Waterfall Canyon

Remember when it was the 4th of July and we went on a hike?

Well, here are the pictures I never posted.

Our "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Salt Lake City" book made the "moderate" hike up Ogden Canyon to Waterfall Canyon sound irresistible. So we set out in the hottest part of the day. We thought that would be best.

In the middle of the day, the first half-mile of this hike is brutal. Dirt, rocks, SUN. Not beautiful or lovely.
But the book promised it was worth it, so we kept going anyway.

Tommy of course had no problem with the hike. His part was easy.

Eventually we found the stream and some shade, which meant the hike was much more pleasant.

See? These are pleasant Medinas.

For some unknown reason Josh feels the need to poooosh people in rivers. 

Even if they're wearing babies.

And for some unknown reason I feel the need to poosh the poooshers in rivers too. 

Even if they're wearing babies.

Flashback: One time I was on a date in high school with one of the coolest kids I knew (hi Blair!) and a big group of equally cool people. We hiked to a little waterfall in Pleasant Grove and I (like an impossibly obnoxious child) insisted on getting in the water. Fully clothed. I tried desperately to start a water fight. Only my date was insane enough to humor me and the two of us were completely soaked and everyone else was completely reasonably rationally cute and nice and normal. I was trying to be that "cool girl who doesn't mind getting dirty or wet" but instead I was "that obnoxious girl who wrecked the party". Fortunately Blair was kind enough not to shun me and the date continued. But it was not the cool thing to do, and I should have apologized. Sorry Blair.

We crossed over the river a couple of times, which was easily the easiest part of the hike. Because it was the only part that didn't require an uphill battle.

Crossing the river aka resting. Yes I know it's not a real river. Don't mock me. 

The trail was pretty well beaten, but it was steep and we were all breathing hard and sweating by the time we reached the top. 

But the book promised that once we saw the falls we would forget about the difficulty of the hike. Which is pretty much true.

When you get to this point you're so glad because it is positively stunning. But you also can't imagine why a sane human being would leave the shade of the trees with the beautiful view to hike up a little farther to stand at the base of the falls which is in full view of the sun. 

But you do it anyway. Because the book said......

And the book was right. Sitting here is nature's air conditioning. 

So we hung around relaxing and enjoying the cool and calm.

The dads played with the babes.

And we headed back down entirely satisfied with our hike.

Stopping just once on the way down for a hydration break.

It really was a beautiful hike. I highly recommend it.