Still at Red Castle

The next morning we woke up and did a 6 mile loop up to middle Red Castle Lake.

It was a nice warm day and we really enjoyed having they day to enjoy the area.

 I am a pretty good hiker.

Aiden

 Jack caught the first fish after having his pole in the water for less than a minute.

 Aiden was next!

And then it was my turn to real one in. We caught three really fast and then nothing. I guess that's fishing

 We relaxed by the lake and put our feet in the icey water and enjoyed our lunch.

Me and my girl

 Red castle is so pretty.

 Jack looking good

Jennefer. It was a a lot of fun having Roger and Jen with us.

They are great to hike and hang out with.

River crossing.

Red Castle

 After our day hike it was time to rest. I laid out our backpacking quilt in the shade and it felt so good.

 Something that I had never come across in all my hiking experiences....sheep grazing. There were hundreds of them running around our camp. It was kind of fun. Luckily they were quiet at night.

Russell cooked up the catch of the day. Two cut throats and one tiger trout.

Red castle glowing in the sunset with Aiden 

 Red Castle showing off

We had a campfire both nights and enjoyed dinner and fresh baked cookies. 

Roger and Jen

This bench was about 5 minutes from the parking lot. We made it. I am glad I finally got to see Red Castle. 

Red Castle Lake

For Labor Day we decided to hike to Red Castle Lake. I read a book when I was 15 called Return to Red Castle by Dorthy Keddington and I have always wanted to go and this was our weekend.

It was a 10 mile backpack, 10 miles is a long way to go with a backpack.

Our great friends the Dayton's came with us and we had a wonderful time.

We left our house at 6am and got to the trailhead at 9:30 am ready to go.

 We loaded the kids with more than they have ever carried, and made them backpack farther than they ever did and they did amazing.

We rested about every mile.

 Our first glimpse of Red Castle was about 7 miles in.

 Jack was done on the hardest part of the trail, the switchbacks at about mile 8 so Russell took his pack and hiked the switchbacks. What an great dad!

 After Eliza looked at this picture on the phone she realized she lost her retainer. We did not find it. So that was $50.

 Aiden hiked up with his broken arm. He was sick with a soar throat and cold but he did it.

After the switchbacks we still had about a mile to Red Castle

 It was so pretty with this beautiful waterfall coming down

Eliza has become quite the outdoors woman! She is so pretty.

And Red Castle is not bad behind her

After we set up camp. (It took six hours to hike the 10 miles) We found this little lake and Jack tried his hand at fishing...and daydreaming.

Selfie!

Russell is the best hiking partner in the world. I love him to bits!

Red Castle is Amazing and so is this family of mine!!

Trek to the Top of Timp

We decided to hike Timpanogos the Saturday before school started. We started at 1:30pm and got off the trail at 1:15am. It was a long hard 15 miles. But we did it. Aiden was not "feeling it" so he didn't come with us.

We are about ready to start but we had to take a picture by this sign because the last time we were there it was covered in snow.

The second water fall about a mile and a quarter in and we were HOT

Jack and the View

We hiked up the Aspen Grove side this time. It was steeper, longer and way pretty with all of the waterfalls flowing off of the mountain.

 Jack is the best hiker. He looks pretty great by this waterfall.

We saw mountain goats. A mama and baby in this shot

Goats with a view

Me and Jack hiking by the stream

 Eliza did an amazing job without complaining.

We made it to the shack for dinner. I was dying.

 We ran into more goats up at the shack

 I love seeing mountain goats up on Timp.

Eliza and Jack at the TOP

 Amazing.

This was not my hike, my family had to drag me to the top but we all made it.

Heading back down. We did it!