2013-06-30 Willow Lake Hike

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Interactive Hiking Trail with Photo Link

The temperature in Salt Lake valley hit triple digit when we were still in the month of June! Our hiking group went hiking the Willow Heights/Willow Lake trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We've hiked this trail several times in the past from the trailhead that begins in the residential area. This time, we started the hike from a different trailhead on the main road. After reaching the lake, we decided to hike down the other trail to make it a loop hike. Wildflowers dotted the landscape along the trail.

2013-06-23 Great Western Trail Hike (#5)

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Praise the Lord for a blessed Sunday afternoon hike of Great Western Trail in East Canyon. Now is the perfect time to see the wildflowers in East Canyon. Most people in our hiking group made it to the top of Big Mountain. By the time I was almost there, our group had started heading down. That was because the trail was full of distractions - the wildflowers. It was a perfect time and day to photograph these flowers due to overcast sky, but it also paradoxically poses some challenges if you include too much sky in the photo (too bright because of the cloud compared to the foreground flowers). None of us was disappointed by the amazing scenery. Every twist and turn of the trail surprised us with magnificent display of nature's best beauty. If you were there, I am sure the song 野地的花 will instantly come to your mind. Thanks for a wonderful fellowship on the trail and thanks for coming to the hike with friends to enjoy God's beautiful creation! I hope that you also snapped some photos along the trail. By the way, my friend Masami (I met her when Phoebe was taking ice-skating lesson at the County Ice Center in Murray) wants me to thank you all for being very kind to her. She had a great time hiking with us. She was also surprised that we have someone (Elsa Liu) in our group can speak fluent Japanese with her.

2013-06-16 Twin Lakes Loop Hike (#4)

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Praise the Lord for a blessed and safe Sunday afternoon hike of Twin Lakes Loop trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Before we started the hike, we were joking at the trailhead parking lot that our backyard mountains rival those of Yosemite National Park. In deed we were so pampered with calendar-cover scenery of the Wasatch mountains, we sometimes take that for granted. Thanks God that we had wonderful weather for this hike. The remaining snow on the trail in the higher elevation spots was quite an adventure for kids. The snacks-sampling at Twin Lake Reservoir was a feast to our hungry stomach. Thanks for coming to the hike with friends to enjoy the beautiful creation!

2013-06-15 RidgelineTrail Hike (Emigration Canyon)

Waking up around 6 am and not being able to get back to sleep, so I decided to embark an early morning hike to the Ridgeline Trail in the Emigration Canyon. The timing for spring flower might have passed, but I still found some spots with vivid flowers of Arrowleaf Balsamroot, usually first sign of spring in the Salt Lake valley area. The morning sun was great for photographing these bright yellow flowers. The blue sky adds extra flavor to the landscape photos. It was a wonderful walk (can't be qualified as hike since I had to head back in about an hour.)

2013-06-02 Silver Lake Hike (#3)

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We are so blessed to live in a place where natural beauty abounds. This past Sunday a few friends went to hike a trail in the American Fork Canyon. 3 beautiful lakes (or reservoir) nested in lush Lone Peak Wilderness area. Wild flowers dotted the rolling landscape if you keep your keen eyes open. The drive to the trailhead (Silver Lake Flat Reservoir) parking lot is a bit adventurous though - 4 mile dirt road (passable to car) with small sharp rocks slowing you down almost to a crawl and large rocks creating bumps along the way. But the effort really paid off in the end - a calendar-cover view of Silver Lake Flat Reservoir! The first 2/3 of the trail (total of 2.2 miles one way) was quite pleasant while the last 1/3 was on a constant steep ascent. But again, the reward in the end was another calendar-cover view of an alpine lake - Silver Lake. During the hike, Sichun's father found a field of fresh 厥菜. We were having fun picking up these delicious vegetables. Thanks my friends for such a wonderful hike!

Silver Lake Flat Reservoir

Silver Lake Flat Reservoir

Wild Flower on the trail

Looking at Silver Lake Flat Reservoir from the trail

Silver Lake