Friday, July 31, 2009

Issue 62

Hiking the Uintas

We were lucky enough to spend the 23rd and 24th of July camping in the Uintas, where it was gorgeous and about 30 degrees cooler than the valley. We tented next to a beautiful lake and the next morning started out on the trail to Twin Lakes. About 3/4ths of the way there I was dying for a snack, so we stopped in the shade for me to pull an apple from the pack. It was only then that the horrible realization hit us. We had left the food pack back at the car! Tip - if you pack your fishing gear in a blue back pack and your food in a blue back pack, remember to make sure you have both with you! The whole way up I assumed Steve had the food on his back. Well, needless to say, we had to modify our plans a bit. We hiked back down about a half mile to Wall Lake and Steve and the kids started fishing. Then Steve L. and I started the trek back down the mountain to recover our food. I should note here that my husband did offer to go down to the car and bring back our lunch, but I knew that I would be eating much sooner if I went for it myself. The extra 2 miles hiking seems a small price to pay when you are 11 weeks pregnant and starving! So we made the trek, and arrived at the car exactly 2 hours after leaving it. We quickly ate our lunch and Steve L. carried the pack with the rest of the food all the way back to Wall lake. Our rescue mission allowed us to stay fishing for about 4 hours with great success. Janey prayed that we would all catch a fish, and guess what? Everyone did! One after another, everyone pulled one beautiful trout out of the lake apiece. (Except for Mom who didn't have a fishing licence and was content to lay on the shore watching everyone fish after her extra long hike.) Dad cleaned the fish and we brought the home and grilled them up for dinner. We were so proud of the kids who all ate their own fish with a hearty appetite.