2013-07-28 Cecret Lake Hike

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Though it was a wild weather (cloudy, a bit of rain drops, then sunny sky) hiking the Cecret Lake trail on Sunday afternoon, it was a very blessed hike with friends and families. Once again, the calendar-cover scenery and vibrant wild flowers amaze us and remind us of God's handywork. Parking spaces at Alta at this time of the year when wild flowers are peaking are so hard to find, we had to wait for about 30 minutes before all of us got a spot at the upper parking lot. The parking lot at the Albion Basin campground was way too hard to find. Though we had to walk a half mile more to get to the trailhead, we actually enjoyed such walk because of all the blooming flowers on the road side.

2013-07-24 Catherine Pass Hike

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It was an overcast morning and the parking lot at Alta was always full as wildflower season begins. I was lucky to get a spot at the Sunnyside parking lot. After I reached the pass, I hiked down to Lake Catherine on the Brighton side where I saw a moose family, who later crossed the pass to the Alta side. After hiking back to the pass, I decide to explore the Sunset Peak, which was only about 0.3 mile from the pass. At Sunset Peak you get views of neighboring mountains like Mt. Timpanogos. Wildflowers still dotted the landscape on this trail.

2013-07-14 Cardiff Pass Hike

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Phoebe and I went on a daddy-daughter date by hiking the Cardiff Pass in Alta. The amount of wildflowers were enormous and unbelievable, reminding me of the famous quote from 徐志摩的《日記‧西湖記》『數大便是美』。Ironically we only met a few hikers on the trail (we met Hao Xiang, Xie Jing and Jenny Teng). The reason might be because the trailhead wasn't visibly marked. In fact you have to go through a residential neighborhood and Alta police station. Now is probably the prime time to see these beautiful flowers.

2013-06-30 Willow Lake Hike

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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.

2013-04-28 Living Room Trail Hike (#2)

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The weather is too good to pass up (sunny 76 degrees). So even we had a fellowship picnic on Saturday, many of us still wanted to go hiking. We hiked the Living Room trail near the U campus. It was a shorter hike compared to the Twin Peaks hike last Sunday (2.5 miles vs 4.0 miles), but because of the similar elevation gain, this hike requires much more strength. There were wild flowers blooming in the early spring already. The round trip of this hike is about 2 hours. Everyone enjoy a great reward at the end - a view of the valley sitting on rock couch.

Wild flower on the trail

Best seat in the house (Livingroom)

Near the base of trailhead

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.

2012-09-23 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.

2012-07-01 Twin Lakes Loop Hike (#5)

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感謝神！給我們一個美好的週日下午，讓我們許多家庭一起到Brighton附近的Twin Lakes Loop trail 踏青。山上氣溫舒適，在炎熱的夏日裡是個避暑的好地方，同時山上的野花正開始綻放美麗的顏色，讓我們身心靈裡飽嚐被造之物的美，每個家庭也有一個快樂的親子互動，弟兄姊妹也有融洽的團契交通。不過好一陣子沒有到山裡踏青，忘了帶驅蚊蟲的噴霧器，大家成為食物鍊的一份子，讓饑餓的蚊子大享美食。不過我發現蚊子特別喜歡叮曉東，連穿了襪子的腳，照樣被叮，所以踏青一定要有曉東一起去，這樣我們就有保障。這個link是昨天的踏青相片和腳蹤。