A Colorful Hike

 The other day Jenny and I loaded up a bunch of kids and headed up to the Summit trailhead to do a short hike. Here's Isaac at the trailhead, ready to go.

 The main goal of the trip was to enjoy some of the fall colors. We've had a beautiful fall, with lots of warm days and cool nights.

 We had the kids pose at the beginning of the hike. They were all in fairly good humor except for Desert Girl, who was not at all happy. Especially when I made her walk.

 The "big" kids took turns being the tour guide and finding interesting things to show us.

 Hiking with kids always makes you see things in a different way. They showed us things I certainly wouldn't have seen without them.

 After awhile Desert Girl stopped scaring the wildlife with her crying and started enjoying being outside.

 The aspens provided a wonderful foreground for the mountain scenery. The kids didn't seem at all impressed with the scenery. They loved the fallen tree obstacles, though.

 Pinecones were a very fun item for Isaac and Desert Girl.

 We continued hiking, in search of more fun items.

 This tree stump provided a good photo opportunity.

 These two crack me up. They are always talking and showing each other stuff.

 I think they were cracking each other up, too!

 Desert Boy tried to make a bridge of pine cones on the way back. It didn't work too well, but it looked neat.

Jenny remarked about the eyes on the trees. How cool!

 Then Jenny pointed out the bulgy aspens. I had never seen them before, even though they're next to the trail. I'm not sure what causes the bulges. We only found the trees in one area.

Even with a few little temper tantrums, we achieved our goal of enjoying the fall colors. This is such a magical time of year. I hope we can go on a few more hikes and enjoy the bright hues.

A Walk in the Woods

Shoes? Check.
Cameras? Check.
Water bottles? Check.
LOTS of snacks? Check.
Pirate gear? Check.
Princess paraphanelia? Check.
Train sounds? Check.
We were ready to go hiking, a little walk in the woods.

 I was on the lookout for photos for a photo challenge, with this week's theme being fruit and flowers. I found some Oregon grape (Mahonia repens) berries.

 Desert Boy had expressed some interest in taking photos, so I let him use my old camera. Desert Girl just wanted a snack.

 Redroot buckwheat (Eriogonum racemosum), one of the prettiest late summer flowers.

 Our hike suddenly got exciting when we found we could eat some of nature's bounty. The wild raspberries were delicious.

 A butterfly landed on my shirt. It turned out to be a Pine White.

 The currants were at their peak, and the kids quickly learned how to forage for them.

 Yum!

 I saw this dragonfly (or is it a damselfly?) and that made me take the photo, but I didn't notice the spider dangling underneath till later.

 We made it to our destination, a bridge where the kids snacked and spent twenty minutes throwing sticks into the water. They really didn't want to leave, but finally conceded it would be okay as long as they had hiking sticks.

 The sun peeked out from the storm clouds and made the mountain mahogany seeds glow.

 The trees look so cool!

Here are the kids sharpening their wood pirate and princess knives. They made up lots of games on the hike back, which made me delighted as in the past I've had to make up games for them. They also thought it was lots of fun to run down the trail, and Desert Girl would yell out, "Running," and then take off. They already want to hike again today, so I think that means we had a successful day.

Bristlecone Hike

 We headed up to the Wheeler Cirque bristlecone grove after our night of camping this weekend. I had forgotten Desert Girl's backpack, so we tried to get her to walk most of it, and she did walk quite a bit, albeit with frequent bribes. Fortunately Desert Boy has gotten to the point where he's a good hiker and he did well, although we had a few "Are we there yet?" questions. I almost never answer those seriously, so he gets frustrated and stops asking them. I'm not sure if that's good parenting or not, but it works.

Finally we were there, amidst the millenia-old trees. These ancient trees are really mind-blowing. How can something be that old and still be alive? What have they witnessed? How much longer will they continue to live?

 While my husband and the kids were taking about the fortieth snack break of the morning, I wandered off to spend some quiet time with the trees. We hadn't exactly gotten an early start so the light wasn't magical, but with the bristlecones, just being there is magical, no matter the time of day.

 When I'm around bristlecones, I always wonder if they're sentient beings. What do they think about all that has happened around them year after year after year?

 As we continued our hike, we stopped at every sign along the short interpretive trail. Both Desert Boy and Desert Girl enjoyed feeling some of the old wood. Desert Boy liked finding different textures on the same tree.

 The snacks were kicking in and they had revived and were full of boisterous energy as they posed by this 3,000+ year old tree.

 I asked my husband to take the camera so I could get on the other side of the lens with my cute kids.

 I think I could easily spend a whole day just roaming the bristlecone grove and admiring all the shapes.

But the others had different ideas. With the infusion of energy, we decided to hike to the glacier sign, another half-mile or so. Desert Boy and my husband went ahead, and I hiked with Desert Girl, letting her go at her own pace. She knows I won't carry her (except for a rare occasion), so she toddles along.

 She was absolutely adorable touching more trees. We never managed to get her hair done after she woke up from camping, so she's wearing the disheveled look well.

 Those dang sunspots appeared in the photo (maybe due to my filter?). Anyway, I couldn't help but snap a bunch of photos of Desert Girl hiking in such gorgeous scenery.

 Does anyone else see her mischievious side?

 Finally we made it to the sign, where Desert Boy and my husband were waiting. It looks like late July with the amount of snow left.

 Some alpine phlox. We didn't see very many flowers on our hike or even around the campground.

On the way back, we found Ranger Corey. Desert Boy always likes to think up a question for a ranger. This time he asked, "How do glaciers form?" It didn't look like he was paying attention to the answer, but when I asked him the question five minutes later, he remembered almost all of the answer. Hurray!

It was beautiful visiting the bristlecones. Desert Girl hiked over half the distance. We'll have to keep doing hikes and build up our endurance for more adventures this summer.

A Rocky Hike

 On the way back from my triathlon in Orem last weekend (it was great, I really felt good on the bike portion, which was a nice change), we stopped at a rocky outcropping. Where I grew up in the Midwest, we would call this a mountain, but out here in Basin and Range territory, we get a little picky about what we call mountains.

Desert Boy wanted to go for a hike, and I've always wanted to explore this rock. So we took the road less traveled, went through the gate, and drove up the two-track road. Then we piled out of the van and started up.

 The storm clouds added drama to the stark scenery. Beams of sunlight highlighted limestone cliffs pocked with holes. Could any of them be caves?

 I really loved the clouds. I figured it might start raining before too long, so we couldn't dawdle. My goal was to get to the top of the rock. But when we decided we couldn't get to the top with the kids safely, we went to plan B: walk around the rock outcropping.

 Desert Boy enjoyed the rock climbing challenges.

I enjoyed taking photos.

 We found that there were ledges most of the way around the rock outcropping, and that made for relatively easy hiking.

 Most of the ground looked brown, but I found a few bright colors from small desert wildflowers, like the purple Arabis above, blue flax, yellow bladderpod, and orange globemallow.

 The desert looked so big.

 We found a little alcove that was cool.

 Here's another view of that alcove. Maybe it isn't so little!


The way the rock has eroded away makes for some interesting shadows.

Sometime we'll go back with helmets, harnesses, and a rope and see if we can get to the top. It doesn't look that hard to go up, but I'd like Desert Boy and Desert Girl to have a belay for the way down.

Now every time we drive past this rock, I'll think of the great lighting we had during our hike around it and our little adventure.