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Clint and I tried to make plans to do a bit of hiking in the cottonwoods this weekend but due to the current snow levels we decided to try something that has been sitting on my ‘to do’ list for the last few months. We met at the parking lot at the base of Park City Mountain Resort and purchased an $11 scenic lift ticket to save a bit of hiking time, after the long ride we made a short hike over to the area of the Silver King mine.

The first building we encountered was welded and chained shut but after a bit of looking around we found a way inside. Entering this building is a VERY bad idea .. rotting wood floors, collapsed ceilings, rusty nails, broken glass, displaced objects, and mine shafts makes this a dangerous place. We carefully picked our though the Silver King taking a our photos.

We exited the building and started hiking up the mountain toward our next destination under dark skies, rolling thunder and a bit of rain. We followed the route I had mapped out on my GPS and three miles later we arrived at the Thaynes Canyon Mine when the rain really started to come down. We found our way in (also a bad idea for reasons listed above) and started taking our photos.

When the rain let up we hiked up Thaynes Canyon a bit further to see the collapsed California Comstock mine. This site looked as if it could topple over at any moment.

The thunder was still rolling as we headed back down to the Thaynes mine. We hiked up the tailings pile and took shelter under the large convayer belts as the rain came down again. Twenty minutes later we were shooting our last photos of this site before we headed back towards the Sliver King.

The largest building in the Sliver King complex was very impressive, It has at least 8 levels and was constructed on a very steep hill. The lower levels are a tetanus shot waiting to happen with tons of debris form collapsed ceilings and pieces of broken equipment littered across the floors. I didn’t not take of shots of the outside to due rain but we spent a fair amount of time exploring the inside.

Here is a photo of this building in 1902.

Ground level

We made it back to the top of the lift at 4:30pm the track log in the GPS registered 6.88 miles. Not a bad little outing for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Last month April and I made a trip to Capitol Reef without the boys and have ever since been excited to get down there with them. The Boys had not been camping in a few weeks so they were itching to get out as much as we were. We were a bit worried about getting a site in the Fruita campground on Friday so we left late Thursday and camped at Fish Lake less than an hour outside Capitol Reef. We arrived in Fish Lake with just enough time to set up the tent in the dark and take a few photos before we called it night due to the cold.

Star shot in camp.

It was pretty cold in the morning so we packed up camp and made a quick drive around the lake.

After a quick stop in Torrey we picked out our campsite in Fruita and walked around the orchards. The boys really enjoyed the barn and the old farm equipment scattered across Fruita.

We started our first hike of the trip at 11am. We parked at the Capitol Reef visitors center, put Bowen in his backpack and started our hike up Sulphur creek. After the second stream crossing Lanik abandoned his shoes and hiked the creek barefoot.

We hiked up the creek about one mile to the first waterfall and let the kids play in the water and mud for about an hour before we hiked back down to the visitors center by 1pm.

Bowen decided to take a nap in his car seat so we drove down highway 24 along the Freemont river. We headed south beyond Notom to take a few photos of the reef then headed back to the waterfall on the Freemont river for a quick swim.

We made the boys a late lunch then drove up to Panorama point and the Goosenecks overlook then back down to Fruita to walk around the main park with the boys and play frisbee.

Lanik watching the Deer.

Britney and Brayden arrived in Fruita just before dark, we helped her set up camp and then Bowen and I drove back up to Panorama point to get photos of the incoming thunderstorm.

As I was taking photos the rain started to come down and did not let up until around midnight. We woke up to blue skies and started off the day by hiking up to Hickman Bridge.

April on top of a small pothole arch on the way to Hickman Bridge.

Our crew under the bridge.

After we hiked Hickman Lanik wanted nothing more than to go hiking in Sulphur creek again. This time April dropped me off at the Chimney Rock trail head and I hiked the entire length of the canyon while they parked and the visitors center and hiked up to play in the waterfall just like the day before.

This was one of the greatest hikes I have ever done with countless steam crossings in the shallow water. There are two large waterfalls that were both easily bypassed on the right side. Aside from the area around the waterfalls the route is a very easy hike so I was able to hike at a very fast pace. I completed the 5-6 mile hike to the visitor center in just under 2 hours.

Next time I am going to make a day of this hike, blasting it was fun but it would be more enjoyable at a slower pace.

First waterfall.

Soon we were back in at Fruita watching the kids run around camp as I laid in the hammock. After snacks and a bit of rest we drove into Torrey to grab a quick shower. We then all crammed into our car and headed out towards Grand Wash where I dropped April, Brittany, Brayden and Bowen off and Lanik and I drove around the reef to start hiking up the wash from the other side. We made a few quick stops along the way to take some photos before we started our hike.

Grand Wash

Just like the night before a thunderstorm rolled in and blocked out the sunset around 10pm there was a break in the clouds and I was able to get a few shots of the start from our camp site.

In the morning we packed up camp and made it home just before noon.