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.

2011-09-10 Lofty Lake Loop Hike (#13)

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Mirror Lake Recreation area is in the high Uinta mountain and offers breath-taking view of mountains and lakes. Our hiking group met at church at 10 am Saturday morning to carpool to the trailhead. We had to stop by Mirror Lake picnic area so that Lu Jia can pick up a fee envelop. Luckily Robert Bao has national park pass, so he didn't need to pay. We started the hike around 11:30 am. The weather was quite nice with fluffy clouds and gentle breeze. We stopped at Kamas Lake for lunch. The Lofty Lake was smaller, but incredibly beautiful. Stone-skipping at the lakes was fun for many grown-ups. For trail info, please visit http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1286267