Grotto Falls

We've been getting sporadic awesome weather lately, and a few Saturdays ago I just got it in my head that we should try to go on a short hike.  A quick google search and the shortest hike I could find that we hadn't done before was Grotto Falls - .25 miles each way.  

That's what I'm talkinbout.

So we headed off to Payson with packed PBJs and apples.  

 Though the weather was perfect, I hadn't anticipated the trail being covered in either snow or mud.  It was SO muddy!! Luckily, there was a big mound of snow near where we parked and we could kinda get most of it off our shoes before getting in the car.  (Our pants, however...)

 We got to cross over this creek many times over these nice log bridges.  At first The Frog was really scared, but as you can see, after a few of them, he eventually did it alone, no problem.

 We made it without any crying or complaints from anyone, and I'm glad it was so short, given all the mud.  Hazel was very content in the carrier too - that had stopped us from hiking when The Frog was young because he was not happy unless he was walking himself.

It looked like it would be really fun to splash around in when the weather is hot, but for now, we would have frozen our buns off if we got in the water.

 Peach was perched on a log to eat our sandwiches, and she got all spazy and posed many ways.  It was hard to narrow it down, but these are my two favs.

I love this shot so much, I've changed her picture on the side (finally!)  She has appeared 2 for two long there...

This was so successful, I think we might just brave another, longer hike! :)  Any suggestions, locals?

I'm getting old...

I'm a bit behind posting things...

Jay had a strangely adventurous idea- to hike Timpanogos at night, while our kids were sleeping, and arrive at the top for the sunrise.  This would be the best time to be away from Hazel for so long, since she still nurses.  We are so lucky to have a girl in the neighborhood who was willing to sleep over at our house!!

It was so cute how Jay planned out how much water and how many calories we would need for the hike, and had packed up a backpack with both of our stuff. :)

Although we had both hiked timp once before (separately), unfortunately, neither one of us had hiked it when we were really paying attention to where the trail was.  It turns out, the Stewart Falls trailhead stems from the same parking lot, and in the dark, we set off, at about 11:45pm, there first.  

We got to the end, thinking we couldn't find the rest of the trail.  Then I spotted where we came from and said, "Oh here it is!"  (turns out, hiking in the dark can be confusing, despite our awesome/dorky headlamps)

So we headed back and then realized that we were retracing our steps.  Luckily, we had cell service, and Jay did a little research and found out that, yes, there was another trailhead and we had taken the wrong one. :(

We got back to the parking lot about 2 hours later.  We decided, we could still make it, and made our way up the right trail this time.  However, hence the title of this post, after about 5 minutes of steep incline, I started getting the same feeling a got a lot during this past pregnancy- a strange pain in my right leg/groin area, every time I had to lift my leg.  It wasn't too bad at first, and we had come all this way, so I didn't want to say anything about it.  However, after about 2 hours of hiking, it became unbearable and I knew that even if I could make it to the top, there's no way I'd be able to make it back.

Jay was a good sport and made no issue about turning around.  (and I'm so glad we did!  My leg really hurt the rest of that day!  Happily, it was completely fine when I woke up the next day)

Turns out that hiking down in the dark is much trickier than hiking up!

Even though we didn't make it all the way up, it was still fun to sneak off in the night and be "wild" and adventurous :)  I thought we had better document the night with us in our glory.  (and me sans makeup...)

If you ever want to do it yourself, just be sure you don't take the trail clearly marked "Stewart Falls" (not as clear in the dark...) and dress warmly.  It was much colder than I had expected.

Battle Creek Falls

One of my neighbors recommended hiking Battle Creek Falls in American Fork- it's pretty short (about a mile round-trip) and fairly shaded, so we decided to go hike it on a whim two Saturdays ago when Hazel woke up from her afternoon nap really early.

The Frog was really excited about the "cave" he found.

Peach kept touching her face.  after touching the ground.

 There were a couple of places on the trail where there was a sort of "off trail" nearby that was clearly somewhere people often ventured, but wasn't as cleared as the regular trail.  Our kids preferred the adventure of climbing over fallen limbs and trying to stay as close to the creek as they could.

 Hazel was just happy to be here, as usual :)

The trail doesn't force you to cross the creek, but the "off trail" does.  Of course, The Frog was pleased by this. :)

 We saw a lot of dogs on the hike, and Peach tried to pet them all.  She was pretty sure that, "Mommy, that doggy likes me!"

And here it is!  The end gets a bit steep, so make sure you're wearing shoes with good tread.  (i.e. not my converses...)

Spanish Fork Hot Pots

I realized today that yesterday was one of the last Saturdays where we have nothing going on before Iris leaves town, so I looked over her list of things to do before she leaves and decided we had better go to a hot spring.  I went back and forth between a few and finally decided we should just go all the way and hike the Spanish Fork Hot Pots.  I was really really worried about how well the kids would do a 2.5 hour hike, and I knew with carrying swim stuff and lunches that we wouldn't be able to carry both of them the whole way as well...

I love that you can see Peach's swimsuit tutu poking out!

 But they did surprisingly well!  The Frog walked almost all the way up, with a brief stint in the middle in the stroller.   Peach mostly was carried or rode in the stroller, though if she had her way, she would have walked more of it.

That's right... we brought our STROLLER!  Thank you thank you Phil & Ted's for making an AWESOME stroller that could carry my two kids on rocky paths for multiple miles.  I was terrified the whole time that one of the wheels would get punctured by the terrain, but we made it up and back w/out issues.  There were a couple of times we had to have the kids get out because the path got too narrow and/or steep, but it was mostly mild enough to be ok.  I am not suggestion you try this with an ordinary stroller though, be forewarned.

Iris soaking her feet in the hottest pool

 We got to the top and began stripping down (despite the freezing wind) but Peach wouldn't get in- "too hot!"  And The Frog felt the same way.  Peach seemed quite adamant about not getting in at all, so I coaxed The Frog down to a cooler spot.  However, once we got there, he was creeped out by the moss in that one, so neither of my kids really got in, and as a result, neither did I, since I had to man one of them.

 At least we got some pictures of us at the top!

 It was a nice hike- not too steep and well traveled.  The trail basically followed the creek the whole way up, which means Peach and The Frog would have probably enjoyed it more if we just stayed next to it and threw rocks into it all day.  I think I won't attempt this again until they are both much older... 5 miles is quite far and a long day for them.

 I felt rather stupid on the way up, receiving questioning looks from passers-by.  I was pushing an empty stroller while The Frog walked and Jay carried Peach most of the way, but it was SOOO worth it for the walk back.  While it took 2 hours to get up, we were able to cruise down in less than an hour, thanks to that beautiful contraption- which was needed because we were walking down during nap time and Peach was crying most of the way.  (I think she didn't like how bumpy the ride was, so I relented and carried her for the last 15 minutes of walking.)

PS.  The Frog fell asleep in the car- around 3:15 and slept all night again!!  Well, kinda... he woke up at around 3:30am, (which we suspected he might do) so we gave him a previously made sack lunch and set him up with the iPad, and went back to sleep.  What is with his sleep schedule lately?  Thoughts anyone?