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For the 5th of July my brother was in town and we made a nice day trip up in the Uintas with the boys.  We started off our day by hiking up to and above Ruth lake where the trail was extremely easy and a bit shorter than I had anticipated.

Ruth Lake

Kendall and Bowen looking at Ruth Lake and Hayden Peak

Woody loves hiking in the Uintas.

Once we made it back to the car we made lunch for the kids then drove back over bald mountain pass to hike to Wall Lake.  Kendall tested out his new tri suit in the cold lake by doing some cliff jumping  while the boys and I ate some snacks and watched.  Everyone at the lake was pretty impressed with Kendall’s fake belly flops.

The last stop of the afternoon was  Cataract Gorge. The road was longer and rougher than I had remembered and the water flow in the gorge was lower than I expected for this time of year.  Light and clouds were not even close to optimal for photos but regardless of the conditions Cataract is a fun unique place to explore.

The kids had a great time splashing and wading in the water and we were able to recover Anakin Skywalker from one of the deeper pools.

Last week Nick and I made a quick hike up to Red Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. All of the trail was clear aside for the last half mile before the lake where we encountered 4-5′ snow drifts. We made it to the lake just in time to get a few photos before the shadows moved in. It’s such an awesome location I look forward to coming back soon to do some backpacking and summit the Pfeifferhorn.

The next day I got together with Spencer for another after work hike to the higher tiers of Upper Falls in Provo Canyon.  Getting above the lower falls ended up being a lot more work than I remembered.  I want to go back and explore the Upper Falls areas within the next few weeks but next time I will be better prepared with some climbing gear.