A year of new hikes

What is summer without running and playing in the mountains?  This year was a little challenging for our hikes.   The boys are really into hiking.  The girls....not so much.  Anika enjoys it, but can't last for too long.  Calla enjoys it, but her little legs take about five steps to each adult step.  We end up carrying her about five minutes into the hike, only to have her squirm out of our arms to get down and pick up some rocks to throw, or explore something that caught her eye.  Our goal was to find some new hikes that we had never done, weren't too long for the girls, but were long enough and interesting enough for the boys.

A few years ago we picked up this book called 60 hikes within 60 miles.  It includes hikes up and down the wasatch front, detailed with how hard it is, family friendliness, if it has lakes/waterfalls, etc.  It also has great instructions on how to find the trail heads.  We put it to the test this year.  Here is what we tried:

 

 

Ferguson Canyon

The first hike of the year was on Memorial Day.  We tried Ferguson canyon, up near Little Cottonwood.  The kids loves climbing the slate walls.  The trail was fun for the older three kids--lots of rocks to climb over.  Not too fun for the not quite two year old, who insisted on doing it herself.

Tanner was a little too adventurous.  He ended up falling into the river at one point.  The water was pretty cold from the snow runoff, and he wasn't too happy....until he realized he got to hike without his shirt on.  Tanner is all about having his shirt off every chance he gets.

Rocky Mouth Canyon

The same day we tried a waterfall in Rocky Mouth canyon.  This was so much fun.  I wouldn't really call it a hike.  It was more of a stroll.  A great waterfall maybe a half mile hike up the canyon was lots of fun for all the kids.  Lots of rocks to hop across in the water--a favorite of all the kids.  Next time I'm going to have to let them just bring sandals, let them wade through the water, and not worry about getting their feet wet.

 

Donut Falls

I've been wanting to try Donut Falls (I think it was up Big Cottonwood) for a few years now.  The book said it was a family friendly hike, with a cool waterfall going through the center of a rock shaped like a donut.  It wasn't exactly family friendly.  The trail was pretty tough for little kids to handle.  The rock that the water falls through has broken, and is no longer there.  We hit the hike on a perfect day.  It had rained just a bit before we got there.  The air was so fresh and smelled so good.  It was a nice cool hike, on a hot summer day down the canyon.  So refreshing.



 



Despite the tougher trail for the girls, they were happy as long as they had their snacks.

The boys got some more challenging hiking in, trying to climb up closer to the waterfall.  I am so glad they've finally started appreciating hiking.  The more challenging for them, the better.

 

Cecret Lake

I've been wanting to hit Cecret Lake during wildflower season.  It is supposed to have the most amazing wild flowers for a very short period of time near the end of summer, because the elevation is so high.  I thought we were going to miss the hike altogether again this year, but last minute I decided to drag my kids up there for my birthday.  Jon had to work, but my mom joined us for the day. 

I think this was Nathan's favorite hike.  He went to 5th grade camp this summer, and loved catching "potguts" in his homemade trap.  He was so excited to see his little furry friends all over the place on this hike.  We caught this one getting into someone's bag while they were taking some pictures.





 

 

The kids found a long, thin rock jutting out into the middle of the lake, and had a great time balancing on it, out as far as they could go.

 

We missed the wildflower season, but Anika found a few little flowers along the way.

The favorite activity of this hike:  throwing rocks into the lake.  We spent more time throwing rocks than we spent hiking.

Calla has a smile here, but I made the mistake of taking her during nap time.  She probably would have been able to do a lot of the hike herself...if she was happy enough to avoid her meltdown.  Luckily, she fell asleep half way down, and made the hike easier on all of us.  On the way down Tanner found some college students digging through some rocks along the side of the trail.  Being the rock expert that he is, he had to stop and talk to them about what they were doing.  They showed him some pieces of silver in the rocks, and gave him some little flakes of real silver to take home with him.

 

Another new hike that we tried is called Buffalo Peak.  Growing up in Provo, I can't believe I had never heard of this peak.  It was a pretty easy hike, with a view down into Utah Valley.  We did this one on the 4th of July, and it would probably be better to do in the fall, with the leaves changing colors, and less heat to deal with.  We didn't end up with pictures.

 

 

Stewart Falls

Stewart falls isn't a new hike for us.  It is the one hike that we have to do every year.  We have never tried it in the fall though.  When fall break came, and I realized we had canceled this hike a few times, and never got back around to it, I had to haul the kids and Nana out for one last hike of the year.  Holy cow!  I LOVED this hike in the fall.  It was so beautiful with all the leaves changing colors, and blanketing the ground in a brown crunchy carpet.  It is always kind of crowded in the summer.  We made it to the the waterfall with only one other person there.  We passed one other group on the trail, and saw a moose from a distance.

 

 

 

 

 

I know there must have been other hikes...I just can't remember what they were without pictures.  Next year I think we're going to have to take a little trip down south and try some new trails in the southern end of the state.  I'm dying to take the kids to Calf Creek.  So many hikes, so little time!  I'm so glad my kids enjoy it.