Silver Lake Hike and Picnic

Just like many other families, Dan and I struggle with finding activities to do for Family Home Evening.  So many plans and ideas out there is focused on families with small kids, or even teenagers.  It's hard for us to come up with ideas on what to do that is interesting, challenging or just fun to do.  But this week, success!

Right after Dan got off work, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon, wanting to see some fall colors.  Unfortunately, we're a little late for all the yellows of the aspens.  Sad, sad- I love seeing all those colors.  There were a few hints and left over colors mostly on the mountain sides, but the peak had passed.

We made it up to Silver Lake, and got out of the car.  Wow, it was chilly!  Yes, it's October in the mountains, yes it was the evening, but it was cold!  Thank goodness we had our jackets.  The sun was lingering just at the top of the mountains, so we decided to wait on our picnic and walk around the lake while we still had light to see.

The grasses around the lake were dried out, and most the trees had lost their leaves, but I still found it beautiful and peaceful.  I've always had a fondness for the mountains, especially my Rocky Mountains.  I love camping in them, taking pictures, visiting them, watching them as I fly over in an airplane, anything to do with mountains!  Except skiing- I don't like the snow that much. But even though I missed the pretty part of fall up here, I found it enchanting, even if chilly!

We walked around the boardwalk circling the lake, took pictures and just enjoyed ourselves.  There were a few other people up there, and every time we saw someone in shorts, we shuddered....  Brrr!  On the lake we saw some people fishing, plus we saw beavers (cool!) and a few ducks.  One of the first times I've seen beavers in the wild!  They have a lodge (their little pile of wood that they construct) on the side furthest away from the road.  Saw at least a couple different ones swimming around, bringing something back to their lodge.  The lake was so still it was perfectly reflecting the mountains and the sky.

As we finished circling the lake on the boardwalk, we got back into the car- getting very chilly as the sun went down!  Yes, that is SNOW in the pictures!  I'm not ready for snow!  Anyways, we had some hot sloppy joe meat in the car, plus bread, grapes and some sugary treats! Fun little activity for FHE this week!