Desolation Trail

Last week's hike:  Desolation Trail in Millcreek Canyon.

The woods

Showy fleabane, Erigeron speciosus

Mallow ninebark, Physocarpus malvaceus

Woods rose, Rosa woodsii

Mountain hollyhock, Iliamna rivularis

Salt Lake Valley overlook

 Hikers

City Creek Hike

The last two hiking club meetings took us to nearby hikes that were essentially urban.



Two weeks ago we parked at the City Creek Center, and then walked over to memory grove and up a trail next to the real City Creek.  There were lots of people walking there, and there were several little benches and little developed areas to rest.



Lisette joined us for this one. We liked this hike, but with reservations.  It was cool that you can walk from the heart of downtown and be in nature in less than a mile, but there were too many people to feel we were totally immersed in nature.



Miles wore appropriate sun protection.



We hiked out of the little canyon and had a great view of downtown and the capitol building.



We ended up "hiking" down residential streets, just a block away from LDS hospital.  We enjoyed the varied architecture of the old houses though.  We hiked 4 miles round trip and had a respectable elevation gain.

Hiking Club - Season 2

Ian and I reconvened our hiking club, and this year Miles is joining us.  We started with an easy hike inside of Red Butte Garden, it was just over 2 miles with an easy 387 foot ascent.  Here's the route we took:

View on Google Maps

The hills are covered with arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata). It was the perfect time to visit, since they are all in bloom.

We saw a lot of this little beauty, wild phlox (Phlox longifolia). 

Here is Ian at the deer gate.

Backside view

View of the valley.

Miscellaneous October Photos

 

 

Nigel

 

 

Ian and cousin Samuel

 

Lisette and cousin Andrew

 

Ian of Arabia

 

 Lisette and Miles with friends in chemistry class

 

Saffy and Ian

Farewell to Summer



Sunday we hopped in the van and drove up Millcreek Canyon to see the fall leaves.  Melinda and I had gone up the previous week just by ourselves but we wanted the kids to see the colors.

 

 

It's hard to believe summer is over already.  Two weeks ago it was pleasantly cool in the canyon, but last week it was almost freezing; it was only 1 degree Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit).  There was ice forming on rocks in the stream already.

 

 

Ian is in the 11 year old scouts this year.  I've really enjoyed going camping with him this year.  We camped in this same canyon just last month.  Earlier in the summer we camped in Big Cottonwood Canyon and in East Canyon.  We also had fun hiking.  We also did 9 hikes together during our weekly father and son hiking club.



 

Saffy braved the cold and although she had a warm coat she somehow came only in flip-flops.  Saffron started going to Liberty Girls club this year.  She really likes doing crafts and activities with the other girls.

 

Miles and Lisette are both doing chemistry this year with some of their friends with Melinda teaching.  Lisette is really enjoying her AP English class and somewhat tolerating her math class.  She has gotten very good at crocheting and she now has a head of natty dreadlocks. 

 

 



Things have been busy and I haven't done any blog posts for a while.  In September I started a new job.  It's hard to adjust, but I'm really glad to be working as part of a team and to be able to work with a lot of new technologies.  Plus the commute is under 10 minutes, so I've been able to come home for lunch most days, which is nice.

 

Melinda is sporting the latest in headwear fashion (it's actually a pair of Nigel's pants).  Melinda is staying busy homeschooling the kids.  She works really hard at their weekly chemistry class and their history and book club groups.  

 

 

What a handsome group! Just this year both Miles and Lisette have grown taller than their Mom.  Miles seems to have grown an inch just this past month.

Speaking of Miles, he just turned fourteen last month.  We had a fun birthday with him.  He planned what he wanted to do.  We went to Bruges Waffles and Frites and had real Belgian waffles and frites.  He wanted cookies instead of cake, so we made rose water cookies, which were very tasty.

 

He's been really busy working on making his own 3-D printer. There is an open source community that has plans, but you have to get all your own parts.  He's been working hard saving his money for well over a year and now he's buying all the parts and putting it together.  He has the frame already done, and he'll have more done soon as soon as the parts arrive by mail.  Here's a picture of a completed printer.

 

 

OK, that's all for now.  Maybe I won't wait as long for my next post, but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you.