Who doesn't love to get up and close to hot air balloons?
An annual event every 4th of July in Provo, the Balloon Fest allows you to get as close as you possibly can to the balloons, except for actually being in the basket - which would be nice to do also!
There usually is about 15-20 balloons at the park, and you arrive around 6am to watch the balloons get ready to launch, and finally launch. You can walk around, see the different balloons, and be right up close to all of them. It doesn't sound very fun, but it is a lot of fun to see it all.
We've never been to the Uinta Mountain Range before, and it's pretty close - about and hour and half way at the most. The drive is beautiful. The Unita Mountain Range is rare because it runs East to West. Most mountain ranges run from North to South. The Uinta Range is the largest and highest range running from East to West in the United States. It also has Utah's highest peak as part of the range.
Mirror Lake is at the top of the Uintas, but because of the high elevation, it has snow until about late July. We went the first week in June, so we couldn't go very high. We camped about 3 miles down from the snow line, but it wasn't cold at all. Matt and Marissa and Corey and Meghan came as well. It was actually their idea, and we tagged along. Matt and Marissa went up early to get a campsite, as they are first come/first serve, and they got us a good one. Big and right next to toilet! No hunting around for trees and pine cones.
The next day, we went exploring to Provo Falls, which is HUGE! The falls keep going and going and you can walk along the whole way. It was so pretty and the water flow was very rapid due to all the snowmelt. We also went up a few more miles and then on a short hike, maybe 1/2 mile or so to a small lake. The edges of the lake were still slightly frozen. We had fun skipping rocks, and throwing big rocks through the ice.
We had a great time!
Mama was trying out the hatchet
This small creek was next to the camping area
Matt is guarding the fire
These are cinnamon rolls - twist them around your hot dog roaster, and with the right patience and coals, they turn out really good!
Provo Falls
The falls were so loud and so pretty! These photos don't even come close
This is the small lake we hiked to
Not sure what Meghan and Hannah are doing here.....
This ominous sign was on the spillway
Meghan was showing up her limbo skills
These are super deluxe smores. Take a sugar cone, put in reeses pieces, chocolate, marshmallows, butterscotch chips, and wrap it all up in foil.
We see it every day. We talk about hiking the Y all the time, just have never done it.
The Y itself is 380 feet high and 130 feet wide. It's larger than the letters in the Hollywood sign.
The trail though is steep, but short. It's only 1.2 miles each way, but you go through a series of switchbacks and the elevation gain is just about 1000 feet - which is a lot in that short of a distance. The trail is all in the sun, so going early/late in the day is important!
The payoff however, is the view, which is fantastic!
Finally! A bench to rest on about half way up
Of course Jacob went exploring on the way up. We found some geocaches as well.
Finally! We can see it!
On top of the Y looking down. It's bumpy and not very white. But from down below, it looks white and smooth!
