Camping trip to the Uinta Mountains

WARNING:
The pictures you are about to see may make you feel the urge to visit the Uinta Mountains and experience the grandness for yourself.
Also, instead of many posts for one trip there is just ONE massive, photo overload on this one post!
So sit back, enjoy the scenery, and be amazed by the amazing trip we just had!

Last Wednesday we packed our van and headed 3 hours north up the Uinta Mountains. We had a Lewis Family camping trip planned for the weekend but wanted to go the day before to scout out a place to stay and get a few things ready.

When we arrived at the canyon we had a not so friendly welcome by a few hundred cows! We didn't think we would ever get through, and the entire time we are holding our breath that the cows don't bash and smash our car!

We found two wonderful camp sights right by each other at Trial Lake. They were lakeside and perfectly located with plenty of space for everyones tents. We set up our tents and got everything ready at the camp sight and Nate and the kids went to pay our dues.....in the meantime the camp host came around and changed the reservation sign on us and the next thing we know we are kicked out of our sight and driving around the entire Uinta Mountains in search of two other camp sights by each other before the rest of the family join us the next day! This was not an easy task and in fact we ended up just staying the night where our tent was already set up and the next morning driving to Mirror Lake where we had found two sights which turned out to be perfect!

The other not so fun adventure to our trip was Caleb getting sick. Wednesday Caleb started with a fever and a cough...nothing too bad, but the cough continued until he was coughing so hard he was throwing up. At this point we decided it was time to go visit the urgent care at the bottom of the mountain. We drove back to Kamas and found a clinic that would see him and the doctor said it was severe allergies that were causing drainage down his throat and into his ears and also causing ear infections (again)...yes this sounds all too familiar!
So we got a few prescriptions and set back on our way .....

Awwwwhhh! That's much better! Back to the beautiful mountains of Utah! Run Caleb Run! Get feeling better buddy!

Mara will practice balancing on every log she can find! This is one of her favorite things to do!

We met all the family Thursday, and Aunt Chelsie painted Mara's pretty pink fingernails!

We were all so excited to try our luck at fishing here at Mirror Lake!

We thought we had the perfect place, but the fish must have been over fed or not hungry because we didn't catch a thing...not one fish! Is it luck or skill? Obviously we don't have what it takes yet! But maybe by the end of the summer we will know what we are doing!

Caleb loved throwing the balls around. He has quite a good arm, he might be a baseball player when he gets bigger!

The hot dog roast! Grandma helping Mara eat her hotdog so she can have some s'mores!

Nate took a lot of awesome pictures of the mountains!

I think this is Hayden Peak.

Have you ever seen such a cute little camping boy?! Oh my! Words just sometimes don't do justice!

Caleb and his great-grandma Card...she is one of the reasons our family camps! If it weren't for grandma Card's love for camping we probably wouldn't be a camping family! She raised her children and grandchildren to love camping and we all do!

We did a lot of hiking this trip! We start our kids early to enjoy hiking and sometimes they do...and other times they don't!

Don't be fooled by this little sweetie's smile! She had her moments while hiking and threw a couple fits! But I can't blame her, it was hot, and during nap time and her little legs got tired! But she did a pretty good job!

The first hike we did was with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis.

It was down to Clegg Lake, and since I'm 1/2 Clegg (my mother's maiden name) I was pretty excited to see the Lake!

This was a neat experience for the kids to be with their grandparents. This was the whole reason we moved back to Utah, so our kids could spend time with their family. Our children are very blessed to have such great family members on both sides and we think it's important that they get to know their family members and develop relationships and bonds with them.

aTy had a neat experience to hike with his Grandma Lewis. These two were little hiking buddies! They hiked all the way down the mountain together and all the way back. I was grateful that Ty could have that special time with his grandma.

This was major rock slide! Ty was a hoot with his binoculars! He loved carrying them on the hike and looking at everything he could see.

A pretty interesting tree. The meadows were beautiful, I just wish we would have seen more wildlife there!

Very Cool picture!

Okay take my picture at 'Clegg Lake'!! We did it....not! We were so excited to finally arrive we thought this was it. We sat down had our snack and enjoyed the scenery. Then we noticed another lake to the right and realized this was just a nice pond!

Okay--this was the real Clegg Lake! Now we finally did it!

Beautiful pond-- very nice!

Spectacular really!

Here is the lake! Awesome!

Little Mara Lew! Sometimes a little sassy but very cute!

We all enjoyed a refreshing snack and drink and rest before turning right around and going back up hill.

Now there's our grandpa! He was a great hiker that Grandpa!

Two little friends!

Caleb slept most of the hike, he woke up when we stopped and was happy to run around the meadow and stretch his legs.

On the way back I carried Mara the entire way on my back! She was tired and her legs hurt so she got a free ride. It was fun having her on my back and talking with her and singing songs.

Some pictures don't need a description--just nice to look at!

Caleb loved being with his daddy! They had a nice hike all the way back up.

Camping was fun--especially with the kids, they make it even more fun! We enjoyed sitting around the camp fire and visiting with family. We did NOT enjoy the mosquitoes which were quite plentiful and loved eating Mara and Mama. Ty got a few bites too. They spared Caleb thank goodness!

The next day was hike #2:Destination: Fehr Lake, Shepherd Lake, and Hoover Lake.

The first lake we saw was Ferh Lake. The hike here wasn't bad, it was only 1/2 mile.

Nice pose--I enjoyed this hike a lot!

Ty is one of the best hikers I know! He never complains and I always have a good time hiking with him.

Fehr lake was beautiful, it had a real nice setting.

There were a few spots along the trail that we had to balance on logs or step on rocks.

Here is the front of the hiking group! What a great bunch of hikers!

And this is the back! Everyone did a great job!

At Ferh lake they had a bunch of washed up logs. The kids loved climbing on these!

Grandma and the kids found a perfect little spot to have a picnic and take a break. It was much to short and we kept on going to the next lake which was another 1/2 mile down hill and very steep and rocky!

They were building a board walk through the meadow on the hike. Mara loved the balancing part!

Isn't Caleb the coolest hiker you have ever seen?!

Someone is hiking in this picture! Can you find him?

Mara loves cheetos! Especially when they get her fingers all covered in orange cheese!

Grandma & Grandpa Lewis with all their grandkids! Cute!

Shepherd Lake! We made it again! Here we all sat on rocks and ate our lunch and enjoyed our view.

Isn't this the most beautiful places to eat your lunch?!

Hey Garrett--where are you going?! He's making a break to the lake to throw rocks in--this is one of his favorite things!

Auntie Chelsie was Ty's little hiking buddy, they hiked all the way down and back together! What a great bonding time for them, they are really close and I'm grateful for the friendship they have.

Speaking of buddies! These two can be the best of buddies when they want to be!

Caleb was a pretty happy hiker! He kept laughing when I jumped and he bounced!

We made it to the second lake: Shepherd lake. It was beautiful!

The final lake of the hike: Hoover Lake! We did it!

Chelsie and cousin Dawson hiked down to the third lake with us.

Mara got so tired on the hike, usually she rides in the pack, but this time we let her try hiking a little more, her little legs just couldn't take it and daddy had to carry her piggy-back style. She fell asleep towards the end she was so tired.

I think I can....I think I can....Going back up the mountain was hard--especially with a cute little chunky monkey on my back! But I did do it--the entire way!

Spectacular!

We went for a scenic drive a couple of nights. Two nights we saw moose! We also saw deer and woodchucks!

Ty smashing his daddy flat like a pancake!

Now there are some cute cousins! The kids sure enjoyed camping with their cousin Garrett! Such good little friends--they played so nice together and Ty is really cute always sharing and helping Garrett!

One of Ty's favorite things this trip was rocking jumping across the river!

This is a face only a mother could love! Caleb is so dirty and ready for a bath! I can't wait to scrub that little chubba-bub and make him clean and shiny again!

The last hike of the trip:
Around Mirror Lake

Mara insisted on getting a ride with daddy--even though he already had another rider! She eventually walked on her own.

One cute family having a fantastic family camping trip!

The kids insisted on walking along the edge and balancing!

Seriously--does it get more scenic and beautiful than this?!

What a special trip it was to be with Grandma & Grandpa Lewis! The kids are sure lucky to have wonderful grandparents!

Who is ready to go home and have showers?! MEEE!! Dyann and I both said it wasn't easy to have our pictures taken there at the end when we were feeling so gross and grimy and ready to go home and get cleaned up!

The panoramic shot! Awesome!

Grandpa and his grand-porker! The real reason for this camping trip was to celebrate our wonderful grandpa's and dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandpa Lewis! We had a fun time getting to know him better and sitting around playing a game all about him!

Thanks Nate for a great, fabulous, and amazing camping trip!

3 happy kids + 1 fun daddy = a memorable camping trip we will remember 4 ever

Three generations just walking down the road!

This is the life! The kids are looking in the stream at trout swimming by!