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.

2011-07-31 Brighton Silver Lake Hike (#9)

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We had an early monsoon season (usually occurring in mid to late August in Salt Lake City). However this afternoon's moisture did not ruin the hiking fun after the rain. Because of mud on the trail, we didn't go to Lake Solitude/Twin Lakes as planned. But, Silver Lake was quite different and beautiful. We had a great time at Silver Lake and saw a moose gazing the plants around the lake. Kids also had great time rock climbing and thanks to Jarek for a great job helping these little kids climb up and down. Sister Li Qin (李清) reported seeing a mother moose and 2 baby moose just outside Brighton parking lot when they left, but we missed that because kids needed to make a pee stop. We also welcome Shaofeng back and hiked with us this afternoon.

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.

2011-07-17 Great Western Trail Hike (#7)

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What a great way to escape the heat in the valley! It was 95 degrees and many of our regular hikers were hesitant to go hiking on Sunday afternoon. Those who made it to the summit were enjoying the gentle cool breeze along the trail leading to the top of Big Mountain. Randy, Kathy, Richard and Jane were mountain biking. Richard unfortunately popped his tire and missed the fun ride. Jane didn't have prior experience, so I rode the bike for her. The cloud formation was spectacular and the panoramic view on the top was terrific. It was around mid-70 on the trail. Wild flowers were just starting to bloom. We will come back for the fall color.