July Running

We've been doing a lot of running in July, but a lot of it is still working on Lost Souls routes, so all those adventures will be in a different post. I've been doing a lot more hiking in July too, which I love. Here are a few random runs I've done in July.

Blackbird Pie & Henry Canyon:

I've already finished these two Lost Souls routes, but Jenn and Mat needed them, so I went on an early run with them. We shuttled them, so they only had to go one way. We had a really great sky morning.

Little Currant & Echo Canyon:

I went back up to the Fall Creek area to do some routes with Joyce. I still needed Point Lookout and Rash Canyon for the challenge, so we started off with those. Joyce needed Little Currant and Echo, and Little Currant is not one to do alone, so I repeated those two with Joyce. I would be totally happy to never have to do Little Currant again as long as I live. The stinging nettle was bad, and I managed to get us in some crazy situations. At one point we were literally trapped in thick brush. We tried to go several different ways, but ended up just having to plow through it. Then we ended up side hilling it the last half mile, and it was hard and crazy. We were all scraped up, and had soooooo many stickers in our socks and shoes. The run down Echo is always fun though.

This quarter mile of trail at the beginning is the only part of the route I like.

Joyce fell down. 😅

Lovely trail 😲 We just had to push through this brush.

Don't let Joyce's cute smile fool you. We were not having a good time. 😂

We were pulling stickers out of our clothes and socks for days. I washed my socks several times, and I'm still finding them.

Seeing that cairn was a very welcomed sight!

South Canal:

Jenn doesn't like doing the South Canal route by herself, so I went on another early one with her. The good thing about getting out early, is seeing the sunrise. We had a good one this morning.

It's been a great month of hiking and running, but most of them will be in different posts.

Tablerock Sunrise Hike

 Ashley and Jenn planned a Tablerock sunrise hike, and I'm so glad I was able to go. We left Idaho Falls at 1:25 on Wednesday morning, got to the trailhead, and started up the face trail at 3:00 am. Right when we got out of the car, I knew it was going to be great; the stars were spectacular! Ashley, Nate, Meredith, and I made our way up the trail with just our headlamps guiding us along. The start in the dark is always a little unnerving, but it didn't take me long to relax and just enjoy the journey. Jenn and Joyce slept in their cars at the trailhead, and started up at 2:00 am, so we knew they were ahead of us on the trail, hopefully scaring all the bears away. 😁

3:00 am start!
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This is what we looked like being guided along with our headlamps. We could see the silhouette of Tablerock; the sky was just starting to get a faint glow as we made our way up the final climb. We saw a porcupine on the way up too!

We reached the top at 5:00 am. Perfect timing to watch the sky turn pink and orange, and then see the sun start rising over the mountains.

The Tetons as the sun was starting to come up! So cool!

It was so cold on top as the sun was coming up. Meredith was freezing, so Nate gave her a space blanket. She looked like the cutest little Christmas present all wrapped up on the top of a mountain. 😂

We met up with Jenn and Joyce at the top.
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The sun was starting to peek up over the mountains.

We went off of Tablerock, and out to Inspiration Point, which I had never done before. Very cool!

Inspiration Point

Look, I'm touching the Grand!

So glad I'm part of such an amazing trail running group. There is never a shortage of people willing to put together crazy events, and never a shortage of people excited to go on them!

Joyce took this cool picture.

On the way up in the dark, my headlamp kept shining on the blue flowers. I could tell they were going to be bright and beautiful. Once we headed down, and it was finally light, I could see just how amazing they were. They were everywhere! Fields full of flowers the whole way down the huckleberry trail.

So pretty!

Indian Paintbrush

Ashley took this fun video as we started down the switchbacks.

We took a break to get in the creek on the way down.

Everything about the day was worth the crazy wake up time, and lack of sleep. I'm a sucker for a good adventure, and this one filled my bucket for sure!

Jonnae's Graduation Week

Jonnae graduated from BYU-I, so all of her family came to Idaho to celebrate. We had a fun few days with everyone!

On Wednesday evening we went to her graduation ceremony, where she gave a great speech.  

Cute little graduate!

Kim and Russ were here too, so it was fun to spend a few days with them. On Thursday we all floated the Warm River. We had 14 of us, but luckily went down with 17 tubes. Good thing, because three tubes popped along the way. We were mostly all hooked together, which probably wasn't the best idea. 😂 Manuvering around big rocks and other things in the river is not really possible with that many people hooked together. At one point I came unhooked from everyone. I was just floating down by myself ahead of the group having a good ole time, until I got stuck in a little cove. The water was stagnant right there, and I literally came to a standstill. I tried and tried to get back in the current, but it was not gonna happen. After everyone had already passed me and got to the take out spot, I realized I would just have to jump in and swim the last quarter mile or so. In I went, and I just held onto my tube and and swam. I'm sure they were relieved when they saw me round the corner swimming along side my tube. 😅 It was a fun float, and now I want to go back and do it in the kayaks. 

Some of our tubes all ready for us to get started.

The rest of the tubes.

So fun!

After the float we went to a park in Rexburg and had a big bbq. Mark was off work in time to be able to join for that.

On Friday, Kim and Russ helped Noah and Jonnae get all packed and ready for their move to Texas. That evening Kim, Russ, Noah, Jonnae, Sawyer, Amanda, Mark, and I went to dinner at Tandori Oven and then went out to Ririe to show them the barn and progress on our house. After that it was a trip to Dairy Queen for a treat and to plan our hike for the next day.

On Saturday we set off to hike Delta Lake in Grand Teton Park. Jonnae had it on her list of things to do before they left Idaho. It was a great day! We saw four bears on the way up. First there was a pretty good size black bear with two cubs about a mile up the trail. Then later in the climb I looked up and saw brown movement. At fist I thought maybe it was a person on a switchback above us, but then I realized it was a little brown bear walking above the trail. We watched it forage for a while, but it was always in the tall grass when I tried to get a picture, so no luck. The flowers were still in full bloom, so the trail was beautiful. I picked and ate huckleberries along the way. The lake was gorgeous, and we got there early enough that it wasn't too crowded. Noah, Jonnae, and I got in the freezing water. There is nothing better to refresh you on a hike than a dip in a freezing, mountain lake. It was a great day!

Cute mama bear walking away from her cubs. I bet she was going to take a nap.

The bear!

Heading up the trail.

The flowers were amazing!

Overlooking Bradly and Taggart lakes!
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Walking through hillsides of flowers.

You have to cross a couple boulder fields.

Delta Lake is gorgeous. It's the best color, and sits in a bowl right at the base of the Grand.

Love this hike!

Brrrrr!

The three of us went in the water!

Mark

Tricia

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Bradly and Taggart Lakes

Huckleberries!

Kim and Russ left on Saturday night. It was such a fun few days with them. We had our last Sunday night dinner with Noah and Jonnae, so that was sad. I'm super excited to see where the next few years takes them. They are headed to Texas for Noah's grad school. I feel like a fun little era is coming to an end. It's been a great four years having Noah live by us while he went to school. We're gonna miss them a ton (especially on Sundays). Onward and upward!

Nora's Blessing Day

 We took a quick trip to Boise for Nora's blessing. When I say quick, I mean it; we drove over on Sunday morning, stayed for a few hours, then drove home that evening. We made it in time for about half of Mason and Bailey's sacrament meeting, then they blessed Nora right after that. Bailey had a luncheon planned in the park, but it ended up being super hot, so Triska let us use their AirBnB for it. Nora is loved by a lot of people, and I'm super grateful for Mason's family who all traveled a long way to be there for it. 

Bailey and Nora

Nora has a lot of great men in her life.
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The cutest little family!

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Nora loves her daddy!

She is the sweetest! Being Grams and Pops is the best!

Gah, that cute little smile! 😍

A beautiful day for a beautiful little girl!