Amicalola Falls

We went and hiked Amicalola Falls on Saturday. It’s the first time I felt I really got a cardio workout in since I’ve had Curtis, and it felt great. We saw mountains too, I’ve kinda missed them. (Very different from the Rockies, but still mountains.) The hike itself was a lot of stairs and a wheelchair accessible path. There’s actually lots more hiking trails in the park, but the stairs and path were enough for our group.

We went with these wonderful friends, which made it lots more fun. The waterfall and surrounding area were beautiful. We even made it to a bird show, at least until Curtis got fussy and I left to take care of him. Hiking with two kids is fun. I packed Curtis and Joe persuaded Peter up the stairs or on his shoulders. I felt like we had so much stuff for just a few-hour hike, both Joe and I had a bag, but we needed almost all of it.

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Stone Mountain

We’ve been eyeing this hike for quite some time. It’s the closest “mountain” to where we live, although by Rocky Mountain standards, it’s pretty puny. A Saturday finally presented itself that wasn’t rainy, cold, or otherwise occupied so we headed out.

Peter hiked almost the whole 1.3 miles up. We took a lot of breaks and went very slowly. (It took us around two hours to walk one mile. Very slow pacing.) This also helped the very pregnant me make it too. Joe did carry Peter the last few hundred yards. It was pretty windy and cold up top, so we didn’t stay long. It was a fun hike, and I’d like to go back to the park after baby comes and go on some other trails as well.

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I’m full term today. I even included a picture of me and my belly recently. I have really no idea when baby is coming…but hopefully it all goes alright when it does come. I’m losing motivation to do about anything… certainly not start any new projects, and I’m ignoring the few I have already started. Mostly I’m running after toddler, sleeping, reading a little, and keeping everyone well fed. And waiting and wondering….

Nebo Loop Day Trip

I think I picked one of the best weekends to go on a long drive. We drove down to Payson to drive the Nebo Loop. The fall colors were fantastic. We hiked three separate hikes–Grotto Falls, Devil’s Kitchen, and Box Canyon. The first two are pretty short, boring hikes to neat destinations. Box canyon was an adventure. It’s in Maple Canyon just north of Ephraim.  Joe had been there several times during his Snow College years (before he met me) and had always wanted to take me. We managed to scramble our way to the end, even with Peter in tow. There are some fun little climbs up boulders. We had to hand Peter off to each other, and almost turned back, but made it all safetly. I wouldn’t recommend it with toddlers though. I felt like I was on a vacation yesterday and love the time I was able to spend with my family. It so trumps staying at home.

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Battle Creek to Grove Creek

I always  want to wake up early and go hiking. It just never happens as planned. The few times it has happened before usually involved camping. Then came a free Friday combined with an appointment I scheduled at 1:00. I was tired of going on short hikes, and had a few long ones I was eager to do. I could either wake up early and go on a long one, or do yet another short hike. I was all for waking up at 5:00 and going.

Peter agreed. At 4:30 in the morning he started to crying, “Ma-Ma.” I tried to get him back to sleep, but something was up and he wouldn’t. So we got up and made it to the trailhead (which happens to be awesomely less than a mile from my home) by 6:00. Our goal was to hike up Battle Creek canyon and down Grove Creek. I’ve done this hike at least twice. It’s a good one. Joe had yet to go past the first waterfall up Battle Creek.

Mountains are funny–I was hiking east, yet I was also delaying sunrise by doing so. It was nice a cool for the first couple of hours.  Actually a little too cold–I could tell Peter wasn’t enjoying it. His parents were a bit negligent in the jacket department. Peter walked a little, but mostly rode in the pack and even slept a little. We breezed by the falls and other sites, more intent on making decent time. (The falls are nothing new anyways.) It was a gorgeous morning with all the birds out.

We caught the sunrise at 8:00, right when we hit Dry Canyon trail. After a short snack break, we set off across the flat. We sung together a little (it helped Peter be happy), but mostly we were quiet enjoying the beautiful landscape around us. We dropped down into Grove Creek and right into fields full of mint and stinging nettle. I can’t tell the difference between those plants very well so just avoided both.

We reached the falls at Grove Creek. I hadn’t remembered them from my previous hike, but with all the spring snow melt they were gorgeous. By about 10:00 we were past anything all that pretty and just had a couple of more hours hiking. It was getting pretty hot too. The mile between Grove Creek and Battle Creek was hot, boring and tiring after already hiking 7 miles. I was done hiking by the time we got to the car at 12:00. But it was a beautiful hike, a great way to start a day.

Kudos to Joe for carrying Peter most of the way, and Peter for napping while on the trail. Here’s the pictures, some of which came from the hike last week.

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Big Springs Hollow

The benefit of living with my grandparents is that there are tons of people visiting all the time. It’s loads of fun and I am never lonley. Life has been super busy and fun lately as well. I love summer. There is so much to do outside. We’ve always loved to go hiking, but often lack the time. This week we took a whole afternoon and went on a longer hike.

The plan was to hike up Big Springs Hollow and maybe even hike clear over and down Rock Canyon. The hike went well. Peter hiked a little, but was mostly content enough to stay in the pack (and take his nap for a big portion.) I’m very luck to have a crazy in-shape husband who can lug him around. (Joe really doesn’t exercise but he still manages to stay in shape and look great. Carrying Peter helps us stay on the same level.)

So we weren’t exactly sure where we would end up, just following the trail and we came to this:

I’m not quite used to needing snowshoes in June, and was ill prepared in a pair of Chacos. We turned around, but I don’t think we were very far from dropping down into rock canyon. We’ll have to try it again sometime. After turning back and getting out of the snow, we set up the hammocks and took a good break. Total we hiked about 8 miles, which is the longest hike I’ve been on for a couple years.

We were nearing the end of the hike, almost to the car. Peter was walking, and enjoying the flooded section of the road we where on. The flooding soon fizzled out which made Peter very confused. He pointed at the mud saying “Wa-wa?” and decided the best option would be to turn around and go back to the puddles. That was not an idea we approved of, so we had to convince him there was water further down the road as well.

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Vacation

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To end Joe’s three-week break, we took a vacation. My planning consisted of when we were leaving, the general direction we were headed, and what we were going to eat. I made no reservations or firm destinations. On Monday night, the day before we planned on going, poor little Peter started to throw-up. Much of that evening and the next morning were spent cleaning carpets or doing laundry. He seemed okay after a long nap, and we were both unwilling to cancel the vacation so we headed down south.

We stopped by Cove Fort as a rest stop. I realized how wasteful I’ve gotten, and I want to be more thrifty. On the tour, they were showing all the ways they would reuse materials, like making old clothes into rugs. I was also impressed by the craftsmanship behind everything. They lived well, even when they didn’t have a lot.

Next we went to Cedar City to visit a good friend. She wasn’t home. So we kept driving and went through Kolob Canyon for a scenic drive. During the drive Peter threw-up again (but he was doing a lot better, just ate far too many fruit snacks). We went back to Cedar City and stayed the night at my friend’s house. That was very nice because not only was I able to wash the clothes Peter threw-up on, it rained. I also play the best game ever–The Farming Game. My farm was filled with fruit trees. The game is actually pretty representative of farming too, including real pests and harvest schedules. Someday, I might go ahead and own a small farm. In the meantime, I liked pretending to be a farmer.

We finally made it to Zion’s the next morning. Our first stop was to get a campsite, but the campground was already mostly full. We managed to find what must have been the worst site in the whole campground. It was a walk-in site a good 100 yards or more from our car with absolutely no shade. I was just very grateful we found a campsite.

After lunch, we took the shuttle up to Emerald Pools and hiked up and around. I was surprised that I was in decent shape, and Joe is in shape not matter what he does. Peter started his wining and no’s that lasted a lot of the trip. He did enjoy himself: I think he also got very tired. His favorite activities included splashing in puddles and throwing rocks into the river. I think he prefers the scenery of “cars” more than beautiful red cliffs.

The next day we went to hike Angel’s landing and did all but the last half mile. I was very surprised that they have a trail there and I don’t think I ever want to finish it. I hike to enjoy myself not scare myself.  We had Peter along too, and he makes an excellent excuse. On the way back he started crying, and we all got a much-needed nap back at camp. Our final hike was the riverside walk. There were plenty of rocks with a river near by at the end  for Peter.

No camping trip is complete without a campfire. We did hot dogs and s’mores and within an hour of lighting in, we put it out again. I’m just not into campfires, and ours was smoking too much. The next morning we were all ready to go home. Overall, it was a great trip. (And cheap. The whole thing cost $100, mostly in gas money. Joe even gets paid time off at his work.) But camping with toddlers ends up in a lot of complaining.

Busy Break

Joe’s semester ended a few weeks ago and I have throughly enjoyed having him. I have put him to work and he has been great in going forth and doing it all. The last couple weeks I have finished my irrigation design class, finished up a couple of garden designs, started another, thrown a baby shower for my sister (turned out really well), and spent lots of time in the garden. Joe is very helpful out working: I’m really glad I have his muscle and work ethic. And he is very patient and doesn’t get all frustrated when trying to figure out how to fix or build things. (I can get pretty ugly if I can’t figure something out.) Our garden is ready to plant the warm season crops, all the cool season crops have been planted, the condo landscape is looking great, and the irrigation system works (after replacing 10 heads!).

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Yesterday we took a bit of a break and went on a short hike up Maple Canyon. We hiked less than a mile before we found snow and turned around. I was able to see glacier lilies and one other wild flower which was my goal for the hike. Peter walked most of the way down, which was very fun and cute. He loved throwing rocks into the stream. We were doing it for about twenty minutes before he was persuaded (or more coerced) to continue. It was nice to finally be caught up in the landscape and be able to go hiking again.

Spring

The crocus are coming up. (Along with the weeds–see picture.) Pruning is very much underway. We go outside and don’t need large coats. It feels a lot like spring. But it is February and still very much winter. At least it’s a warm winter.

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Yesterday we went hiking up Rock Canyon in Provo. It is not spring up the canyon. With the cover of mountain walls, there was plenty of snow and cold. The hike was good. It was a compacted snow trail, pretty uneventful. The views were nice, but not particularly inspiring. It was a great workout. I’m not exactly sure how far we went, (I forgot the map) but we were booking it the two hours we were out. We could have made four miles total, but probably more like three. And if you noticed in the picture, it completely disrupted Peter’s nap schedule. Same thing happened today (this time because of church not hiking). Naps are needed so small child does not get ornery. But he is still such a fun kid.

Big Springs in Winter

I found this site and decided to try one of the trails mentioned, Big Springs up Provo Canyon. It was a well used trail, with no snowshoes required. (We did pack them with us for no reason.) I had printed off map/trail guide but lost it on the trail. This was after we broke from the main trail, onto a lesser-used route. It was a little annoying not knowing where we were, because we were trying to get somewhere just on a slightly more exciting trail. It worked out and we got to the springs (I think) and did a loop like we planned to. Most of all we did have a great time. It was our longest hike this winter and a good one.

The most exciting part for me (besides having a squabble with my husband halfway up, the result of me not eating enough: I must be fed to be happy) was seeing a bald eagle on the Provo River on the way up. No pictures (at almost 60 mph), but exciting.

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*I was going to include a map, but I’m still a little lost. Winter changes things a bit, and USGS maps are often outdated. So no map.

 

Random Holiday

IT WAS VERY VERY WARM!! The temperatures were in the high 40′s. I thought is was January, the long horrid month of never ending coldness. But today was warm, and we are over half-way through the longest month of the year (although some years that’s actually February).

We made it hiking today. Not snowshoeing, since the trail did not require it. There was tons of snow melt. Some parts of the trail were a little dangerous because of the rapid melting of snow. There was even a scary moment when snowballs came crashing down the mountain on top of us. Joe was the only one hit, and not badly. But it was gorgeous and worth the small amount of danger. We hiked my most frequented hike (I’ve been doing this since I could hike) and one of my favorites–Battle Creek Falls. Not long, gorgeous waterfall, and lots of fun memories.

Of course hiking there meant visiting my grandparents down the street. We had a great lunch together, and Joe scared Peter with a remote control race car. While we were there Peter blew out his diaper, and I did not have a change of pants. This was before the hiking, so I thought our opportunity to hike was lost. Luckily I layered today. My purple shirt turned into purple leggings for Peter. I am not so proud of my mommy-preparedness skills but very proud of my creative mommy-skills.

Here are the pictures:

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*P.S. What do you do when your kid goes to sleep at 5:30 because he still needs two naps, but not all the time, and he was extremely tired and you were just not fighting any more with him to stay awake? He’s still asleep at 7:15, I guess I should go wake him up and at least get some dinner in him.