2011-10-30 Bells Canyon Hiking (#20)

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The weather was warm for our #20 hike this Sunday. We went hiking at the Bells Canyon trail in Sandy. Leaves are a bit dried but still beautiful. The water was clean and everyone enjoyed a nice day out in the beautiful Wasatch mountains. Probably the last hike in 2011. Praise the Lord for the 20 hikes we've gone on this year. So many fond memories and highlights. So much breathtaking scenery.

2011-10-09 Willow Lake Hiking (#17)

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After some above normal warm temperature last week, the weather cools down, and suddenly snowed on Thursday (10/5). Ski resorts got about a foot of fresh snow. The wet weather dried out late Saturday evening. Sunday was sunny and warm (still below the average of 68 degrees though). Our group met at church parking lot at 2:30 pm and headed to the trail head in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We had over 40 people hiking this lesser-known trail, but absolutely picturesque lake. This is the third time we hiked this trail. This time, the scene is quite unique: snow plus fall color. The cloud broke after we got to the lake. Our group had great time sharing snacks.

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

2011-09-03 Mt. Timpanogos Summit Hike (#12)

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Saturday (9/3) has been set as the hike of the year. Many people have expressed interest to hike to the summit of Mt. Timpanogos (11,749 feet). This is a 14.5 miles round trip hike and takes about 7-11 hours to complete. We met at church parking lot around 6 am and plan on arriving at the trailhead earlier, hoping to secure a parking space. The Timpooneke trail is so popular that we heard the parking lot is usually full by early morning. We arrived at the American Fork Canyon fee station around 6:50, and saw a sign said the parking lot is full. Later we found out the lot was already full at 3 am. We arrived at the entrance of the trailhead, and were very lucky to be told that there is a small space for our car (I drove my Camry in stead of Highlander). The temperature was very cold and all of us had to put on jacket. We waited for our group to show up, but did not hold much hope because the lot was full. We waied till 7:45 am and decided to begin the hike. Our group finally caught up with us after a few hours. The trail was easier than the Aspen Grove trail that I hiked last year. It was a very pleasant hike. Timpanogos Bain is full of flowers. The view literally took my breath away. It was so beautiful. I finally arrived at the Saddle around noon, and since my legs felt fine, I decided to hike to the summit. The trail to summit was scary at points, but I finally made it at 1:10 pm. The view was awesome.

2011-08-28 Lake Mary Hike (#11)

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Saturday night there was a huge thunder storm with amazing lightning show. By Sunday morning, the sky was clear. We changed the hiking to 3:30 pm to be able to stay at the lake longer. By afternoon, the sky again began to fill with threatening clouds. When we drove pass Solitude, there were some rain drops on the windshield and there was a huge piece of dark cloud on the Brighton side. By the time when we started the hike, these dark cloud moved out, and the sky has some amazing lingering clouds. The pictures looked much better with these lively clouds. We had 33 people on this hike and it is a great way for family bonding. By the way, half way (1/2 mile) into the hike, there is a Dog Lake side trail, and if you look toward northeast, there is a so-called Mickey Mouse rocks on the mountain.

2011-08-21 Cecret Lake Hike (#10)

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After a Saturday afternoon storm, today the sky is clear and hot (around 95 degrees). Our hiking group went hiking to Alta's Cecret Lake trail. We also had a picnic after we reached the lake. The flowers are still vibrant. We are so fortunate to be able to see so many beautiful flowers. IMHO Yosemite is a bit overrated. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons have so many gorgeous places/trails to explore!

2011-08-14 Albion Basin Hike

This year's wild flower festival begins on 7/29. My friend Masami went hiking in Alta on the opening day and told me that there were just a few flowers. So based on the date of the wild flower festival, we can determine that the peak should occur 1 or 2 weeks afterwards. My family and Mark Lam's family went to visit the Albion Basin on Sunday afternoon around 5:30 pm. There were still plenty of light to snap lots of flower photos. This year was extra wet and snowy, making the flowers bloom later than usual. The flowers at Albion Basin were gorgeous and vibrant. I did not bring GND filter, tripod and remote shutter release, but the pictures still turned out pretty, though not as good as if I were to use those equipment.

2011-07-24 Willow Lake Hike (#8)

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The temperature was quite warm in the valley, around 95 degrees. We headed to the trailhead from church parking lot around 3:30 pm. The flowers were blooming on the trail. Solitude still had snow patches on higher elevation mountains. It was always fun to hike with church families.

2011-06-26 Emigration Canyon Ridgeline Trail 2 (#6)

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We were planning on hiking the Great Western Trail to Big Mountain in the East Canyon area. However, due to an extremely wet winter weather, highway 65 from mile posts 3 to 13 is closed through end of June. We made a quick turn back to the Little Mountain summit to hike the Emigration Canyon Ridgeline trail for the second time as a group. Wild flowers in the lower portion of the trail have becoming dried, but upper portion still has different kind but similar color wild flower in full blossom. What a beautiful scene! Randy and I biked the trail. But since there were so many ups and downs, I ditched my bike half way. Randy almost make it to the summit, but had to be held back because we needed to go back and take Mark to dinner. I picked up my bike and headed down on a somewhat steep hill and flipped upside down. Luckily I only had a few scratches on my arm. My knee hit the ground and bled a bit. I had a big bruise on the back side of my right leg that I had no idea how that happen when I fell. Anyway, I was ok and continued to bike down the trail. When we went back to the trailhead, a sister told me that they saw a snake on the trail. I am glad that we did not encounter it on our hike.