Farmington Canyon

A couple of weeks ago Ryan, Katherine, the kids and I went up Farmington Canyon with the goal of going to the top by the observatory. Katherine had never been up that far and we were excited to show her the beautiful views. It was a very pretty, hot day and so going up the mountain was a good way to escape the heat. The first picture was taken on the way up the canyon, looking over the Salt Lake Valley. As you are looking at the photo, the first mountain range in the distance on your right is actually part of Antelope Island. The mountain range on your left is the Oquirrh Mountains (pronounced oak'-er).

After we went up about 5 miles, we got out and checked a spot that Ryan new a few cars had gone over the edge in the past. Sure enough, there was at least 3 car bodies and an old refrigerator down there. Ryan climbed down a trail that went to a cliff edge. It was very steep!

How would you like to own this little cabin nestled in the canyon? It is next to a great hunting area Ryan said.

We were traveling up the canyon on a two-lane dirt/rock road and Ryan suddenly hit the brakes. "Snake", he yelled as he excitedly exited the van. Sure enough, there was a young gopher snake. It's only a couple years old and will get much bigger. A couple of trucks slowed behind us and and decided to pass. They asked if we were alright. Ryan just smiled and held out the snake and said we stopped to take a look at it. The people in the first truck just gave him a look like "whatever dude" and drove off. The second truck followed the first. After that Ryan hopped back into the van after letting the snake go in the grass.

We arrived at a big open parking lot about 2/3 rds of the way up. It had a great view and a very short trail. We mainly wanted to get out of the van and stretch our legs. This photo shows how Tyler is growing up so fast. He is going to be as tall as Ryan in a couple of years- or sooner! He will turn 12 on September 8th! Ryan is 6 ft tall and Tyler is 5 feet 3 and 1/2 inches tall.

The view looking east from the parking lot.

We finally arived at a different parking lot just south of the observatory. There was a snow bank holding the last remnants of the snow from winter. We decided to hike out to it and check out the view. It was fairly steep and we let Dallin down to give our arms a rest. He loved being in the grass and shrubs. He got mad whenever we picked him up. We decided that he is a nature boy and so far has been the easiest one of our kids to take on an off-road adventure. He loves rocks and will spend quite a while looking at the different ones by his feet.

I couldn't get the colors in the previous photo to work for me since the sun was setting and we were on the east (shadowy) side. I got tired of playing with that photo and just left it as you see it. The next one is shadowy also, but I love the blue flowers behind Dallin. He looks so content to just sit and watch the view and play with the things at his feet.

Here are some pretty plants on the way up.

The next couple of pictures were from as high as we went! The view is looking south-east and the mountains just seemed to go on forever! Very inspiring.

Tyler and Sydney playing on the snow bank. On a hot summer day- the snow was inviting!

Aspen and wildflowers in another part of the canyon.

As we headed down the canyon while the sun setted, the creek begged to be played in. Well, it was too fast to play in but we stopped to take a look. I'm not sure why, but this area of the creek was once developed and had cemented walls. The water has erroded though the concrete and created its own passage. Ryan helped Dallin up the side of the bank.

A shot of the once develped farmington creek. We had a great time as a family and really enjoyed taking Katherine with us. She is very smart and knows quite a bit about nature. We wonder how this will inspire her in her paintings. She likes to take cues from nature and then turns them into surreal settings.