camp ever, but that might have been because we were in (as Wendy calls it) "survival mode".  Ya know, anti-dehydration, anti-sunburn, etc.  Some of the girls have never seen a real vault toilet so they had cause for panic immediately!  All in all, it went off great.  Our campsite was on the Colorado River and the water was actually kind of warm!  Shocker for THAT river.  Sure the cfs flow rate was a fraction of what it should be this time of year, but we shortened our rafting distances (a couple times) to make up for the slow current and the up-stream wind.  Here's a few more of my favorite memories:

We did a service project up the Fisher Towers Trail head rock-lining the trail and stacking cairns.  The girls made various parallels to life and following our paths.  We saw a climber on the Titan in his TENT, just dangling there, and the girls thought that was so cool! and crazy!
   
Most of the time while rafting, the current was slow enough that we could all jump in the river and float ourselves.  Nothing in the world is as relaxing as floating without the fear of drowning (for those of us who aren't great swimmers).  I spent almost the entire 2nd day in the river.  It was glorious!

We had some amazing food!  The Mawhinney's really went the extra mile to hook us up with some gourmet meals.  I'm glad we didn't have to resort to bagels and backpacking food pouches.  It was a challenge keeping all those meats and dairy products cold, but totally worth it, especially when we feasted on dutch oven potatoes and cobbler. Yumm!

The best time of day to do, well, anything was after the sun went down.  This made for some compressed activities like games and rappelling that went on long after it got dark.  Needless to say, every night in camp, we didn't get to bed until after midnight.

Our final day, we went into Moab and hiked up to the Power House Lane swimming hole.  It was the climax of the entire trip.  The girls were so happy jumping off the cliff into the water!  One girl was too scared to jump and, after 15 minutes of waiting, finally had to be pushed.  I'm sure they could parallel that into something spiritual.

I'm so glad that Bevan came with us!  He was so helpful around camp and on the river, as well as my emotional support.  The girls really looked up to him.

Kudos to Lizzette and Theral!  They really came through for me and SAVED girls camp.  Not only did they donate their own 2 rafts, but brought 2 more rented rafts, and 35 life jackets, and 35 paddles!  One leader remarked that they would have to be really GREAT friends to do all that for us.  And they are!

This was the scene most of the time on the river.  Notice Lizzette having to pull our raft downstream.  

I can't believe it's all over.  I don't know what's going to consume my life from now on.  I guess I could finish landscaping our yard, or finish painting the bathrooms, or finish our front porch, but then I'll always still be dreaming of red rock and dead tamerisk trees.

We went to Jackson!

Who wouldn't want to ditch real life and take off to the mountains?!  Well, that's what we did!  Alright, it was several weeks ago, but that's how long it takes to update these days!  Beverly and Lloyd offered us a trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone in their fancy new 5th-wheel trailer.  Absolutely!  It was a quick trip, but well worth it.  We saw every animal possible: deer, elk, moose, bear, wolf, marmot, and bison!  We saw more animals in 2 days than the whole summer I worked there.  Yellowstone was very enjoyable without the crowds, even if it was a little cooler.  We had to pass swimming in the Firehole River, but oh well.  We were able to do the whole loop in one day and came back to Colter Bay completely exhausted!  That's the nice thing about sleeping on a real bed:  real rest!

The next day we did a spin about the Teton park.  We hiked out to Hidden Falls via the "upper trail" which was a lot more up and down, but quieter.  We had a fancy steak dinner back at the trailer and went over to Jackson Lake Lodge for some reminiscing.  The servers in the Mural Room still wear those white shirts with the black collars that were WAY too tight!  Just looking at them made my throat hurt.  I didn't recognize any fellow servers (it has been a couple years) so we went outside for a stroll up Lunch Tree Hill.  Anna loved playing in the dirt (obviously because she's been doing it the WHOLE trip!) and Lloyd and Bevan busiest themselves scanning Willow Flats for animals.  They weren't disappointed.  A couple moose were running around being chased by some elk.  Funny animals.  We walked back down and headed back to Colter Bay.  We finished the evening by watching a movie because WE COULD!  Did I mention how nice sleeping in a trailer was? 

On Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Jackson for some souvenirs.  Anna slept the rest of the way home, except for the last 45 minutes, which were awful.  Car seats are really confining I guess. 

I love Jackson!  I can't wait to go back and I'm thankful it's so close.  Bevan and I started a lot of memories there the summer after we started dating.  Hopefully these pictures do it justice.