The Hike from Hell

I don't know where I get these wild ideas from.  I guess I thought we should attempt to make some memories with the girls by subjecting them to five hours lost in the wilds of Big Cottonwood Canyon. 

It started out innocently enough, with a drive to the top of the Canyon to Brighton Ski Resort.  There we ate our sandwiches and Cheetos.

 Fueling up!  You're going to need it!

First mistake we made was letting Ava wear the Camelbak.  Thus began the squat and pee all along the trail.  Other times Ava would put the tube in her mouth, flail her arms around and say, "I'm a scuba diver!  I'm a scuba diver!"

We first noticed this smudge of rainbow in the sky when we left our house.  We followed it all the way up the canyon, and then all the way up to Twin Lakes.  No gold was found.

 A nice boardwalk encircles Silver lake. 

This is our second mistake.  We decided to hike from Silver Lake up to Twin Lakes and then over to Lake Solitude.  We should have hung out around Silver Lake like most of the families were doing.  I decided to get all Cooper on us and try to prove something, like I still believe I'm fifty pounds lighter and in shape enough to climb anything other than a few stairs.  Side note: This copse of aspens was enchanting.

Okay at this point I'm stalling.  Stopping every twenty feet of so to feign taking pictures when really I'm so winded I just need a breather already. 

 Silver lake from the trail above.

 Between then and now, things got pretty dicey for me.  Me and a seventy year old Indian woman with a cane kept playing leapfrog along the trail.  Her husband said to me at one point, "She's having difficulty because she is an asthma patient."  I looked at him and said, "I'm having difficulty because I'm so out of shape."  It was pretty sad.  Ava kept waiting for me, though and encouraging me to continue.  I think the worst thing about that trail was it was straight up and super rocky.  Like climbing stairs you could twist your ankle on at any moment. 

Brig didn't fare much better.  Besides having to pause every five minutes for me, he decided to wear flip flops? What?  Worst hiking choice ever.  He said to me before we left the house, "It's just a stroll, right?"  Right.  He was on his tippy toes trying to grip his flip flops while hauling Brielle up the mountainside with him. 

Brielle did okay.  She wasn't super pleased to be in the backpack, but didn't cry continuously like Ava did when she was that age. 

 Twin Lakes.  You weren't worth it.

Brig says, "I'm not going back down that way!  Can you imagine how bad it's going to suck?  Let's just follow the trail around by Lake Solitude and back to Silver Lake."  The only problem with that was there were no markers telling us which trail led where.  So we did what any idiot would do...we guessed.

We climbed over a ridge and started our descent into Hell.  The trail was pretty good at first.  Then it got muddy.  Then muddier.  Then snowy.  The trail would be covered over by giant slides of snow.  We either had to wade through them, or hike down the steep side hill and back up around them.  It wasn't pleasant for Brig and his flip-flops and our baby tilted sideways.  Actually to be honest this is when I started to have fun.  This should tell you something about my monotonous home life.  Yay!  We might be lost!  Yay, adventure!

We couldn't have been that lost because we kept glimpsing ski lifts.  It's just the trail was not very maintained.  On one snow patch Brig slipped and then I slipped and we both flew down the snow.  It was great.  I was laughing.  Brigham was not.  Ava and I came up with this idea that she was the host of an adventure show like Bear Grylls.  "I'm Adventure Girl!  And this is my crew!" She kept shouting.  Love that girl.

Like I said earlier, Ava kept having to pee.  There was no one around.  I guess they knew something about the trail that we didn't.  Ava peed on her shoes and socks each time.  She had a bad case of urine foot.

Lake Solitude.  More of a pond if you ask me.  It was a beautiful day to lose your way in the mountains.  All in all, I had a great time after I didn't have to climb straight up continuously.  Ava had fun, and Brig and Brielle made it through.

On a serious note, I was very frustrated with myself while hiking.  At Twin Lakes I said to Brig, "There are a lot of things I want to do in my life, and this body won't allow me to do them."  I'm back to the drawing board.  Look for a new Weight-Loss Wednesday post next week.