2012-11-04 Block U Hike (#14)

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This is our last hike of 2012. We hiked to Block U (stands for University of Utah) via Dry Creek trail. The weather is quite pleasant and the view is fantastic. There are a few steep spots, but after scrambling up the hill, you feel you are on top of the world with panoramic view of Greater Salt Lake area.

2012-10-28 Living Room Trail Hike (#13)

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Thanks the Lord for a blessed Sunday afternoon hike to the Living Room trail by the U. The weather was very pleasant and there was still some remaining fall color, though the lower part of the trail was wet and muddy due to melting snow. Kids and grown-ups had a great time hiking this moderate trail and enjoyed the view from the "Living Room" furnished with stone chairs, couches and sofa. Kids also had fun walking Macy (the cute dog's name) on the trail. Thanks for sharing your snacks and goodies with one another.

2012-10-14 Adam's Canyon Waterfalls Hike (#12)

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Thank the Lord for a wonderful weather so we could hike the Adam's Canyon waterfalls trail. Thanks everyone for being brothers and sisters' keepers on the somewhat treacherous and moderately strenuous trail. The 40-foot waterfalls at the end was a great reward for all hikers' effort and it was spectacular.I hope that grown-ups and kids all had a great fellowship and enjoyed the beautiful "Autumn Wonderland" along the trial. I am sure you all had sound sleep last night after the hike. Here are some visual memories of yesterday's hike from my camera.

2012-10-07 Willow Lake Hike (#11)

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Another great fall day for hiking. This time we try to see some golden leaves, so we hiked the Willow Lake trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Though some of the leaves have fallen off, but the scene is still very pleasant. Kids and grown-ups had a great time hanging out at the lake. A kind lady, Christe, and her son (maybe 2 or 3 years old) were hiking to Willow Lake as our group was leaving. She offered to take the group photo for us. While she was taking the photo, her son posed with us. Christe told her son to get out of the picture. Then her son sadly and slowly moved away from us. Brother Te-Hsin then chased after him and brought him back to pose with our group for photo. Sister Li Ya also gave him some yummy chocolates for treats. That was quite a highlight for this hike!

2012-09-29 Stewart Falls Hike (#10)

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I wasn't expecting much from this year's fall color due to the dry summer season we had. Boy, was I wrong again (the fist time was after hiking the Mormon Pioneer trail in East Canyon two weeks ago)! According to fall foliage experts, the dry weather shortens color change of trees, and that's why spectacular color of red (maple) and yellow (aspen) were mixing together on our mountains this year. My family and two other families went hiking on the Stewart Falls trail this past Saturday. I think it might have passed its prime time for color, but there were still patches of colorful display of foliage on the trail. Normally it would take about an hour to reach the Stewart Falls, but it took me and Phoebe almost 3 hours to get there. We were having fun taking lots of photos and enjoyed the scenery. I didn't try to hurry her to get to the destination, but instead patiently stayed with her and we had fun discussing and finding the best spots for shooting the fall foliage photos. Sometimes, I wonder if I were to choose my career again, what would I choose? After coming back from the hike, Lijue jokingly (maybe a bit jealously) said now I have found a companion who can go on photography trip/hike with me.

2012-09-23 Mormon Trail Hiking (#9)

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Praise the Lord for a blessed hiking activity and great family bonding time! We were so fortunate to have 3 hour window so we could hike the beautifully breath-taking Mormon trail in East Canyon during this time of the year. Oh boy those trees were on fire, weren't they! The hike was short (1.3 miles). But if that did not take your breath away, the view surely would do just that. I am so grateful that our church families had a great time in this hiking activity. After we arrived at Affleck Park, kids had a blast playing in the shallow creek by the park, and most of them got their feet wet while one kid hilariously got soaked from head to toes (that reminds me of a character called Clumsy in the movie "The Smurfs")! We all had hearty laugh seeing kids having so much fun in the nature (definitely better than those artificial video games!).

2012-09-03 17-Lakes Loop Hike (#8)

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Praise the Lord for a great hiking weather on Labor Day. Aesthetically speaking, the 17-Lakes Loop trail is by far the most awe-inspiring trail I've ever gone on this year. My family, Yizhe, and her two friends had great time enjoying the fellowship and numerous lakes alongside of the trail. The trail leading to "The Notch" (rock mountain shelf and cairns) is quite visible. We took a lunch break at "The Notch" - the highest point of the hike with great view of the surrounding lakes. From "The Notch" on, however the trail is hard to identify at times. But we knew that we had to head west between Twin Lakes on the left and some no-name lakes on the right. So we were able to find the trail leading to the Clyde Lake - second largest lake on the loop trail. Trail leaving Clyde Lake was quite visible for about half mile, then right before Watson Lake (we could see the lake from above), we got lost and went on the back side of Watson Lake and several no-name lakes. Even we had only 6 people in our group, we easily got separated. We had to shout out and wait for others to respond to locate each other. Luckily we got back as a group after a quarter mile searching for each other. We then got to a fork and bumped into a hiker who happened to hike from Cliff Lake trail to "The Notch" and on his way back. At this point, we were back to the loop trail again. What an impressive hike! Back at the trailhead parking lot, we saw a "Lost Dogs" sign posted on the tree near the restroom. We now understand how easily hikers can get lost in this beautiful but at times treacherous terrain and really appreciate what had happened to us.

2012-08-25 17-Lakes Loop Hike (#7)

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感謝神，給我們一個晴時多雲偶陣雨〈外加冰雹〉的週六，讓弟兄姊妹在Mirror Lake地方有個特別豐盛的hiking經驗。這次的hiking計畫比較周密，卻在執行上大打折扣〈teenagers說這次hiking是well organized, but poorly executed〉。大家一路上都能遵守email上的注意事項，按時抵達hiking trail的停車場。但是停車場卻已經快滿了，有些弟兄姊妹的車只好停到離trailhead將近一里外的overflow停車場。有些人已等不及，先行出發，只是走錯了trail，等我們發現時，已經太晚。於是每到一個岔路，就有一批人走錯路。最後，我們分成五個團隊，各自走不同的trail。但是感謝神，四個團隊最後都能集合在一起。最後一個團隊〈基本上都是hiking健將〉在多走了將近一倍的路程，最後也安全的回到trailhead停車場。不過最後一個團隊的teenagers說這是一次最好的hiking，令人難忘。感謝神，雖然這次的hiking會出差錯的也都差不多出差錯了，但是卻在大家腦海裡留下特別難忘的印象。這次hiking，由於大多時候都在忙著找人，沒有太多的照片，如果你有好的照片，請和大家一起分享。Interactive hiking trail is available at here.

2012-08-18 Strawberry Reservoir Crawfishing

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This is sort of an annual event. New Life Fellowship brothers and sisters went crawfishing (小龍蝦) at Strawberry Reservoir. Kids and grown-ups had a great time catching crawfish.

2012-08-12 Liberty Park Biking

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We went to Liberty Park with several other families so kids can bike and grown-ups can take a walk there. The park is always full of people.

2012-08-04 Bear Lake Road Trip

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Our family went for Bear Lake's annual Raspberry Festival with Xiaodong and Zhaojun's families. We stopped by Aggies' famous ice cream shop at Utah State University. Then after the festival we went to Bear Lake so kids can enjoy some water plays.

2012-07-26 Alta Albion Basin Hike

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Our college friend came to Utah for a business trip. Her company has a trade show in Deer Valley. We took the short afternoon hike on Albion Basin trail in the beautiful Alta resort.