Monday, August 2, 2010

Bell Canyon Waterfall

Since Alex went to Lagoon (Utah's amusement park) last week with marching band and once with the junior high, Robin took the girls there on Saturday. I wanted to find something fun and free to do with Alex while they were gone for the day so I found a hike online and we drove up to Sandy to the trailhead near Little Cottonwood Canyon. I didn't do a lot of research on the hike before we left that morning. It said it was a 4 mile hike and I thought, "How hard could it be since it's that short?" I had no idea! It started out with these easy steps and we soon crossed a little bridge over this stream. Just fine so far.
About half a mile in, we arrived at this resevoir. That wasn't bad at all.
You can see downtown Salt Lake from up there. Can you see it?
We need to get some hiking clothes! We were so hot. Alex is also begging for us to buy CamelBaks for our next hike. We definitely didn't take enough water.
This was the trail for a little while, shaded and easy. Sooooooo deceptive. You can't even tell what lies ahead.
The trail was up, up, up and up on these big rocks for more than an hour.
That's actually the trail that Alex is on in the picture below. Besides the elevation change, the big rocks made it a workout. The review that I did read before we started off for the day said it was a strenuous hike. Strenuous? It was so difficult even with resting on the rocks here and there.
Alex told me about half way up that he couldn't make it and he wanted to go back. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to make him go if he really couldn't or didn't want to, but I wanted to make it to the first waterfall. I asked if he'd try a little longer and he said he would. Shortly after, he got a second wind and said he felt great. That's when I started feeling it. I could hear my heart beating in my ears. Alex kept saying, "Let's just go back, Mom. You don't have to kill yourself." On the way up in the car, we listened to the CD "I Can Do Hard Things" by John Hilton III (an LDS youth speaker), so I kept telling Alex, "I'm not giving up. I can do hard things." The trail to the waterfall is not marked so I stopped a few people who were coming down for tips on how to find it. Then a few others who passed us volunteered similar clues. I would have been so sad to go that far up and pass right by it. Finally we got there!
After climbing up and up, when you can see the waterfall, you have to climb down to actually get to it. That climb was a little more precarious than it looks. The beautiful waterfall with the sprays of water and cool breeze made the whole journey up worth it! We didn't want to leave.
I was sweaty and tired, but happy to be there.
Here is Alex, very happy to feel the cool spray. Then he turned around and slipped on the wet, slippery rock and scratched up his arm and leg. Luckily it wasn't bad and he was able to climb back up to the trail and down to the parking lot.
Here's the view from up there.
Of course, our trip down was so much easier, although my feet hurt from maneuvering on the rocks and I lost my footing and skidded down several times. Once we got to the car, we headed off for dinner. We worked up an appetite! Not surprisingly (if you know him), Alex chose Japanese food.

Alex ordered the cheesecake for dessert. He didn't know it, but it had green apple-flavored syrup on it. He said it was okay, but he would have prefered it plain. It's pretty though! I didn't get a dessert. I didn't want to pack back on all the calories I had just burned.

13 comments:

  1. what an awesome experience. val, seriously, you're an animal! kinda like anything the Lord asks us to do, right? hard & stretches us, but man once we get to our destination, we don't want to leave! you're awesome. glad you & alex had such a rewarding time together. i love his thumbs up pic! =)

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  2. That hike looks so fun! And what a fun thing for you guys to do together! And those pictures are beautiful. And you look gorgeous in them!
    xoxox
    melanie

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  3. What a beautiful hike! I'm glad you both enjoyed yourself.

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  4. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishing something we didn't think we could! I am really proud of both of you. Very impressive, and the pictures are gorgeous! (of the scenery and of you too!)

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  5. What a beautiful waterfall! So glad you didn't turn around and go back, we wouldn't have seen these pictures!
    I hope you're doing well. You really ARE doing hard things!

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  6. Beautiful scenery! Great post. Thanks for sharing.

    I love the picture of your dinner. It looks so good!
    Hugs for the week.

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  7. Beautiful pics! Glad you were able to get thru the hard part to enjoy a gorgeous reward!

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  8. Good for you! I hate posting pictures of hard hikes because they always look so much easier on a 2D plane! Since yours look pretty challenging in the photo's, I can only imagine what a hike it must have been! It's beautiful - I'm glad it was worth it :D

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  9. Oh yea! Good for you! Love the pics! And you look fabulous!

    And now I'm hungry. :D

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  10. Good job on the hike! Looks beautiful. But I wouldn't have passed on the cheesecake....

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  11. Definitely going hiking next year. This area is so beautiful! I hoped to do some earlier this summer but didn't get around to it. Now life is getting crazy. Way to go on conquering the hard things. So worth it in the end. Especially followed by dinner out. I really like that place and it's set up. Good atmosphere. The sushi's alright, I'll have to try their other dishes. They look yummy especially that cheesecake.

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  12. I don't know how I missed this post!! Gorgeous outing for you and the kids!!! The dessert at the end looks divine!!

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  13. I grew up in Sandy, and I used to do that hike at least once a year. In highschool we would do the hike on hot summer days and lay on the big rock slabs below the waterfall. The mist from the waterfall felt SO good with the sun shining down on you. I love the waterfalls at Bell's. Thanks for bringing back some good memories. :)

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