My Learning Safari: The Great Outdoors

Despite some smoky days, I got to spend some good time in the great outdoors at the end of June. One outing was a hike up Mt. Cutler as part of a friend's birthday fun. The smoke hanging in the mountains and across the city gave it a totally different look up there. It was a little bit eerie, but also made for some cool colors in the sunset.

Smoky sunset

A new little perch at the top

Not your typical early evening view in the canyon

Bye sun!

You can usually see the city from here

We still had a great hike. Happy Birthday Christine!

Then I got to take a weekend trip to Eleven Mile Canyon with some people from my missional community through church. Little did I know that I was about to discover a little gem that I had somehow never known about before. This beautiful little getaway is only about a 45 minute drive from my house. Why have I never been here before?

Our plan was actually to camp in the canyon. But as soon as we pulled in we saw the sign that said all campsites were full. Oops! I guess we should have made reservations ahead of time. We don't plan that far ahead. No problem though. We were able to drive just little ways down the road where they have some random campsites. It actually turned out to be really nice because it was way more secluded. There wasn't a sound out there!

We quickly set up camp and immediately dug into a
refreshing, juicy watermelon!

Because of how dry it has been and all the wildfires, we weren't have to have a campfire. It definitely takes away from the camping experience a bit. We made due with a lantern and citronella candle. The lantern was enough light for us to see the dice while we played Farkle. So maybe I should say there wasn't a sound out there except for the 5 of us screaming "Farkle, hahahahahah!!!!!" No fire also means s'mores with a non-roasted marshmallow.

Good thing my new honey marshmallows are extra soft.

We woke up to a beautiful, warm day.

We had a gourmet breakfast complete with coffee, scrambled
eggs with salsa & cheese, hash browns, and ...

bacon!!!

As soon as we packed up camp, we headed into the canyon. I got to ride in on Sara's mountain bike! It made the entrance even more fun and breathtaking. The canyon is obviously named Eleven Mile Canyon for a reason. There is a beautiful rushing river running through the entire canyon, making it perfect for fly fishing and rock climbing. We let the boys go off rock climbing for the morning, while we hung out and played games.

Then in the afternoon it was the girls' turn to go off on a little hiking adventure of our own.

There's the river

I guess it's rushing in parts and more calm in parts, like this

Lots of families out enjoying the water

On our hike, we also saw evidence of a wildfire that took
a toll on the area a couple of years ago. It's crazy to see, but
also encouraging to see the new growth.

This was one of those times when I though it would be so
cool to climb up on top of a big rock, and then I realized
how hard it was to get down. But isn't that little tree cool?! :)

To end the trip, I drove Sara & Jordan up into the canyon
so they could bike out. What a great couple!

I will definitely be visiting this place again and would highly recommend it to anyone in the area. In such a short amount of time, I felt like I had totally gotten away and felt no where close to a city. It was quite the rejuvenating weekend.

Here's a follow up to how I celebrated some of the random holidays I suggested a the end of my last post: