We meet up around 5:45pm to head up to Skyline Drive here in Bountiful with the hope of finding an open camping spot at the top. I kind of already knew where we were going to camp and hoped the spot wouldn't be taken.
Fortunately, for us the spot was still open and just in time. About 10 minutes later a few vehicles passed by us looking for a camping spot, which would be the case for the next few hours.
My friend and his two daughters (they remind me of my nephews with the way they act).
Dinner that was nothing more than chilly dogs and chips. The later which would haunt us though out the night and into the morning if you know what I mean.
The weather was perfect. It wasn't too cold where you needed a jacket and it wasn't too hot, with just a slight breeze. Clear sky and a starlite night awaited us.
One of the reasons why I picked the spot I did was that it provided some great views of the sunset and of the sunrise.
Unfortunately, for us and the rest of those around us around midnight a small group of cars made their way up looking for a place to camp. All the while honking their horns and using some foul lanuage. I got a kick out of it when the last driver got out of his vehicle said a few foul words towards the car leading him, all the while complaining that he kept bottoming out and dragging his car.
All I could think of was "what did you expect coming up here at midnight on a rutted dirt road".
I ended up staying up till about 1am just kind of watching over the site just to make sure those yahoo's weren't going to try anything funny. I found out later that the group camped next to us and some words with them about 3am.
The following morning provided us with a nice sunrise but some very tried campers.
After a nice breakfast of blue berry pancakes and bacon we packed up camp and headed on a little hike that would take us to just about 9000' too an overlook that would give us an excellent view of the surrounding areas.
Morning fire
This was one of the snow packs we had to cross, with me being the dork that I am.
We got a little side tracked trying to follow the trail as it split off into two different directions. The path we took ended taking us though some brush and onto another snow pack, which wasn't a total lost as it did provide some fun. We ended finding the trail again about 50 yards down from where we were.
My friend and his oldest daughter are making their way up the trail. You can see to the left of the photo the trail and the snow pack we ended up crossing.
At this point the trail became harder too see but there is a trail here. It just doesn't show up very well in the photo.
Just some random fungi growing on the rocks at the top, thought it looked kind of cool.
My friend daughters up top. The wind up there was kind of nuts. I can only imagion what it would be like during a storm.
The easiest way down the snow pack that we crossed (shown up in another photo)was to kind of dig your heels in and side down the pack. My friend decided towards the end to slide the pack instead.
Overall, the trip was great and you couldn't have asked for better weather. It did however wore us all out. On the way back down the mountain I get a call from my friend saying that his girls are out cold (meaning the feel asleep very quick once getting back in the car). As for me I was pretty drained for the rest of the day due to the lack of sleep and the hike. Lets just say the next day in church I feel asleep more times than I could count.
Would I do it all over again. Heck ya!
