It was a fun summer for all of us. We took a camping trip up Logan Canyon near the Rich and Cache County border. Emily and I went up there this last year for the deer hunt and found these cool camping areas for trailer camping. While we were there we did a lot of fun activities and made some fun memories.
At the campsite we chose, Charlotte found some cool bent trees that looked like horses. Emily remembered these trees from deer hunting last year and she called them the Carousel trees. There was also a lot of dirt for Char and Brooklyn to play tea party.
There were also plenty of trees for everyone's hammocks. The kids spent most of the first day just chilling in their hammocks.
The campsite was the perfect middle ground for lots of our activities. We were close to some fun trails to mountain bike, hike, and run on. It was nice and quiet for the first week because we were the only ones in the campsite. It was a great place to camp despite all of the flies and other flying bugs.
Our first adventure of the week was a trip to Tony's Grove. We have become quite fond of Tony's Grove and have gone up there quite a bit every summer.
We had fun playing around in the water, trying to fish, and kayaking. If they had a chance, the kids would spend all day on the kayaks. This lake is the perfect size and you can see the whole thing. We were lucky to find a spot to chill and put all of our stuff because it was pretty crowded.
We also took a day and went to Minnetonka Caves up above Bear Lake. We have not been to this cave for a long time. The last time we went inside the Cave was the first year we move here.
The Minnetonka Cave is a cool underground cave that has stalagmites and stalactites and it is really cold. Inside the Cave, we went underground for about a 1/2 mile. The kids had a great time hiking down and up the stairs. It was so cool to see all of the rock formations and to hear about how they were made and the cave was formed.
Some of the formations even had names like Elsa's Castle, Hogwarts School, the Seven Dwarfs, and more. When we were at the very end of the tour, the guide turned off all of the lights and it was pitch dark! You could not see your hand right in front of you.
While it was dark, the guide asked if anyone had a real diamond and Tiff went up with her wedding ring. The guide took a green laser and pointed it at the diamond and the laser beam refracted off the diamond and the laser went all over the cave. It looked like a disco ball! The limestone and other minerals in the rocks made the laser beams glow all over the cave. It was pretty awesome.
Another day we went to Bear Lake and spent the day playing in the water and eating food. We wanted to go to North Shore and chill, but they do not allow dogs in the park. Our second choice was going to a co-worker's property and hang there. This ended up being really nice because we had the beach to ourselves.
It was quiet and there was a table to eat and Truly could come and hang out with us. The kids got a lot of sun and a lot of water time! The kayaks are always a blast to play on and they love them. If they had a choice they would stay out in the water all day and not come in.
While we were there, Tiff and I got to do a swim workout too. With the Spudman coming up in a couple weeks, we needed all of the open water swim time we could get. The kids had a good time following us as we swam and it was nice to have them there in case we needed a break from swimming. The cool thing about Bear Lake is the water is so clear! It was really like swimming in a pool because through your goggles, you could see clear to the bottom of the lake. This really helped with not panicking while swimming.
An all day trip to Bear Lake would not be complete without a famous raspberry shake! On the way back through town, we stopped by our favorite place and we all had some great flavored shakes.
It was worth it after being on the lake and in the sun all day. The best flavor is definitely Raspberry but the kids chose some other yummy flavors too.
Back at camp, we had the best Corn Hole tournament with the whole family.
It was a good time to just relax and spend with each other. Charlotte was our Corn Hole Queen that day. She was way excited to win and told us all she won.
During the week, Colby, Logan, and I went on a ride on the Little Bear trail just up the road from our camp. It was a fun down hill trail, but we knew the 3.5 miles back up would be no fun. It is always fun taking these two out on a trail. Logan is getting better every time. Colby is always bombing down the trail and going crazy. Tiff and Emily decided to run the trail instead of bike and they also loved the downhill but not so much the uphill.
Another fun hike we did was just up the way from our camp site. It was a short but cool hike called Limber Pine.
This trail was a very family friendly hike and more of a nature walk. Along the way, there were signs giving us different information about the plants and environment we were walking through. There were some big old trees on the trail.
Some were alive like this huge multi trunk tree. From the sign near this tree, we learned that this was one of the oldest trees in this area. We also learned that the reason this tree and other trees like it have multiple trunks is because over the years, squirrels stored their seeds and nuts inside the trees and eventually if the seeds did not get eaten they start to germinate and grow into trees inside of another tree. So technically these trees are multiple trees all growing together in one. Pretty cool right?
Other trees were dead and had fallen over. This tree's root ball was huge. It was a little taller then Colby!
At about the halfway point we came across a little rock garden full of rock cairns. We decided to build one of our own there too.
Throughout the forest, we saw many of these L shaped trees. The kids called them horse trees because they could sit on them like a horse. After reading the sign by the trees, we learned why they grown that way. While the tree was growing, it got buried with heavy snow one winter. The crown part of the tree was bent over and damaged by the snow. Then a secondary branch took over and started growing straight up in the crowns place. Because it was still bent over when it started to regrow, the tree now has that bend permanently. The new growing trunk (after the bend) is also smaller than the original trunk that is in the ground because it has been growing for less years. Nature is pretty cool. I am glad that I have a family that likes to be outdoors and explore different things.
It was cool to spend my 41st birthday on the mountain and chill with the family.
We even got the other Farnsworth clan to come up and party with us. The kids loved hanging out with Mavis and Eloise. They played in the dirt, made a little camp in the trees, and practiced their improv shows on the tailgate of the toy hauler.
I had dutch oven potatoes, BBQ chicken, and peach cobbler for my birthday cake. Oh and homemade Raspberry Ice cream. Yum! Thanks to Logan for cranking the ice cream maker basically the whole time after everyone else got bored with it. It was a great night.
The last fun trip we did was head to White Pine Lake. Tiff has always wanted to hike there from Tony's Grove. I had a mountain bike ride with the team that day, so I rode my bike from the Bunch Grass trail head while the rest of the family went to Tony's Grove and hiked and biked from that trail head.
It was my first time on the Bunch Grass trail so I had only heard two things about it. Expect a lot of climbing and it is about 6 miles up. Oh boy I thought. It was a fun trail though and lot of amazing scenery. I planned on a longer ride and my goal was to get to the top. I rode for 6 miles and I was not at White Pine yet. I was getting a little tired but I kept pushing on. I finally saw someone and he said I had one more hill climb and it's the hardest but I was almost there. Great, I thought. I got to the top and there was everyone from the bike team waiting on me. Oh well I made it. I did make it before the rest of the family though so I got a chance to chill and see the amazing views of White Pine. The lake was awesome. It was well worth the ride and finishing.
Emily and Colby made it not to long after. They had planned to mountain bike up the trail from Tony's Grove but they told me it was a lousy trail and they ended up hiking their bikes for most of it. Tiff, Logan, Charlotte, Brooklyn and Truly hiked the whole way and made it as well.
The hike up to White Pine from Tony's Grove was amazing! It was such a beautiful hike with wild flowers everywhere you looked. We started early so that we could beat the heat and get to the Lake by lunch time. Logan and Charlotte were troopers and hiked along with me. The beginning of the trail was really washed out and rutty. This made it hard for Emily and Colby to ride their bikes. Once we got passed that part though the trail was pretty well marked and good. The trail wound around the mountains and meadows and then up and over the mountain making a steep decent for the last mile. This decent was nice for viewing purposes though because you could look out and see for miles. At about the halfway point there is a fork in the trail. Going left leads you to Mt. Naomi Peak and then on to Green Canyon (if you want to go that far). I would love to go back and hike to Mt. Naomi sometime. We turned right though and continued on to White Pine. After making the steep decent, we finally made it to White Pine Lake and the 4 mile mark of the hike. If I thought the scenery along the tail was great, White Pine was even better!
This is a beautiful lake and a well kept secret. There are camp sites up here for backpackers though so there were actually more people up here than I thought there would be. We took advantage of the peaceful place and rested for a while before heading back.
We all chilled for a while and hiked around the lake. We ate lunch, fueled up, and the boys played in the water. They said the water was way cold. On the other side of the lake there was still some snow left to add to the water being cold. We did not want to leave this amazing place but we knew we had a long way to go still. After about an hour, we decided it was time to head back.
Emily and Colby decided to ride back on the Bunch Grass trail with Russell and do the down hill part. It was fun to see them book it down the hill. They made it back to the parking area way before we made it to the truck to pick them up. They chilled on the side of the road in whatever shade they had and waited.
Logan, Charlotte, Brooklyn, and I made the trek 4 mile back to the truck the same way we came. Brooklyn wanted to walk so she walked for a good mile before the trail started getting really steep. She loved running along with the big kids and jumping off every rock she would find.
When the trail got steep, we knew we were now climbing that big decent from before. This time though it was a huge ascent. I knew it was a mile of climbing so I told Logan I was going to take it slowly especially with a 50 lb pack carrying Brooklyn. I was wishing I had remembered to bring my trekking poles for support... Finally I had Logan and Charlotte find me two long straight sticks I could use as trekking poles. Logan was on the hunt and found me some great sticks. Those sticks were a big help climbing up that mountain. Charlotte was also getting tired so I gave her one of the sticks and told her to just take it slowly like me. We finally made it up the mile climb and I was so glad when the trail flattened out and even started to decline. We walked for a little bit more before stopping at a small grove with a big log to sit on. We sat down and rested our legs and my back. Brooklyn was asleep so I didn't want to wake her up by taking off the pack. We ate some more snacks and then headed on our way after our rest. We continued on making pretty good time and finally made it back to Tony's Grove. We were all tired by this point but I was so glad to have done the hike. We hiked a total of 8 miles and climbed 1,350 feet. I think that is pretty awesome kids! Good job! This hike was on my Summer Bucket List and I was happy to check it off. I would definitely do it again.
Everyone was really tired the rest of the day so we just chilled. All of our Garmin watches said our body battery was empty.
The next day we packed up our camp and headed home. This was a great camping trip and a lot of memories were made. If only everyday could be spent on the mountain!
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