Big Springs - Wasatch Mountains July 2005

On Saturday Alene and I rented two backpacks from the U of U's recreation store for $12.50 total which was a great deal because she's a student there in the MBA program. We packed them up and met Alene's sister April and her husband Bill (along with my new nephew Lanik) and drove up Provo Canyon to a road called South Fork. From there we drove up the road a ways until we came to a parking lot and a picnic area. From there we hiked up about a mile with our loaded packs (Caiden even carried my camelpack, which had all of his clothes in it) and camped at a spot across the creek, which was very private and secluded.

I love the outdoors and did a lot of camping when I was younger, but not a lot since I was around 16 or 17. I love camping with Bill because I learn a ton from him about the outdoors. The dude has an awesome memory too. After we set up camp I headed out with him with water bottles to fill them up. As we were walking somewhat in the dark, we came by this big open field and he stopped and said, "There's a spring right over here". I had no idea what he was talking about because all I saw was this big open field. We walked about 20' to the left and rest asured, there was a 3'x3' sized spring coming up out of the ground, very fresh looking. We filtered the water and it tasted great.

The next day we packed most of our stuff up (except our tents) and did a little day hike another mile up or so, to Big Springs. It was amazing and the water was so cold. It felt refreshing to dip my head inside the water.

As we hiked up one trail we saw many other trails break off in other directions or keep going in directions up giant mountain ranges that surrounded us. I was dieing to know where they went and hike up them. It amazed me at how small of an area of utah this was (just a tiny dot on a map) yet I could likely spend weeks exploring just that one area (if I had the time). I know it's not going anywhere so I'll be back.

The next day I ordered two things for Alene and I: 1. A Katadyn Hiker water filter; and 2. A pair of compression stuff sacks for our sleeping bags. Our sleeping bags are huge, so we couldn't stuff them inside and had to hang them on the outside of our backpacks. The compression sacks are going to be helpful in the future.

Hiking up the trail to camp



Caiden's first backpacking trip



At our campsite



The girls played cards in their tent



Morning time



The creek we camped across was flowing pretty fast. Bill made this little footbridge for us to use





I have never seen so many wild ferns.



Alene climbing up a fallen tree



An open meadow



Stopping for a break



Basketball anyone???



We had a curious deer following us around



This was some sort of group site. A fenced off road actually leads up to here; not quite sure who gets to use it



On our way out

Mt Nebo Scenic Loop area camping July 2005

We left for my parents after church on Sunday and hung out there for a bit. Our plan was to head up to the Payson Lakes area, which is part of the Mount Nebo Scenic loop. I've never been up there before, so had no idea what to expect. We don't like to camp in camp-sites, so we planned on just finding a place on the side of the road.

The following went:

Me, Alene, and Caiden










Kristen and John (Friends, Alene works with Kristen)










Amanda, Brock, and their son Jonathan (my sister and her family)










Krystal and Nate (my sister and her husband)










Bobby (one of my brothers)













Alana and Billy (more of my siblings)










So we took a little trip up through Payson and to the back of the town and you take this small road, which w/in 10 minutes becomes some of the most beautiful scenery you can see. It's covered with Aspens and Pine trees. Take away the Aspen trees and you'd think you were in the Sierras (where I grew up). It was beautiful. It took us about 30 minutes total to get up the canyon. Krystal and Nate's car broke down about half way up, so we had to make arrangements. Good thing Bobby's truck was a X-cab and had extra room for them.

We found a dope little campsite and set up. It was so nice being up in that area. I wanted to stay longer, but we only had Sunday night and Monday day.

We had tin foil dinners (mine was cut-up marinated steak strips, and veggies: Delicious). Plus, we had all kinds of snacks/drinks to eat. It was fun just being with family and friends and having a good time. Caiden had a blast too. His favorite part of camping is wearing the headlamp flashlight.












I definitely want to go back up to the area and stay longer to do some more exploring. Here is more info on the nebo loop: http://www.utah.com/byways/nebo_loop.htm