It was a great family adventure. Today we were able to go hiking to Stewart Falls which is just past
Sundance Ski Resort in Provo Canyon. Everyone was so excited to go. This was part of our birthday celebration for Kelley Johnson. Here we are at the trail head, just as we begin to embark on our adventure.
Here is Neil, Kelley and Zachary also ready to head to the falls.
We tried very hard to keep our boys close as they sped up and down the mountain trail. It was a 2 mile hike each way to the falls and back again. For the most part they did very well. But David is ready to stretch his wings and fly (or just walk very fast). On the return journey he was definitely out in front and it was all we could do to catch up to him.
Here are the guys, trudging through the forest...
I'm not totally convince that
Aleky carried his own weight on this trip. But we decided to cut him some slack until next summer. And then he'll have to pack it in and pack it out.
The Jones boys hiking along the trail.
My boys were able to spot all sorts of critters along the trail. Here we have just found a hairy caterpillar.
This is the moment when the boys discover the waterfall. They are certainly excited about the proposition.
Neil and Kelley are doing their best to keep up with the boys. Here they are
descending the rugged trail to the falls.
The boys arrive victoriously at Stewart Falls. The boys could hardly hold still long enough to take a picture. We had to keep a special eye on each on so that they didn't go swimming in the "river".
I tried to explain, very carefully, that the boys would be happier if they threw rocks in the water and kept
themselves safe on dry land. It mostly worked. David would take a dunk before we headed home.
Aleky and Zachary had a fabulous time together. Both found the tiny rocks such an amazing part of nature.
The boys unloaded half of the
mountain into the stream and didn't even realize that they were throwing rocks for nearly 90 minutes straight!
Don't think for a minute that the boys simply threw rocks from the bank. Where is the fun and adventure in that? The boys would take the big rock (the ones they couldn't throw very far) and carry them out on the log where they would launch them a few feet into the rushing waters below.
Zachary wasn't extremely interested in the water, but the bugs, rocks and plants were
fascinating.
Just a nice picture of the falls from where I was eating lunch.
We have discovered that, for the current time, 4 miles is just enough to wear out the boys without completely killing them!
They didn't even make it from the parking lot to the main canyon road before they were all asleep!
