Silver Lake Hike

We decided to go hiking and Travis really wanted to hike to Silver Lake up American Fork canyon.  He had been there before his mission and didn't think it was too hard of a hike.  So, we packed up the kids and made our way to the canyon.  We loaded up water and snacks, strapped on backpacks and headed up the trail. 

 Everyone was all smiles as we started up the mountain and we were having a great time.  The boys loved saying hi to people as we passed them and stopping for the occasional drink and snack. 

 The lake was a lot farther up the mountain than Travis remembered and I don't know that Travis took into account that hiking with a 2 year old would slow us down a little.  We were getting grumpy and talked about turning around and going back.  I figured we had made it that far it would be pointless to turn around and go back without seeing the lake.
We had to hike through snow that had not melted yet and  the boys really enjoyed kicking it around.  It felt good to walk through when it was so warm outside.  We had to help the kids up the steep part at the very end but we finally made it.  The views from 
the top were amazing.  There were only a few people up there and we enjoyed hanging around the lake for awhile.


  

  The lake was freezing so we didn't get in the water but the boys loved climbing on the rocks and around the trees.  Keira pretty much stayed with me and didn't venture out much.  I didn't mind having a snuggle buddy, though.  After another snack break we started to head back down the mountain.







I couldn't resist taking a couple more shots on the way down.

  Alex was definitely the trooper of the day.  He never complained while hiking up the mountain and he never stopped on the way down.  Even when it started to rain about half way down he was still in good spirits. Travis took Keira and Alex down pretty quickly once it started to rain but Austin was dragging his feet a little.  I stayed back with him and we didn't mind getting a little wet.  We realized we couldn't hear Travis and the other kids anymore so we decided to try and take a shortcut down the side of the mountain.  We finally caught up to Travis but I don't know if it was the smartest decision we could have made.  We spent most of the time sliding down on our feet, with our rear ends inches from the ground, grabbing whatever we could to slow us down.  Austin seemed to enjoy it, and I guess that's what matters. 

When we got down to the truck we were greeted with a double rainbow.  I  took it as a good omen and Travis got a ton of pictures of it.  The boys just wanted to follow it so  they could find the pot of gold.  Keira didn't see any of it as she promptly crashed as soon as she got in the car.
When we were at Silver Lake someone told us about another lake farther up the mountain.  Maybe next year we will make it to that one.