a rocky mountain labor-free weekend

brian and i had a good long weekend. below is a quick run-down of the highlights.

we made it up to the swiss days festival, which was interesting to go to but not too swissy. it could have had any name/theme and seemed about as swiss as the festival actually was. that was a bit disappointing, but i guess not too surprising.

on saturday we decided to go up to the high uintas to do some exploring. while driving/walking around, we spotted three different female mooses. and one, as you can see from the pic below, was pretty close. we also did a little fishing--b caught one fine trout.



on sunday we took an afternoon drive up to sundance and then on through the american fork canyon road. it was easy to see why robert redford was so taken by the sundance area. it is really beautiful up there. it's amazing how the mountains can look so different. we see the front of these mountains all the time, but the back side is completely different--so striking. it also seems like we might have found a good place to go leaf-viewing once the trees start changing.

on monday we got up early and went back up the high uintas to do a 7-mile'ish roundtrip hike to a couple mountain-top lakes. we did some great fishing (i caught the fattest fish i've ever caught); found thimbleberries, raspberries, and blueberries along the trail/by the lakes; and had a nice, relaxing time up there. we caught several trout and cooked them up at a firepit close to the lake. then did some more fishing and brought those fish down with us. the hiking part was a bit rough (it's a really tiring hike), but we're feeling better today. below shows some of the highlights.

this is a pic of a pika that poked its head out of the rocks a few times while i was sitting by the side of the lake. it was only about 3 feet away from me. isn't it cute?

this is a view of the upper lake.

this shows me with the fat fish i caught. b is holding it beside my head as i'm taking the picture, which is why it's a bit wonky.

this is the proud picture of brian with the big trout he caught in a tiny pool at the upper lake.