Homecoming

 Homecoming 2025!

Homecoming this year was very fun and super eventful.  This year I got asked to the Homecoming dance by a guy on the cross country team named Ethan Jenks.  He is a really nice guy and a was super fun date.

We had a lot of fun people in our group.  For the day date we went to Toads, a fun center in Ogden.  We played arcade games and laser tag.  Nate, a guy in our group, was really proud that he had the highest score out of all of us in laser tag.  Also from the arcade games we got giant bouncy balls.  The coolest part of the day-date was the go-carts.  I won everyone by a long shot and even lapped a couple people.  Ethan was mad that he got ran into by the other girls on our group.  We all had a blast.  After having fun a Toads we went to Chic-Fil-A for lunch.

Getting ready for the dance was definitely a group effort with grandparents and cousin over visiting. Mom, Grandma and Becca helped me get dressed up  and hair done pretty. It took Dad, Grandma, and I just to put on Ethan's boutonniere. It was so embarrassing.  Poor Ethan was blushing and so was I...

It was a blast to dress up so pretty for the dance, I felt like a princess.

We then did pictures by the Hyrum Library.  The lady who did out pictures did a really good job. I really liked how they turned out.

My heels in the grass were annoying though. They kept poking holes in the grass.

A girl in our group does nails and she did the girls' nails so we would all have super cute nails.  She did a really good job.

This group was such a fun group because we all knew each other from cross country and they are all so fun to hangout with.

After pictures we went to Beehive Grill and had some really good food.  We were all stuffed.  After dinner getting out of the small parking lot was a struggle because Ethan's mini van had no power steering.  On the drive over to the dance we were all tired and full of food and we saw Ethan's true side.  He was super funny and acting like Gru from Despicable Me because he really wanted to beat the others in our group to the dance.  Our group was split into two cars, Ethan's and Nate's.  Nate's car always beat us to the different places we were going but after dinner we were finally a head of them going to the dance.  We joked that we thought someone put something in Ethan's food at Beehive he was acting so competitive and funny.

At the dance it was super fun.  We met up with others on the cross country team and we all hung out and danced together.  There was a mash pit for one of the songs and I almost got trampled.  So after that I stayed out and just danced away from the mash pits.

The Homecoming dance was a lot of fun with a super fun group and a really nice date.  We had fun hanging out and getting to know each other better.  I really glad that I was asked by Ethan.

During the homecoming week we had the homecoming parade.  Before the homecoming parade though Lily, Ethan, Heidi, and I were able to sneak off before the parade started and go to Ethan's house for some Creamies. Yum!

The parade was fun and we threw lots of candy.  I was in the parade wearing my highlighter orange on the cross country float, and Logan and Colby were on their bikes with the mountain bike team. Afterwards we went back to the school and watched the powder puff game.  I was bummed because they only let Seniors play in the Powder-puff game this year.  Usually they let Juniors so I was looking forward to it.  Oh well, next year.  Homecoming was really fun!

Teton 50 Miler: Day 5: Going Home

 The morning of the final day was a little bittersweet.  We were happy it was our final day of hiking but we were sad to leave everyone and this experience.  We all wanted showers and a real bathroom for sure but then could we just come back?

Before we started hiking for the day, Dawna gathered us all around and showed us the map of the trail we had hiked over the past week.  Looking at the map and the grand plan of the hike after experiencing it, just made it more spectacular in my mind.   

We had covered so much ground and had learned so much along the way. Not only about the terrain and how to filter water but about ourselves and the girls we were with. 

Well it was time to begin our final hike.  Our end goal for the day was to make it back to the trucks.  Our packs were a little lighter which was nice and we had smiles on our faces.  We also knew we had about 10 more miles to hike that day though and it would not be easy.

The steak dinner we had the night before gave us the energy we needed.  Today we decided to all stick together for the most part instead of splitting into two groups.  Because of this, I got to know some of the girls in the other group a little better.  

We followed the river most of the way and it was really pretty.  Then the trail turned up the mountain as we climbed to go up and over it.  While walking we spotted these prints in the mud:

No they were not the prints of a dog, they were the prints of a big wolf...  and they were pretty fresh...  This gave us all a little start and we kept looking around watching for the wolf.  I just knew it would jump out at us from the rocks above.  This was another reason why we decided to all stick together this day.  Luckily no wolf attacks happened.  I think the reason we didn't see any big wildlife this week was because we were a little too loud with all of our talking, laughing, and singing.  Oh well.

At the top of the trail, we came across this cool lookout point that looked over the river and a waterfall.

We all stopped and rested for a while so we could admire the incredible view.  The water was rushing so fast and it was loud.  Some of the more adventurous girls hiked down to the river and were able to get a better look at the waterfall.  We could see it from above but the view was obstructed a little by boulders.  The girls came back and reported about the awesome sight and said they could feel the water spray.

When we started this hike a week ago, the girls found out that the Datwyler's were also out on horseback hiking through the wilderness somewhere.  All of the girls were hoping to catch a glimpse of Spencer at some point along the trail.  Well all of their hopes and dreams came true on this last day as Spencer and his dad passed us along the trail!  It was so funny to watch the girls just stand a little straighter and smooth their matted hair and bat their eyelashes as he rode by.  Spencer was totally oblivious and just rode on passed without even looking our way!  Inside I had to laugh so hard. Just seeing a boy that was not Chet or Casey after a week just made their day!

We ate lunch near this cool bridge.  All of the girls wanted to dip their feet in the water while we were here.  We made sure to fill all of our water bottles because it was going to be a long dusty trail the rest of the way.  After crossing the bridge we would be going away from the river.

The craziest thing for me was noticing the direction the water was flowing.  All week the rivers have been running left to right or north to south.  But this river under the bridge was flowing the opposite way.  It was going  right to left and west to east.  I stared at the water for quite a while before asking if I was going crazy.  Shawn said I was not going crazy and the river was flowing a different direction because it was a different river.  As we crossed the bridge, we could look down and see where this river flowed into the main river we had been following and then start flowing the "correct" direction.  I don't know why, maybe exhaustion, but that was mind-blowing to me at the time!

After the bridge was a very steep climb.  Like on the climb to the Crater Lake Overlook, we just put our nose to the ground and plugged along up the hill.  There was not much talking, we all went at our own pace and didn't stop until we got to the top.  It was steep and very warm but we made it.  That was one of our last steep inclines.  The trail from there followed along the mountain line through the trees and finally crested at the top.  From there, we could look out and see for miles. 

We could see the three peaks of the Grand Tetons in the distance.  We could also see the meadow where we had parked the trucks. We were almost there!  The rest of the trail was downhill to the meadow.

The downhill was a nice change and the landscape started to look familiar.  At the crossroads, we could either continue straight and make the 50 mile trek all over again or we could turn left and head back to the truck!  We, of course, chose to go left.  The final climb up the Dug-way proved to be our final trial.  Once again we took our own pace and didn't look back or stop until we had reached the parking lot.  We all seemed to stagger in one at a time but that was okay.  Each time we saw a girl come through the trail head gates, we would cheer and cheer for them!  We had made it! We accomplished our goal!  We fought the good fight and finished our course!  We hiked 10 miles this day getting us pretty close to 50 miles for the week.

We all just dropped our packs and breathed a sigh of relief.  Dawna laughed at our sweaty backs and took a picture of us.  After resting for a minute, we all rushed to the water spigot and literally started "bathing!"  The soap and water spit bath never felt so good!  We also changed into cleaner clothes and some girls washed their hair.  

For me, I was so happy to see that nasty pit toilet that I didn't even care how dirty it was, I just sat down and signed with relief at the comfort of sitting on a toilet seat!  

Dawna and Casey had the horses loaded and ready to leave by the time we got back so they wanted to hit the road.  The hikers were too busy getting clean to care about driving 4 hours though.  Finally the trucks started pulling out so we knew we had better get in if we wanted a ride home.  On the way home, we stopped in Jackson to get a Subway.  The real food tasted really good!  

I thought we would sleep the whole ride home but we were too busy laughing.  Once again we were entertained by Miss Rosie.  Dawna also gave us a CD to listen to on the ride home.  Well the CD was full of silly kid songs and we all laughed at every song.  Casey was going crazy listening to all of the songs which made it even funnier.  He finally yanked the CD out of the player and said "Oh darn the CD player is broken!"  

We finally made it home and Emily and I could not stop telling all of the fun stories about the trip.  The warm shower felt amazing and my nice soft bed welcomed me home!  

This was a very memorable trip and I am so glad I had the opportunity to participate in this High Adventure.  I am grateful to our neighbor, Kurt, for letting us borrow all of his backpacking gear like his tent, sleeping bags, and a backpack.  We could not have done it with out his expert tips and tricks.  We are also grateful for Dawna and all of the time and effort she put in to getting us ready, setting everything up, and taking care of us on the trip.  It wouldn't have happened without her.  This is something I will always remember.  I am glad I was able to spent this time with Emily.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Teton 50 Miler: Day 4: The Long Day

On the morning of Day 4, we wanted to get an earlier start because this would be our longest hiking day. We got up early and set down the tents.  While the tents were drying out, we made breakfast and packed our bags.  Luckily the tents seemed to dry quicker than the first day so we were able to get packed and ready sooner. Thankfully I woke up and my eye was much better.  It was no longer blurry and I could see just fine.  I did wear my sunglasses the whole day though just for protection.  

The sunrise over our campsite was so pretty.  Out in the meadow, we watched a deer walk along and graze in the grass.  We took that as a good sign for the day.

The first few miles of our hike this morning was back tracking through the area we had hiked on the second day.  We passed the frog pond and a portion of the burn area.  We saw more bear tracks but saw no bears.  Around the area the pack horses caught up to us on the second day is where the trail took a turn off to the south.  This is where we turned today.  This trail took us to the south so instead of taking just an out and back course, we would be making a circle course around the mountain.  This trail was just as rugged if not more.  None the less though, it was still beautiful country.

Having our heavy packs on again was not as fun as hiking without them like the day before.  The packs were getting a little lighter though because we had been eating the food weight along the way.  We still stopped every so often to take breaks.  Especially on areas of steep incline or at stream crossings.  Emily thought she could just sit anywhere like in a tree!  Just kidding there was a log back there it just looked funny from this angle. When there was place to sit, we sat!

We crossed a lot of rivers this day.  The first big one was a little sketchy.  We really had to have good balance.

Throughout the day, we hiked through some big meadows full of pretty wildflowers.  

At one point we hiked passed an old cabin.  This was really strange to see because we had not seen any type of civilization all week.  I think this cabin was an old ranger station or outpost.  It was very rustic.  Once again the scenery around us was amazing.  From one point we could look up and see the Crater Lake Overlook mountain we were on the day before. It was hard to believe we were just on top of that distant mountain.

As we continued on, the pack team caught up with us as we ascended one of the mountains in a burned out area.  As we crested the hill, the team came up after us.  Watching the horse train come along was like watching a parade.  We all waved and cheered.  I stuck out my thumb hoping to hitch a ride but no such luck.

As they passed though, Dawna handed us some snacks and lemon drop candy so it really was like a parade!  After making sure we were all okay, they continued on to our new campsite to have it ready for us when we arrived.

While walking up the mountain through the burned out area, we heard a loud thrashing through the trees and crashing of tree branches.  We had know idea what it was so we just stopped and looked around.  Then through the trees to the mountain side, we saw a whole herd of elk stampeding away from us into the forest.  They were far enough away that we were not nervous or anything but we were amazed at the speed and size of the herd.  This was the only wildlife we saw the whole week!  Well besides squirrels, birds, and deer.

When it came time to eat lunch, we found this shady area on the trail and just laid out on either side of the trail.  It was nice to sit and relax for a while.  But then it started to rain...  We had been watching the clouds roll in all day but were hoping we would be fine.  

We all grabbed our rain gear and wrapped our packs to protect them from getting wet and hiked on.  Thankfully it was just a sprinkle and not a downpour.  We stayed relatively dry especially walking though the trees.

While hiking this week we crossed paths with a few other hikers and chatted with them for a few minutes.  This part of the trail is part of the Continental Divide Trail that runs from Mexico to Canada.  Today we met up with a lady that was hiking the whole trail alone!  She started near the Mexico border and had been hiking for 99 days when we met her.  She said she had about 1,000 more miles to go and about a month or so to finish.  We were all amazed at her determination.  We were also shocked at how much lighter she was packed than we were!  She was very friendly too.  We wished her luck as she headed one way and we headed the other. Once out of her earshot, we told all of the girls to never hike alone!

A few more miles down the road, we made it to the summit of our hike for the day.  The rest of the trail would be downhill to the camp.  We had to take a few pictures at the top.

We were still decked out in our rain gear because it had not quite stopped raining yet.  In the picture of the group, you can see our next campsite way in the back at the bottom of the meadow behind us.  We still had some miles to go and we were getting tired.  Instead of hiking straight to camp through, we decided to take a little side jaunt to a really incredible waterfall.  The waterfall was about a half a mile off the trail so we just dropped our packs and walked freely to it.  This place was definitely worth the extra miles.

The falls were spectacular and the gorge below was breathtaking.  We all just laid down and looked over the edge to see the pretty, clear pools of water below us.  Some girls joked about cliff jumping into the pools but then we didn't know how they would ever get back up to us.  Instead we just admired the emerald canyon from above.  

Walking back to the trail, we picked up our packs and continued on.  Finally we arrived at camp which was another nice site near the river bank.  The views up and down the river were wonderful.

Once again, the water felt really great on our feet!  Some girls were really hurting after the hike today.  Some of their feet were badly blistered.  Throughout the week we used up a lot of bandages, moleskin, and duct tape on our feet!  While everyone was bandaging and resting, Emily, the Zooks, and I filled all of the water bottles and filters with water so they wouldn't have to hike down to the river.  

That night Dawna and the other pack horse crew treated us to a delicious steak dinner!! We had steak and dutch oven potatoes.  IT WAS SO GOOD! After hiking for four days and living off of freeze dried meals and trail mix, the steak tasted like manna from heaven.  We all ate seconds and some even thirds.  

After cleaning up dinner and getting ready for bed, we spent the final night around the campfire talking.

We talked about virtue and being virtuous.  We talked about setting goals and working hard to accomplish them.  We reminisced about the hike thus far and realized that we had been faced with trials and hard things and we had overcome them.  We had endured and the next day we would finish strong accomplishing something we had put our minds to several months ago.   

The discussion was so good and we were all enthralled when all of a sudden the horses started screaming.  Then we were all screaming!  Casey and Chet grabbed their guns and ran toward the horses hobbled not far away.  We were all scared to death!  It turned out to be nothing and the horses were just fighting but it sure ruined the mood...

We were all still kind of shaken up but Dawna had one more thing for us to do.  She wanted us to experience the universe.  She had a big tarp laid out and we all laid down on the tarp and huddled together for warmth.  Then we all looked up at the stars together.  The clouds had gone and all you could see forever were stars.  Looking at the giant sky made you feel so small but so happy to exist.  The stars were so bright and we were even able to see a few shooting stars.  Despite the cold, it was relaxing to just look up at the galaxies.

That night we went to bed with a mix of feelings.  We were excited and sad that this was our last night of the trip.  Tomorrow we would be home in our own beds.  We hiked 12 miles this day.

Teton 50 Miler: Day 3: Big Spring & Crater Lake Lookout

Day 3 of this backpacking adventure was really fun.  We got to see some amazing sites and views and we all seemed to have an energy boost today.  The best part was we did not have to carry our heavy packs today!  Since we were staying at the same camp area for another night, we just left all of our gear at the camp site and hiked with much lighter day packs.  This gave all of us a boost and we could hike much faster without all the extra weight.  Today we would be hiking to the Crater Late Overlook the pinnacle of our week.

But first, we enjoyed the hike to get there.  Our first stop was Big Spring. 

This place was literally unbelievable!  The water for this giant spring literally came out of the mountain.  There was no river or inlet, the water just flowed out of the rocks down into the river below.

To get around the spring we climbed up and around the top of the spring.  We could see the waterline where the water was coming out of the mountain and we walked above that on dry land to get to the other side.  We were witnessing a miracle of nature.  On the other side of the spring we had to do some canyoneering and ravine jumping to get over the river to the trail on the other side but it was definitely a remember-able experience.  When we got down to the rest of the group, Dawna told us there was an much easier way just down the trail a bit where all we would have had to do was cross a log.  We said, "Oh where's the fun in that!"  

Big Springs was such a beautiful area.  We could have stayed here and called it a day but we had to keep going to our goal of Crater Lake.

The next part of the trail was through another part of the burn area.

There were more black skeleton trees and more pretty fireweed.  The nice thing about it was we could see through the trees pretty clearly just in case of bears.

Next we came to a little peep hole in the rock.  I can't remember what it was really called.

Emily and the girls decided to become mountain climbers and climb through the hole.  The whole rock formation was made of conglomerate so there were many foot holds making the climbing up pretty easy.  Once on top they all posed for a picture.  Then it was time to climb down.  This was another story.  Emily had a hard time coming down because the foot holds were harder to see.  At one point she slipped and banged her knee.  After some coaching from Shawn and me, she was able to slide down to safety with no harm done.

As we passed the peep hole rock, we walked into this beautiful meadow full of wildflowers and there was Crater Lake!

The Lake was not our final destination though.  The top of the mountain above the lake was where we were headed.  Emily is pointing to our finish line.  We all spent some rest time filling up our water before making the long stretch uphill to the summit.  From this point, the trail was straight uphill with lots of switchbacks for a good mile.  Before starting we just told everyone to go at their own pace, put our nose to the ground, and just make it up the mountain.  There was no group it was just go.  The view along the way was pretty awesome.  This first picture is from about half way up.

Finally we made it to the top!  Wow what a climb but what a view!

We were quite literally on top of the world!  We could see for miles around us.  To the west you could see the Grand Tetons and that amazing view.  To the east the mountains rolled on forever.  It was amazing to just look around and see the breathtaking views of this beautiful earth. Below us we could see all of Crater Lake as well as the Teton Wilderness we had just trekked through over the last few days.  We could even see our campsite through binoculars. It was astonishing to see how far we had come!  

At the top, we all gathered and had lunch together.  Dawna even brought us some cheese, crackers, and carrots to share.  It was nice to relax on the mountain and just chill.  While we were together, we talked about making a mark in our lives and having the integrity and virtue to make the right choices and a lasting mark on those around you.  We all signed a pledge and a flag stating that we would be virtuous, and we would stand strong.  We had worked hard to get to where we were and we would not let anyone take us down.  We posted the flag at the top of the mountain as a symbol of our pledge.

This flag was our banner to those who would come after us that we were strong virtuous women.  Posting it at the top was a way for us to look back and see how far we had come and also to look forward to see our potential and how far we can go.  It was pretty awesome!

The trek back down the mountain was not as hard as going up except for the first part.  During the initial few 100 yards down, there was no trail and we were literally sliding on our butts so that we didn't slide down the hill.

Now there was a better trail (the one we came up) but that would be backtracking.  This was the "shortcut" straight down.  Always an adventure!

When we made it back down to the lake, we all stopped and hung out on the shore for a while.  Nora and Chet made a homemade fishing pole out of a stick and a Mountain Dew bottle and Nora wanted to try it out.

Nora tried casting over and over again and was doing a great job of it considering the homemade pole but sadly she did not catch anything.  We all watched her for a while and then we walked around the lake for a minute.  Chet and Casey had packed their fishing poles and were excited to go fishing on the other side of the lake.  They told all of us they would bring home enough fish for us to have a fish fry tonight.  We were all excited about that!  Nora stayed behind to go fishing with them and her pole while the rest of us started hiking back to camp.  While fishing, Chet tried out the homemade pole and was able to get a fish to nibble but was unable to reel it in.  Luckily they had real poles and were able to bring home quite a few fish for us.

On the way back, it started raining on us. We pulled out our rain jackets and continued to trek on.  We hiked passed the peep hole rock, through the burned area, and back to Big Springs.  The girls I was with wanted to get back to camp as fast as possible for some reason so we ended up trail running most of the way.  Thankfully it was downhill so I could keep up.  

When we got to Big Springs, instead of climbing around the Spring, we found the easier path across a log.

We all made it across safely.  Then, when Lauren crossed, her water bottle slipped out and fell into the rushing river below!  We followed it down for a ways hoping it would snag on a bush or something but it was a goner. We felt so bad!  Luckily she did have an extra water container back at the camp so she would be okay for the rest of the week.

Back at camp, we all sat around the campfire getting warmed up from being in the rain hiking back.  A few of girls were muddy and needed their shoes dried out.  

While helping set up a rain cover over our cooking area, I got whacked in the eye with a willow branch. It hurt so bad and I could not see for a while.  My vision was blurred so bad that I had to put a ton of drops in it and go in the tent and close my eyes for about an hour before I could see enough to function.  I was so worried that I had messed up my Lasik surgery because it seemed like I had scratched the flap over my eye.  While sitting in the tent with my eye closed, I was praying so hard that my eye would be fine and that it would stop raining so we could finish our trip without any more problems.  After about an hour, I could see a little better so I knew my prayer had been answered.  By the next morning, my eye was much better and I could see again.  The predicted rain storm had also cleared in the night and our tents were not wet.  Another answered prayer!

Chet and Casey did make good on their promise and brought back fish for everyone.  Sadly neither Emily or I had any of the fish.  I didn't have any because I was blind and Emily didn't because she was too worried about me.  Everyone else said the fish were delicious.  We are sad we missed out.  

That night we tried to get as much sleep as possible because we would be packing up in the morning and taking on our longest hike yet.  Today we hiked 11 miles.