Camping in the Uintas

On Monday, June 13, we headed to the Uintas with Annette and her kids.  The craziest thing:  as we were driving there, somewhere near Park City, there was a person with a zebra and a bison and some other animals in their backyard.  I am pretty sure that Annette thought we were making that up,   but it is no joke (or lie).  Weird!

 

 

When we arrived, we found the campground we were staying at and began to set up camp.  But it began to rain.  We got Annette's tent up and climbed inside and played a few games while the rain came down.  Then when it got fairly dry, we put up our tent.  And we went to try to find the "Fairy Forest."  Apparently, the spring runoff was too high to be able to make it to the Fairy Forest this time of year so we will probably go back later in the summer.  But as we were looking for the entrance to the Fairy Forest, we saw a deer.    Then we drove a little way and stopped by the Provo River Falls and walked around a bit.  So beautiful!  We also did a short hike to Lost Lake.  Also very beautiful.  Then we returned to our campsite and had dinner and made yummy dessert (ice cream cones filled with fruit, chocolate chips, and marshmallows...you wrap them in foil and then place in the fire until they get melty and delicious!)  We talked and laughed and retired to bed fairly early (where my girls and I read, talked and visited some more).

Day 1:

The girls and I at Provo River Falls

Lost Lake

Annette's family had rocks to add to Fairy Forest.  Since we didn't get there, we added them to the forest near where the entrance to Fairy Forest is. 

 

 Day Two: 

The next morning we had cinnamon bread and bagels and fruit for breakfast.  Then we set off to find our hikes for the day.   

 We hiked to Clear Water Lake, Wall Lake and Washington Lake.  None of the hikes were strenuous or very hard...but there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground in patches, so we did have to climb on ice and watch our footing.  My photos are not in any order for this day and I am not feeling up to organizing them.  But all of the pictures below are of one of the three aforementioned lakes, the hikes to/from those lakes or back at our campsite (and we did do some exploring around our campsite as well.)

When we were back at camp, this little ground squirrel spent some time with us.  As long as we were quiet, he would come right out next to us and eat crumbs we had spilt and explore our campsite.  If the kids were noisy, he would run back into the tall grasses.  Cute little guy!  We also saw several deer, a river otter and quite a few chipmunks on this trip but weren't able to get photos of any of them...they would disappear too fast.

This section of the hike was a bit steep so we just slid right on down.  Fun but cold.

Our campsite was right next to the river. 

During the middle of the night, Gabby suddenly woke up crying hard.  I thought she had a bad dream.  But she felt really sick.  She was sweating profusely but also shivering.  She felt hot and said her head and stomach hurt.  We said a prayer.  She felt terrible and said she wanted to go home.  It was probably 2 or 3 in the morning and I wasn't anxious to pack everything up in the middle of the night and drive home.  So I held her for a few moments and tried to comfort her.  It wasn't working.  Ella was also getting cross because we woke her up and she was tired. 

Gabby and I went outside the tent and she threw up.  Then we went back inside the tent and I said another humble, sincere prayer.  I asked Heavenly Father to please, please bless my sick child.  If it was His will, I knew He could heal her.  I prayed to know what to do and to remain calm and prayed that she could feel better.  Soon, she calmed down.  Her tummy and head still hurt but she was able to lay back down and fall asleep.  She slept the rest of the night.  She didn't feel 100% better the next morning but almost.  Such a huge blessing!  What a tender mercy!!

Day 3:
We cooked breakfast (bacon and pancakes and hot chocolate) and packed everything up.  Annette's family was going to do another hike but Gabby still wasn't feeling really great so we decided we would head home.  Just before we were about to leave, two sisters (one was 17 and one was 19) who had been camped next to us came over and asked if we could jump their car. Their battery was dead.  We tried to jump it but it wouldn't even turn over.  There was no cell phone service up there at all and they were feeling pretty worried and frustrated.  It turned out that they lived in Park City which was on our way home.  So we gave them a ride to a gas station just off the freeway where their mom picked them up.  She had called Allstate and they would come up and either jump the car or tow it.  I was grateful we were able to help them.  The week before, I had locked my keys in my car at girls camp and kind strangers were able to get my car open so we could go home.  (Thank goodness, because we tried every locksmith in the area, the police department and the sheriff's department and we couldn't find anyone to help!)  I've had several instances lately where the Lord has helped me through the kindness of others and I was happy to repay the favor.  Hopefully, they got their car situation worked out okay.

On a side note, less than a week later, my car battery died while at Michelle's violin lesson.  Her violin teacher jumped my car and we were able to make it back to our neighborhood where I went to Auto Zone and had to buy a new battery.  (I had them test it and it was, indeed, no good.)  I've both wondered if we weren't able to jump their car because my battery was already almost dead...and given thanks that my battery didn't die while on my trip to New Mexico or up in the Uintas.  Heavenly Father has indeed been good to me.

The two photos below are of the kids taking selfies in my van while Annette and I finished packing up to leave.

Oh, and we found moose tracks right by the river next to our campsite!   We didn't see the moose (frowny face :( )  but one had been next to our campsite during the night!

Such a fun trip! And so beautiful!!