This is a post I started back in August, but I didn't post it until now because I wasn't quite finished with it. It is interesting to me to see that a lot of the things we talked about on this hike have actually been accomplished! Yay for setting goals and hiking! We did this hike on August 24, 2010.
Last week, I dragged my two brothers down to Payson canyon. I had never been hiking there, and I've heard some good things about it, so I found some trails online and decided to check one of them out. We didn't have tons of time, and it takes a while just to get down to Payson, so I chose a short "hike" called Grotto Falls. It turns out that it took us a whole lot longer to even find the trailhead marker from the Canyon road than it did to do the actual hike. We walked for about 10 minutes before we got to the end. It was pretty cool, though. There is a little waterfall formation where the water has carved a little "Grotto" out of the conglomerate rock (yes, 'conglomerate' is a word I am proud to say I still remember from my high-school geology class.)
It was fun to go with Ammon & Hyrum. We had some brotherly-sisterly bonding time while we walked and talked about the goals we all have set for ourselves. Hyrum's goal is to get a job, a driver's license, & do well in school. Ammon's goal was to get a better job, which he has ALREADY done! Congratulations! And he wants to go on at least one date every week. My goal is to meet 3 new people every week, and hopefully find someone I can marry."
Stay tuned to future posts to find out more details on how I am doing with my goal.... :)
Yesterday, September 3, 2010, I went hiking again. This time I was with my friend, Daniel, that I met dancing at Blue Tango (I'll post more about dancing later.) We hiked up to the Y and then went past the Y to the little canyon behind Y Mountain. It was really pretty. I wanted to go all the way behind the mountain, but we started our hike at about 4:30 in the afternoon, and it was getting dark before we could get as far as I wanted to go, so we turned around and headed back down. By the way, hiking to the Y at 4:30 on a hot, sunny, cloudless afternoon is a HORRIBLE idea! That's pretty much the worst time to start because its so dang hot. I felt really embarrassed because I was huffing and puffing all the way up. I've done that hike plenty of times before and haven't ever had a problem, but I usually start in the morning or later in the evening when its cooler. The hardest part of the whole hike is getting to the Y. After that its a lot easier and there is more shade and better scenery.
On the way back down, we almost ran over this HUGE tarantula that was just sitting in the middle of the trail. YUCK! It totally made my skin crawl. I have lived in Utah my whole life and have never seen a tarantula in the wild, which makes me think that maybe this was someones pet that escaped or something. I don't think they are natural habitants of this area.
