The Ogden 6: Last Days of Summer

Summer is winding down and we've been trying to make the most of it the last couple of weeks. We've been enjoying the mountains and family time at the same time.

Last week Scott, Kevin, Matt and I drove to Silver Lake Flat up American Fork Canyon with Grandma and Grandpa O. and hiked up to Silver Lake. That's a hike we did quite often when I was growing up, but I haven't been up there since, so it brought back a lot of memories. The boys fished and each caught a little brown trout, which we threw back. The wildflowers, cliffs, and lake were beautiful and the boys were goofy.

The day after we hiked to Silver Lake we left for a few days in the Tetons. We stayed in a condo in Teton Village at the base of the Jackson Hole Ski Resort, between the Tetons and Jackson Hole. We had a good time swimming, biking, hiking at Jenny Lake, rafting down the Snake River, and chowing down on BBQ ribs at Bubba's.

After returning from the Tetons, Camille, Matt, Kevin and I hiked to the top of Mt. Timpanogos with Grandpa O. the very next day. It was Matt's first time and he did an awesome job -all 18 miles of it. There was a lot of snow to cross, even thought it's late in the summer and we had to be careful. At the very last tiny spot of snow before reaching the saddle -about a mile before the top- Matt lost his footing and slipped down the snow and some of the dirt at the below the snow. It was kind of traumatic for him and he scraped his stomach and his elbow up, but he calmed down and decided he wanted to keep going because he wanted to make it to the top and slide down the glacier. We were a little nervous when we saw the glacier because it was huge and really steep at the top this year, and most of the people on the trail were turning around and going back the way they came up. We watched a few people go down and they did fine, so we were brave and took the plunge. It was a great ride and took us way down the hill. No walking over rocks this year. Matt did great on the hike down, too, even though his ankle was quite sore. Kevin and Camille were nice to wait for us slow pokes. They finally ran the last two miles and Kevin said he timed himself at an 8 minute mile the last mile! I can't do that when I'm fresh on a smooth surface and not carrying a backpack. Again, the scenery was spectacular -especially the wildflowers. We saw two moose and several mountain goats. I only had my phone, so the pictures aren't great, but it was a gorgeous day. I was sore all over my body the next day, but it was worth it.