I decided recently that I wanted to get out and take the boys hiking a bunch this summer. We used to frequent the mountains when I was a kid and it was so fun. I did a google search one night and Cascade Springs came up as a great place to take kids hiking. I've heard of the place before, so I decided that sounded like a good first hike. I asked my sister if she wanted to go with me. So we planned a day and did it. I assumed it was in american fork canyon. I honestly had no idea that it would be between AF and Provo canyons. And I actually didn't know that the Alpine Loop was a road connecting the two. So off we went. I was nervous about driving up there because I've never even been there let alone drove there. And my nervousness was not unfounded. We came across a sign that said "flood zone" or something along those lines. I saw that there was a little bit of water across the road and thought maybe they were being cautious. Uh, no. They meant it, as we found out about a mile further. The road was covered by water. The water was coming so fast down the mountain that it was going over the road instead of under it. I was scared. Emily was scared. I parked the car and got out and looked...then Em got out to look. she walked through it and it was about 18" deep. I don't know the physics involved with driving through heavy passing water. So I wasn't sure if I drove through it would I hydroplane, or would I be fine, or would the water sweep us right off the road. So while we sat there fretting, a truck drove through it and a mini van drove through it. I know my car is lower to the ground than the mini van, so I didn't feel any comfort seeing them drive through. We decided to be brave and try it. Down stream it wasn't deep water, just trees. So if we did get swept off the road we wouldn't drown...we'd just crash the car into a tree or two or three. I backed up a little and then off we went. We made it safely. Thankfully that was the only terror, i mean, excitement we had
Here we are just before our journey begins.
The kids were so fascinated by the water and everything....Oh and sorry for the crumy shots...my camera is still non functioning since our trip to CA.
If you look at the picture below...there is a spec of something where the trail forks. That's a squirrel. I couldn't get very good pictures of it with my phone. We saw two squirrels.
If you look at the base of the grass you'll see a little garder snake laying there. We saw three snakes there.
And we saw big red aunts. THe kids were terrified of them...Asa wanted me to kill it.
Coen touching the plants after I told him a hundred times not to.
we pooped him right out. Every bench we came across he sat down.
And that concludes my pictures of our trip. We decided to be adventurous and we continued the loop down through provo canyon. Ironically it took us less time driving through provo canyon than it did through AF canyon. We had a great time, and the kids enjoyed the mountains. We saw a Doe, two butterflies, two squirrels, three snakes, brown trout (not to be confused with a "Utah Brown"...we didn't see any of those floating about) deer poop, and on the way out we saw only one bird.
