Summer Vacation to Utah - LOTS of photos!

In late July, the five of us travelled to Utah for our summer vacation. We planned lots of fun outdoor activities including three national parks, mountain biking, and hiking in ski areas. We saw lots of beautiful landscapes and took over 900 photos. Some of the highlights included...

1. Flying in a Pandemic
With all of us wearing masks, we boarded our two-hour flight from Seattle to Salt Lake City, including a flight directly over Mount Rainier.

Waiting to board - masks on at all times!

Mount Rainier poking above the clouds

2. Via Ferrata in Ogden
Our first activity was in Ogden, an hour north of SLC, where we joined a climbing group for a Via Ferrata - which is a climbing route using a mix of steel cables, rungs, and ladders which are fixed to the rock. We took some off-road vehicles up to the trail, and then climbed up a mountain overlooking Ogden. Great views all around and a nice activity to start the trip!

3. Capitol Reef, Part 1 (Hickman Bridge Hike + Sunset at Canyon)

Boys at Hickman Bridge

Mary Jo pondering the sunset at the canyon in Capitol Reef

4. Capitol Reef, part 2 - Cassidy Arch hike

On day two at Capitol Reef, we took a wonderful hike to Cassidy Arch, one of the few arches in Utah that you can climb to the top of. Great hike and views!

Capitol Reef got it's name from the white domed rock formations that
resemble the Capitol

5. Arches National Park, part 1

We took a really HOT hike to see a number of arches in Arches National Park outside Moab:

6. Mountain Biking in Moab

7. Canyonlands Hikes

We took two wonderful hikes in Canyonlands National Park, which is a gorgeous park overlooking canyons carved by the Colorado River on the west and the Green River on the east. First we did the Upheaval Dome hike to a mysterious crater, and then we did the Grand Viewpoint hike, which had a great view of both canyons. 

Upheaval Dome

Grand Viewpoint

8. Delicate Arch hike

The most famous arch in Utah is Delicate Arch, an arch that stands alone in the park, and is even featured on the Utah license plate.

Joseph in front of Delicate Arch

Joseph next to Delicate Arch

9. Snowbird Activities

Our final family stop on the trip was Snowbird Ski Resort, which has beautiful views both in the winter and summer. It also has a series of summer-only activities, including a small roller coaster and slide activity.

10. Mount Baldy Hike

The hike we did in Snowbird was to the top of Mount Baldy, which Jack had climbed in the winter to ski down. It had a beautiful view from the top!

11. MJ & John Time Alone

Mary Jo and John got to spend three days on their own after the boys flew home, including a night in Salt Lake City and two nights in Jackson, Wyoming. 

Room service breakfast in Salt Lake City

Snake River in Wyoming

Jackson Town Square

Another ski run hike, down the mountain at Jackson Hole

Mount Pilchuck Hike

On Saturday, July 11, Henry, Joseph, and Dad got up early to get a head start on the weekend with a hike at Mount Pilchuck. Since Henry had his written driving test at noon (he passed, yea!), we left home at 5:30am, arriving at the hike at 7:10am. It took us a bit more than 3 hours, and, after hitting some gridlock traffic on the forest road coming down (!), we got home with 10 minutes to spare!

The hike was nice - the weather cleared and while it was fairly steep up the mountain, the views were great, of the Sound, Seattle skyline, Mounts Baker and Rainier, and lots of other peaks. There's a fire lookout on the top which you climb up a ladder to get to. A few snowy patches still, but we were able to get by.

Ebey Landing Hike

Still waiting for summer to start, with yet another week having sun on the weekdays but clouds and rain come the weekend.

So we headed to Whidbey Island, where the forecast was a bit sunnier, to do a hike on a new list we found of the Top 10 Hikes in the Seattle area. We'd already done three of them, so this one is number four. It is a beautiful hike along a bluff above the sound, and then descends to the beach to complete the loop back to the trailhead along the water. We saw a large Bald Eagle on the trail, and lots of wildflowers.

After hiking, we then went into the nearby State Park for some mountain biking, through the woods and to the portion of the bluff in the Park. Exhausting but fun day!