Heritage Park- community fishing pond

In Garden City, Utah they have a new little community fishing area right by Bear Lake.

 

 

Heritage Park.

Since we are not Utah residents, and did not want to get non-resident fishing licenses, we just let the kids run around and play.

 

No fish for us, but the kids sure enjoyed having the time to run around and unwind (for that matter, so did I!)

 

It is a fun spot to spend a few hours out in the beauty of nature.

Nearest City: Location: N° W° Time Needed: Difficulty: Kid Friendly: Additional Info:

Bear Lake

While we were in Utah we headed to Bear Lake for a couple of weeks of good beach time.

There are many different spots with public beach access.

We checked out a few different areas while we were there.  Each spot, of course, has different benefits.

We ended up being there on the 4th of July, and many other people had the same idea.

 

 If you have never been to Bear Lake before, it is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.  It is a gorgeous blue and the scenery is amazing.

Of course the activities are a blast as well.

Boating

 

 

 Playing in the water

 

 

Sandy beaches for building, digging, creating.

 

 

Nearest City: Location: N° W° Time Needed: Difficulty: Kid Friendly: Additional Info:

Limber Pine Nature Trail

Another stop on our summer Utah adventure was the Limber Pine Nature Trail near Bearlake.  The Clark's nutcracker hides stashes of limber pine seeds.  When a stash is forgotten about a limber pine becomes planted.

 

The hike is a fairly easy 1.3 mile loop.

This cluster of limber pines is over 500 years old.

Further on the hike you are able to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Bearlake.  Sometimes called the "Caribbean of the Rockies".

This trail is an easy hike to get out for a quick and enjoyable morning in the mountains.

Nearest City: Garden City, Utah
Location: N° W°
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The Bean Museum- updated and better than ever!

In July the 3 kids and I headed 900 miles from Sierra Vista to the Salt Lake area to visit family for a little over a month.  While there, I had one stop that I really wanted to make.  The Bean Museum.  That is, the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU Provo. 

We had last visited this museum over 4 years ago, and it mostly contained a few dead animals and lots of heads in a small space.  It was still a decent little museum.  But it could become so much more.

I heard that they recently updated the museum.  They did.  It is fantastic now.

I remember seeing Shasta at the Hogle Zoo when I was a kid.  She was dead and stuffed back then, but now she has a new home.  It is a fitting location for the first Liger (cross between lion and tiger)born in captivity.  It was fun to see her again.

One of my favorite parts of the museum were the life-like scenes.  The animals looked so realistic. 

If you are feeling up for a fun afternoon go and visit the Bean Museum.  They even teach classes and have a small play area for young children.  There are tons more exhibits and animals that are not pictured here.

Nearest City: Provo, Utah
Location: 645 E Phillips Ln, Provo, UT 84602
Time Needed: At least 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Definitely
Additional Info: Free!

Hiking Uphill Both Ways to Thurston Peak

For two years I lived and worked in the shadow of Thurston Peak, the county highpoint of both Davis and Morgan Counties in Utah.  For two years I said I was going to hike it.  But then I got a job transfer to Arizona, so I didn't.  It's not actually that simple.  I intended to, but the Farmington Canyon Road was closed for most of that time due to some landslides.  I like to hike, but at the same time I can be a little bit lazy (efficient is the name I use when talking to people though).  I wasn't quite up to the task of climbing from the bottom, or driving the 26 miles from Bountiful on backcountry dirt roads just to get to the trailhead near Francis Peak.  So, I told myself that I'd wait for the road to open back up.  So I waited, and before it reopened, I got transferred. 

Two years later, I was back in town for a wedding, so in the interest of doing something else fun, I called up a friend and scheduled a hiking trip.  We had several options, but decided to hike Thurston.  At 9706 feet in elevation, it's respectable, but not terribly high just the same.  Besides, from along the I-15 corridor, it looks like you drive to Francis Peak then have a light stroll over to Thurston with a little bit of up and down along the way.  Hahaha.  Yeah right. 

We drove up Farmington Canyon to Francis Peak.  Our first mistake was parking near the gate to the Francis Peak Radar Domes.  There's a dirt road on the east side that takes you around Francis Peak to the Smith Lakes.  We should have driven down that road and stayed to the left or generally straight ahead for another 3/4 mile or so to cut a substantial distance off of our hike,  oh well.  Hindsight is 20/20.  We climbed under the gate, then summited Francis Peak, then promptly lost all of that elevation descending the other side. 

We then followed the dirt road then the trail after the road ended.  Up along the ridge is part of the Great Western Trail.  I've been past bits and pieces of it as I've hiked various places in the Wasatch Mountains.  This was probably the longest stretch I've done at any given point though.  The trail varies- sometimes it's good, other times it fades.  What was amazing to me was that it's not used more.  It's within 30 minutes of hundreds of thousands of people, but we didn't see anybody out hiking it.  We reached Thurston, and the trail skirted around the west side of it.  We left the trail and climbed straight uphill to the top.  A few pictures of the monument to Thomas Jefferson Thurston, whom the peak is named after, and a few more taking in the view, and we were set to head back to the vehicle.

The Morgan Valley from Thurston Peak.Thomas Jefferson Thurston was an early settler and built the first road along the Weber River into the Morgan Valley.

 Davis County from Thurston Peak.  The houses are sandwiched between the mountains and the Great Salt Lake.

 Looking north toward Ogden from Thurston Peak.

The hike back was pretty uneventful, although it seemed like we started out going uphill, and ended the hike going uphill once again.  Those small height variations visible from below turn out to be quite a bit bigger once you're up at the top!  I love hiking the high elevation meadows. 

 Here's another view along the Great Western Trail looking at Francis Peak from the vicinity of Thurston Peak.  There are several smaller sub-peaks along the way that are all a short distance off the trail if you're interested in ridge walking and peak bagging. 

We made it back to the truck in around 3.5 hours of hiking time, with a trip distance of just over 9.5 miles.  It was a great little hike.  But driving past Francis Peak will definitely make the trip a little shorter.

Nearest City: Farmington, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: Several Hours
Difficulty: Moderate/Strenuous
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Catching Frogs at Hidden Lake

We had a quick trip to Utah to attend my sister's wedding.  While we were there I was able to get out and do some hiking in the Uintas.  We debated between going to Hidden Lake and catching frogs, or going to Smith and Morehouse to play in the water, go fishing,  and find wild raspberries.   Either option sounded great to me, and that was the case with pretty much everybody else, so we packed a lunch and went to find frogs at Hidden Lake. 

Hidden Lake is located above a private cabin area up Weber Canyon above Oakley.  It's closed to the general public, but since we have friends who live in the cabin area, they've invited us to come up a couple of times during the summer.  (During the winter, they have to take snow machines in because the roads aren't plowed).  We hiked in to the lake, but it's accessible by a 4-wheeler trail for those with the bigger toys. 

Hidden Lake is a small lake, maybe a couple of acres.  We had a picnic on the shore, then wandered up and down the banks looking for frogs.  We found and caught a lot of frogs- with up to 4 being in temporary captivity at once.  A lot more of them jumped into the lake and swam away to defend against getting caught.  We even found a small snake.  We'd hold the frogs, then let the kids hold them and turn them loose into the water.  It was a lot of fun. 

Toward mid afternoon we could see some storm clouds gathering, so I took a quick hike around the lake to look for wild raspberries.  Typically I've had the best success finding them right around Labor Day, so even though it was early for them I still wanted to look.  I found a nice patch just south of the lake and a quick canvass turned up about a dozen red raspberries.  It was still a little early, but those few berries were sure good!  When I got back from my 0.4 mile (according to the sign at the NW side of the lake) hike around the lake, we packed up and headed down the hill.  A couple hundred yards before the cars the rain started to come down, so we picked up the pace and were glad we'd made it back just in time to escape one of those classic summer deluges the Uintas are known for.

Nearest City: Oakley, UT
Location: Hidden Lake Association up Weber Canyon from Oakley
Time Needed: a couple hours
Difficulty: moderate
Kid Friendly: yes
Additional Info: Hidden Lake is a private home/cabin owners area.  No Trespassing without permission.

What's going on at the Fairy Forest?

Friday night was another night in the tent- this time in the Uintas.  We woke up Saturday morning to another beautiful day, although it was a little chilly early on.  We enjoyed the beautiful leaves, although they are falling off the trees and will leave bare branches behind pretty soon. 

I especially love the red aspen leaves.  The yellow ones are pretty, but the red ones are so unique!  It was beautiful along the Mirror Lake Highway as we drove to track down the Fairy Forest. 

The Fairy Forest is south of the Shady Dell Campground at MM17.  If you're not camping, there's a pulloff right at the milepost, with the trail leading south from there.  We crossed a small dry streambed, then 50 feet further down the trail headed off to the west to find ourselves in the Fairy Forest.  

I really don't know what to say about the fairy forest.  Words fail me.  It's kindof cool, somewhat wierd, and a little bit creepy.  How would you describe lots and lots of rocks arranged into rows and patterns in a forest?  Paint has been liberally applied to many of them. 

There are countless areas that are sectioned off, each having a theme.  Fairytropolis, complete with several rocks painted out as hotels, stores, airports, etc-  Check.  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow- Check.  Witches cauldron with rats and skulls- check.   Bowling Alley- Check.  LDS Young Women Values- Check.  Family reunion tributes- check.  Memorials to dead pets or friends- check. 

 Rockhenge- check.  Plus, there are many more ideas and themes, all carried out with painted rocks. 

The Fairy Forest is an interesting and unique place.  I've gotta conclude that some people have way too much time on their hands.

Nearest City: Samak, UT
Location: South of the Shady Dale Campground and Mile Marker 17
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Driving the Scenic Nebo Loop in the Fall

After camping at Maple Canyon, we took a small detour on the way home to drive the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway.  We weren't in a hurry to get anywhere, and the kids needed a good nap. 

 The Salt Creek end of the byway has some pretty cool rock formations visible from the road. 

Pretty soon, we started getting into the bigtooth maples and their fiery fall finery.  We did the drive the 2nd to last weekend in September, and it seems to me that that's probably about when the best time to see the fall leaves is. 

 Most of the maples were on the south half of the Nebo Loop, while aspens were up on top, and the northern half was a mixture of a lot of different kinds of trees. 

 I love fall!

Nearest City: Payson and Nephi, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1.5 hours
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Camping on Antelope Island

Friday I went camping with the scouts on Antelope Island.  We camped in the Whiterocks Bay Group Campground.  It was fun to get out camping, but I really wasn't impressed with the facilities. 

My biggest problem with the campground is the lack of shelter.  There is absolutely no shade or shelter in the whole campground.  I'm glad it was mid-September instead of mid-summer.  You would absolutely roast out here in the hotter months!  I also saw 3 black widow spiders in the pit toilets.  

Other then that and the occasional mosquito, we had a good time cooking dinner, visiting, and working on scout requirements.  After dark, the coyotes occasional serenaded us from afar.

Saturday morning we got up early to get an early start on the Frary Peak Trail.  We watched a beautiful sunrise from the trailhead then headed out.

Along the way we spooked several flocks of chukars, saw a herd of bighorn sheep, and had a good hike.  It's just over 3 miles to the peak. We made it 2.5 then turned around.  I wanted to press on, but turned around with the group.

Nearest City: Syracuse, UT
Location: N° W°
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Additional Info: Antelope Island State Park Website