Back to School

 Jack starting 8th Grade!

Eliza starting 11th. Junior year!

Aiden started his Sophmore year at college at Dixie State. Russell and I took him down and dropped him off at his new apartment. We also helped him find his classes on campus and I guess this was the only picture of the day. :) We have missed having Aiden around the house but he is having a great time at college, maybe too great of a time!

 

Alice Lake Loop - Sawtooths

We love getting one good trip with our hiking club in a year. This year we went to the Sawtooth Mountain Range in Idaho and did a super fun loop. We missed Jen on our hike but Roger brought along his son in law Ian and grandson Carter, we also had the other Liston's, the Burgon's and the Wannamaker-Bell's and it was a great group.

We stopped in Stanley for a delicious sandwich

It was a hot afternoon our fist day the the first mile was all up hill and I got really sweaty and red. We hiked to Farley Lake the fist day and it was so much fun.

We got to our spot and it started to rain a bit, but then it cleared up and Russell was able to make me dinner :)

We just kicked back and enjoyed the views

The view was amazing!

We woke up the next morning to clouds rolling in. Most of the group decided to wait out the storm in their tents but the Liston's all decided to head out with our umbrellas into the rain and start hiking to Toxaway Lake.

It was a wet hike, but we were glad we brought our umbrellas

It started to get pretty bad with lightning, but we kept going

We came across a misty lake with a cool tent 

Then it started to hail. We took cover under some trees for a bit.

But we kept going. It was actually really fun to hike through all of those conditions.

Russell and I having the time of our lives.

A pretty waterfall spilling over the rocks

Walking the balance beam to avoid the lake. Sometimes on the trail you couldn't see how deep the puddles were and I would step in them and they were over my shoe.

Layne and Joleen

A handful of hail

We got a glimpse of Toxaway and those Sawtooth peaks.

We were almost to the Lake. The trees and vegetation were so thick and it was so pretty!!

 

Toxaway Lake

We made it through the lightning, rain, and hail to our camp at Toxawy Lake. We had a few wet things to dry out. Lucky for us the sun came out and we were able to set up our tents. We had to wait for the rest of the group to meet up with us but it gave us a few relaxing hours at camp.

Joleen and Russell

This was our backyard! Amazing.

We took a little nap and it felt good.

After our rest we went to explore around the lake a bit. This cool waterfall down the rocks was near our camp.

Layne was cracking himself up popping popcorn because it kept popping out of the pan. 

The group. Ian, Russell, Dana, Layne, Joleen, Roger, Ian, Diane, Jim, Janell and Jim.

We had such a great weekend!

Janell and Jim are the best!

Another picture of the stream

The lake was so big and beautiful

Russell took some great pictures 

Our camp. We had another rain storm come through after dinner that sent us all to our tents for a couple of hours

Then it stopped and we came out to enjoy the lake and the stars.

The next morning we had our hard day hiking over the pass to Twin Lakes. This waterfall was so cute.

Look at the color of that lake!

We are so cute.

The climb up the switchbacks were no joke to get over the pass.

On top of the pass looking down on Twin Lakes.

We tried to climb to the summit of a mountain by the pass and this is as far as we got. It was pretty straight up with loose rocks. So we called this the top.

This is us trying to make it safely down

Just keep on hiking!

 

Twin Lakes and Hiking Out

We made it to Twin Lakes and it was just as beautiful as the other lakes. 

We decided it was time for a dip in one of these cold lakes.

We all got in but Layne and Jim and it was cold but also very refreshing after camping for two nights already

Jim captured a moment

Warming up after our swim. I am glad the sun was out!

Jim and Diane's tent set in the perfect spot.

We had dinner and played a fun game and enjoyed our last night in the Sawthooths

There were no campfires allowed on the trail we were on so we used a flashlight.

Another group shot

I love hiking with Janell and Joleen. We have done some pretty cool things together.

Time to head home

We sure did have a fun trip

Alice Lake was stunning!!

She really knew how to show off!

The peaks of the Sawtooth range were so cool

It was really hard to leave this area.

Across the canyon me, Roger, Joleen and Layne

Last stream crossing and I had to get in

So did Janell. :)

We love each other. We also love a great hike!