The Bruschkes were coming down from Park City so we decided to meet just past Aspen Grove at the parking lot (at the trail head). As soon as we got our group picture we headed up the trail. With 4 adults and 10 children ages 7 and under, we figured that everyone could keep up, moms and dads included. The older children naturally headed down the trail first and the little kids hung back with mom and dad.
The last time we had hiked this trail David had gotten so far ahead that we "lost" him and I had to run to find him. So we got smart and decided to bring walkie-talkies so we could at least maintain contact with him. The idea was good but the execution of this plan didn't go quite as we anticipated. I don't know if we have bad equipment or bad operators but we lost contact with David before we made it half-way up the trail. In fact, the rest of the older kids met us as they were walking back up the trail, they also having lost contact with David. We did finally find David, relaxing on the far side of the stream/waterfall, exactly where we didn't want him to be without supervision. As a result, David had to relinquish control of the walkie-talkie, and could past the first adult on the trail (which happened to be me, but that was better than having to wait for mom at the end of the group!). This was absolute torture for David but he needs to learn a lesson about staying together.
When the rest of us arrived at the falls we discovered about 2 dozen other hikers who had already arrived before us. That wasn't too bad, all was calm and relatively quiet. The boys immediately took to throwing rocks in the river and we needed to remind them to be careful and not launch rocks all the way across the river and hit people sitting down on the other side! Aleky had to be reminded multiple times.
While we were enjoying our lunch we noticed some guys coming down the trail at a full run, without shirts on. We assumed they were cross country runners because they were skinny as rails. Then the next group arrived...and another...and another...! Before we could finish eating the falls were swarming with cross country runners (we're guessing they were from a BYU summer camp). Some of these kids couldn't get their clothes off fast enough so they could run through the falls.
Seeing these kids run under the falls put ideas into my boys heads and before we knew what was happening we saw David entering the falls. The Bruschke's kids notice this right away and more ideas began entering young heads. In the end we had David, Donovan, Brett and myself pass under the water fall (through the chilling waters). Bailey approached the water fall but decided that she didn't have anything to prove and retreated.
Aleky didn't make the hike back. Michelle had sent me with the advanced hiking party before Aleky gave up so I was cruisin' with Quinten and the older kids (Spencer, Natalie, David, Donovan and Michael). As a result, Michelle had to pack Aleky out with the remains of lunch, sun screen and other hiking essentials she was already packing out. Fortunately Rachel assisted with packing Aleky out (who was sleeping most of the way!).
Having successfully completed the hike we decided to celebrate and headed to the Creamery on 9th for some ice cream. We had so much fun interacting with the Bruschkes on this little adventure and look forward to the next time we can do something together. The next time will probably be a California adventure of some sort but we'll wait and see.
