Summer Hike - Bell Canyon

 

The trailhead to Bell Canyon was easy to find. Take 106th S. exit east to Wasatch Blvd, turn south and it's on the E. side of the street.

 

The hike starts at a gated community and skirts around the outside then up into the mountains. It was pretty steep. Hash was tired before we got too far into the hike. But he's a trooper.

 

This is the first bridge and a great place to take a break.

 

Just a little further on was a beautiful lake. I think this was 3/4 to a mile into the hike. It was breath-taking.

 

But our goal was to reach the first waterfall. So we continued on. Some of the trail looked like a forest wonderland.

Other parts of the trail looked like a mountain desert.

The variety was beautiful.

 

After a total of 1 1/2 hours of hiking (we started at 9 am), we hit the second bridge. Other hikers told us we were halfway to the waterfall.

It was hot, we were running low on water and some of us were pretty tired, so we decided to make bridge and the river our new destination.

We played in the river and then headed back to the car.

This was a great hike and I would have loved to make it to the waterfall.

Next time: start earlier (we started at 9am), bring more water, maybe with just the older kids.

 

But please note, getting to the lake was not very hard and it was definitely worth it. It is a beautiful lake. Hike to it, walk around it, feed the ducks, take a few pictures. Totally worth it.

Apricot Festival - BBQ

 

I'm not really sure how you beat Heber Valley Camp.

Homemade Ice Cream is pretty close, maybe even better.

 

Cousins, still together, still smiling, still having fun. I love the way they include all age groups. No one gets left out.

 

 

Ster manned the grill.

 

And the traditional picture at the street sign, "Apricot Place."

With our bellies full, we headed downstairs where Court quizzed us on the middle names of the LDS First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles. I did not do well.

Then we had a family meeting. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone. What a fantastic family. How lucky are we to know that families are forever. A blessing to be sure.

 

2013

2012 with other year links

Apricot Festival - Challenge Course

 

July is Apricot Festival time.

More precisely, Homemade Apricot Ice Cream Festival

aka Brown Reunion

or any and every excuse to make and eat homemade ice cream.

 

Take your pick.

 

This festival has evolved over time. I do believe this is the 9th year. The last few years, we've included a physical activity on the morning of the dinner. Last year we hiked Timpanogos. The year before the menfolk biked 100 miles around Utah Lake. This year, we stepped it up a notch and spent the night at Heber Valley Camp. It's an amazing camp. Soon after we unloaded, we went to the Challenge Course. It was amazing!

 

Cousins were excited to be together.

 

 

Siblings were happy to be together too.

 

Parker is excited to climb the pole on the ropes course.

 

Sydney too.

 

The first step was to climb the pole.

 

The next step was the walk across a log.

 

Finishing it off was the zipline down!

 

Even Grandpa got into the action. Quite impressive!

This is me doing a little Spiderman action!

 

Bryce was in tears in the beginning, watching others do it. Finally he worked up his courage to climb half way up the pole and then swing in the harness. Proud of that little dude.

 

And then my camera died. Disappointed is an understatement. I'm hoping to gather pictures from others. After the high ropes course, we did a few team-building, faith building ropes courses as a family. It was awesome to be in that setting and talk about faith and testimony as a family.

 

Another great part was getting to know Anne's husband and her cute little boy. Also Trish and her boyfriend. Great great guys! Also reconnecting with Owen and hearing about his mission to the Ukraine. I love our extended family. A lot!

 

We had a delicious build-your-own dinner and sugar-cone dessert, then went on a short hike. The next morning we went on a sunrise hike, followed by pancakes and sausage and then we were off to the lake for some time in the canoes. Ster and I loaded our canoe with Rach and Hash. The cousins had fun chasing, playing tag and splashing each other. Soon after lunch we went home to prepare for the dinner and ice cream. 

Summer Snapshots - July

Summer has been cruising by. We've been having a lot of random. Some well documented on the blog. And other snapshots of random fun.

 

Parker has been mowing our lawn and every once in a while he gets a little help.

Sar and I stole Mom from the mission office and went to lunch with Mom (and Dad) for her birthday. 

We've been enjoying Thanksgiving Point, especially the new Museum of Curiousity.

We've also been swimming a lot. I really enjoyed seeing these two sitting in the shade together and shooting the breeze while they enjoy pretzels.

Summer Hike - Wind Cave

Continuing our Summer Hike series

 

While we were in Logan, we went on the Wind Cave hike. I remember doing this about 25 years ago. Yes, that makes me old. Let's not dwell on it. I remember loving it and I remember worrying about my brothers falling out of the cave. So I was a little trepidatious about going on the hike with my own darlings. But we pressed ahead.

 

The trail head is about 5 miles up Logan Canyon and the parking is right off the road, across from Guinavah-Malibu Campground. The trail climbs about 1,000 feet, 1.8 miles one way.

 

 

I'd read that the hike can be pretty hot because it's on the south side of the mountain, so we started at 7:30am.

I know, I know. The sign says the trail is the other way. It's just that the kids saw something cool.

Then there was the time when this conversation happened.

Child: How do we get to the caves?

Me: We go along the ridge and cliffs.

Child: How do we do that without dying?

Me: Follow the path.

We made it to the cave at 8:45am. We made pretty good time, if I do say so myself. You enter the cave from the back. The front is a pretty severe drop off. We stayed way back. We weren't even tempted, not even the bravest of us.

There is this section when the rocks form a bridge. The kids walked over it and I may or may not have almost had a heart attack. The assured me that Dad would have let them do it. I put my foot down with Hash with a big, fat HECK NO!

This was his reaction, poor little guy. We headed back at 9:05.

 

We made it back to the car by 10:05 and had the rest of the day ahead of us.

 

I have to tell you, this is probably one of my favorite hikes. I highly, highly recommend it to hikers. If you live in Utah and like to hike, you really should go on this hike.

 

Do you see the cave?