UT-Day 4 The Hike

Warning: this is oh, so long. I won't be offended if you don't read or comment. Just remember this is my journal (of sorts) so I had to get this all documented!


This day we took off on a hike. Just me, my sister and six children ages 10,6,6,4,2, and 18 months. Whew, huh? It was Grove Creek to Battle Creek Loop In Pleasant Grove. Gorgeous picture above. This was the online description of the hike:

After about 1.5 miles, the trail reaches a bridge over the stream. This wonderful spot is a common turnaround point for those seeking a short day hike. It’s also a cool spot for a break—cascading water crosses bare rock here sending a mist into the air and cooling the entire area. Just below the bridge a series of short waterfalls is visible from the trail.

Sound easy enough, right? Well, it started out great, and then turned out not so great. Totally my fault. I'll get to that.

That morning, everyone was in good spirits and the children were happy to be getting up into the mountains to embark on an adventure to see waterfalls. My sister and I had prepared our backpacks with a picnic lunch, water bottles for all (man that was heavy!) and our 2 cell phones. We were good to go.

The hike started out a lot of fun and we made it the 1.5 miles up to said bridge. We could see water and a bit of the falls. It was exciting! But it was here where Chase just officially decided he'd had enough. Poor guy, 1.5 miles IS a long way to walk for a two year old. So I had mercy on him and decided to stay put at the bridge while Carrie walked on up the trail a ways to get a better view of the falls.

Here are some pictures of the group before we said our goodbyes:

Carrie with the kids



Me with the kids




After this picture was taken, Chase and I said goodbye to the others and then sat and ate our picnic lunch. After about 15 minutes, Chase was really antsy and wanted to, "go find Lala and Penster"....so (here's where I'm wrong) I decided there was no harm in walking up the trail to go meet up with the rest of the crew.

Chase and I start walking and after about 10 minutes it's getting steaper and steeper...to the point where I'm starting to think to myself, "Uh, HOW is Carrie doing this with 5 children (one strapped to her in a bjorn) and how SAFE is this for my children??" It got so steep that I no longer felt it comfortable or safe for me to make Chase continue walking. And I couldn't carry him because I was afraid I'd slip and fall off the side of the mountain. This trail was that bad. So I decided we'd just sit down and make a phone call to my sister. I had reception (whew) and the phone starts ringing...and I hear her phone ringing...INSIDE my backpack. Great. I had BOTH the phones in my backpack. Perfect. I then decided to just start calling out to my sister though it's impossible to hear my yells over the rushing water. Chase and I decide to sit still exactly where we are (they have to come back DOWN, right?) and wait.

We wait. And wait. And wait.

40 minutes has no gone by. No joke. I know this because I looked at the "call received" inbox on my sisters cell phone. It had been 40 minutes since I'd called her phone. Do you know how hard it is sitting on a steep hilly slope on a trail in the sun with a 2 year old? Ugh. It was awful. And the entire time I'm thinking, "They are lost...they are hurt...or dead...and if they're not dead she's alone with 5 kids in trouble...and I'm sure one of MY kids has fallen off the side of the trail by now and is being swept away by the rushing white water."

Yep, it was bad. Your mind does really bad things to you if you freak out and let it take over.

45 minutes into my freak out session, my phone rings. It's a number I don't recognize and guess who it is when I answer?

My sister.

She had tracked down a fellow hiker and borrowed his phone. She was BACK BY THE CAR (1.5 miles down the trail mind you) and wondering where the he** I was.

WHAT?!?

Turns out there was a fork in the trail just after the bridge where we we had stopped and separated and Carrie was told about this fork in the road by another hiker who had stopped my sister and told her that going UP the mountain would be impossible with kids (uh, ya...I learned that)but that going DOWN to the falls was a better choice. So my sister had gone down to the base of the waterfall whereas Chase and I had gone up to the top. Can you picture it? This entire time I am sitting at the top and she's down at the bottom. Ugh. Who knew?

So once we finally met up (Carrie and kids walked 1.5 miles up to meet us at the bridge) we were SO relieved to see each other...I stopped freaking out and all was well again. I'll tell you what though, Chase was one BIG trooper. He was so tired and very hot, but was a pretty good sport for being just two years old.

And there you have our adventure for the day. I told you it was long. Thanks if you got this far. lol

Some pics of our adventure. Carrie had the camera with her in her bag so I'm glad that in between freak out sessions on both our parts, she was able to capture some pictures of our day.

The bridge that becomes a major focal point in our story:










What a memory we made, huh Carrie?