Back to Civilization

We woke up Thursday and cleaned up camp and started hiking out. Of course it rained the night before so our stuff was drenched. We had to hang out a little longer and let it dry out. As soon as it was dry we headed towards the cars. I had woken up at 2am starving. of course there was no food in my tent.....bear area. I obviously wasn't going to go to my pack in the dark and try to let it down for a snack so I just was hungry all night. The whole point of this story is that I was ravenous all day. I think all the hiking had caught up with me and I was starving. I couldn't wait to get to civilization and eat some real food.

The trail was in the shade most of the way out, which was soooo nice.

 Six miles to the car. Look at my sweet pack!

 Looking back towards the mountains we camped by and climbed.

 When I saw this trail sign I knew I was getting pretty close.

 Then I saw the cars . . . .

To say I was happy is an understatement. We hiked the six miles in just over two and a laf hours. We were cruising.

Back in the car. We are stinky and sweaty but so happy to have AC and the hope of a real meal.

 We found a burger in Pinedale. It was GREAT!!!!

This was an amazing trip. As happy as I am to get back to reality it was a really fun/cool/beautiful place to explore.

I was starving again by the time I got back to Provo.

Cirque of the Towers and a little more!

The real reason I came on this backpacking trip was to see the Cirque of the Towers. I had seen awesome pictures from other people and wanted to see it for myself. I was not disappointed. And pictures probably don't do it justice. The Cirque is gorgeous.

We woke up and ate breakfast. This was a day hike and so we were able to leave our heavy packs behind and hike really light. That was soooooooo nice. The terrain was uphill for three miles so it was great to just have a day pack. And not just a little uphill we were hiking the steep stuff and at a high elevation. It was a good workout just as a day hike. We left camp and headed towards Jackass Pass.

We gained lots of elevation right out of camp and then walked through a beautiful meadow towards another pass.

 Our first views of the first lake we were going to pass. This is looking down on North Lake

 This is looking back at North Lake.

After we passed North Lake we started to climb again. Saying goodbye to North Lake.

The views were amazing and we got to watch as the Cirque got closer and closer.

I think at this point we thought we had gone over the pass.............we were wrong. We climbed down to arrowhead lake and then back up to go over Jackass Pass. It was a long steep climb. I was grateful I didn't have a full pack.

 The view from the pass looking down on Lonesome Lake.

Then we headed down to the lake, knowing we would get to climb back out later in the day:) 

Lonesome Lake is very big and a popular place for backpackers to stay. This area of the Windriver range also has a lot of rock climbing so we saw lots of people hiking with all their climbing gear.

Getting closer to the lake.

 Views from down by the lake.

We hiked a little further towards Lizard meadows. Not sure if we made it. When my apple watch dinged 5 miles we stopped and had lunch next to the river. After lunch we headed back to camp. We lost the trail a few times on the way back and so we took a little different route back to camp. The trail was more rugged this way. There are not a lot of signs in this area of the Windriver range and so even with a map it was easy to get off course. Luckily we knew the general direction. We made it safely back to camp in time for a nap.

I had an awesome hour and a half nap. It was still pretty early in the day and so we decided to hike to clear lake so we weren't bored all evening. The hike to clear lake is like hiking up squaw peak. Once you started to go uphill you went straight uphill. It was a calf burner for sure.It was only 1.5 miles from camp.

The meadow next to the lake was very brown. That was really suprising.

 The lake was beautiful. Lots of people were camping close by.

 I was pushing to go further and check out Blue Lake as well but Amber reigned me in. It was dinner time so we needed to head back to camp. The views on the way back were amazing.

This ended up being a great hiking day. We saw so much beauty and enjoyed cooler mountain temperatures. It was so nice. We headed back to camp to bathe in the freezing lake and have dinner.

The problem with backpacking is you usually can't have fires so once it is dark you are stuck in your tent. It really is a bummer. So then I end up with tent selfies.

It was rather chilly in the evenings. We were sleeping at around 10,000 feet so I bundled up at night. I should have slept great because we had hiked all day and physically I was exhausted. But you know every little sound is a bear coming to attack you so I never sleep great. Oh well!

Big Sandy Lake

Awhile ago I learned from one of my students mom about a backpacking trip in Wyoming called Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range. I put it on my list of things to do but hadn't gotten to it yet. Finally this summer I did. Can we say AMAZING!!!!! It was an awesome little trip and one I would highly recommend for people of all ages and abilities.

The trailhead is 5-6 hours from Provo. You drive out of Pinedale Wyoming. The trail is well traveled and in great condition. It is super easy to get to the first lake. There are tons of hiking options once you get to Big Sandy Lake, which is 6 miles in. We met people doing day hikes, people staying in the area for two weeks, and people backpacking the continental divide. Lots of different skill, ages, and body types. Really an area that pretty much anyone could enjoy.

Amber and I hiked in to Big Sandy and choose to leave camp there and then do day hikes and explore the area. This was a great option. I haven't been backpacking for three years so it was a good re-introduction to carrying all my own CRAP!

I wanted a picture that showed all my patches on my bag. My Aunt Nancy graciously sewed them on for me. They look so good. I love them! Yes my bag is as heavy as it looks.

  The start of the hike. My shoulders were already hurting.

It was a very hot afternoon. We were grateful the trail was pretty flat. We went slightly uphill for 6 miles. Very doable.

 And we were next to a river the entire time.

Even though it was an easy hike we were happy when we saw the lake. Our shoulders were feeling the pain.

Big Sandy Lake was actually very large.

We had to find a place to camp and set up for the night.

 I was pretty excited to have my pack off.

 It is a beautiful valley.

Once we were all set up it was dinner time. We were surrounded by beauty.

 After we ate and brushed our teeth it was time to hang our packs. I was a little nervouse about this because I have never hung my own pack before. That sounds ridiculous but it was also the truth. I have always backpacked with boys who can do it. I can report that Amber and I hung our packs with no trouble. It was awesome. I was very excited!

It was a great first day of our trip!

Moki

There has been a little Moki drama this summer. She hurt her toe in May. AND IT HASN'T GOTTEN BETTER!!!!!!!!! It has been the worst thing. It was injured but not restricting her activity. She would not leave it alone. She licked and licked until the wound opened up. Meanwhile it is summer so we are hiking and swimming like crazy. She ended up with a very infected toe. After two rounds of antiobiotics the last option was amputation. I know it sounds awful! And it was at first. She is now on the mend and doing great, but she has been injured for all of summer. It has been hard on both of us. I was bummed I couldn't take her on a couple of trips I wanted too. We missed out on lots of hiking. But she has another week of rest and then she should be good to go. Her foot does look weird, but no activity is restricted so that is good news. She will be happy in a week when she is cleared for activity.

My Moms Siblings

On the last night my mom was in town Loralie hosted a get together for all her siblings. They could just drop in and say hi. It was so fun to visit with everyone. I am glad they made time to do this.

My uncle Steve arrived after we took the picture. These are most of her Utah siblings. My mom is from a family of 11 kids. 9 of the 11 are still living and seven of them live in Utah. It is so fun to listen to them when they all get together. They really are good, fun people!

Family Fun Continues

Saturday morning Ben and Katie as well as Aaron and Jacklyn left town. I had agreed to keep Olivia and Braxton for an additional week. I had asked Dan to keep the kids on Friday night so that I had Saturday to get my house in order. My mom was also going to come stay at my house for the next week. It was fun having the kids. Sam still was off of work and so his family joined us everyday and we spent a lot of time playing. We swam tons and squeezed in a few other activities.

I have 1pm church and Olivia and Braxton wake up so early. So we headed to Bridal Veil Falls and walked on the river trail for a few miles Sunday morning before church. They only whined a little.

 This most will not be in the order of the things we did. That is too complicated to remember. One evening I took Olivia and Braxton out to the farm where my friend and co-worker, Hannah, keeps her horse. Olivia loves horses and was so excited to meet Curly. She really was in heaven.

Hannah taught her how to walk Curly.

Olivia was so HAPPY!

 Braxton was a fan of the goats.

 Both kids got to help brush out Curly.

 It was a fun evening activity. The farm had horses, cows, goats, pigs, chickens and probably some things I am forgetting. The kids had a great time. Olivia even put on her horse shirt right before we left to go to the farm!

 One afternoon we met up with Sam's crew and did the Paleontology and Bean museum at BYU. These were both great places to spend a hot day. The kids had a great time.

 Olivia is obsessed with fossils right now so she was in her element.

 This picture was our last time swimming at the rec center. The kids loved the Provo Rec Center. We swam there three or four times the week they were with me. It is a great way to stay cool and use up energy. So fun!

 We celebrated Emerson's birthday a few days early so we could have a party with all the cousins. Emerson loves PJ masks so that was the theme.

 I think all the kids had fun.

 Some pictures of Audrey from the park. Love this cutie!!!!

The week with Olivia and Braxton was busy. I didn't take a ton of pictures but we did a really cool splash pad, we did the slip n slide, we did the nicklecade. We really stayed pretty busy the entire week. It was a lot of fun. I got sick towards the end of the week which was a bummer.  had an awful sore throat. It made me a lot less patient, which is never good. It was fun to have the kids in Utah and get to play with them!