Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

On Sunday we went with Mike and Kay up Hatcher Pass to Summit Lake. It was a beautiful day and we had fun skipping rocks into the lake and Scott even got all the way in the water! (He has a goal to get in the water of every lake he visits, haha.) Enjoy these fun pics!

Ruby and I had another mommy/daughter hiking date, and this time we did Reed Lakes! We had great weather, but unfortunately, the lower lake was almost completely clouded over, so we really couldn't see it that well. We still hiked to the waterfall, and it was so pretty, despite the low clouds. Such a fun hike (and pretty big, over 8 miles!) with my sweet Rubes! She's the best hiking buddy!

The nice summer weather continued this week, and as a family we hiked April Bowl in Hatcher Pass. Ruby and I went a little further up to Hatch Peak, and then we all took a little break and put at least our legs in one of the little lakes of April Bowl (Scott got all the way in, haha!), and then we hiked around Summit Lake too. It was just a perfect Alaskan summer day! Hatcher Pass is one of our very favorite places to go, and so, so beautiful!

These views are very similar to what Scott and I saw the day before hiking Mat Peak (see here), but this hike is way easier, lol!

Trying to make the most of summer and the midnight sun, Scott and I decided to hike Reed Lakes for a bedtime hike, haha. We started around 8:30 pm, and then finished right at midnight! (We went to the waterfall and back.) We got rained on coming down, and it was a bit more muddy than expected, but still so fun! Enjoy these pretty pics!

 A few extra favorites from our busy month of November! 

View from Davis Creek Trail. Scott and I were able to hike this one morning while he was in UT for Thanksgiving. 11/20/23

Chrissy and I tried to get all the fall hiking in, lol! Our next hike we did was in Ogden. We originally did this hike in our Hiking 101 class at WSU, and it's one of our favorites! It's especially pretty in the fall. You usually do it as a one way hike, leaving a car at the finish, and one at the trailhead. We started up Ogden Canyon, at the Coldwater Canyon trailhead, and then finished at the 22nd Street trailhead. It's a little over 4 miles and about 1400 elevation gain. So pretty! 🍁😍🍂

Fall in Utah is so beautiful! I went on many runs through the neighborhood and trail system in Farmington whenever I got the chance. These pics are all from Oct. '23. Enjoy! ❤️🧡💛

Davis Creek Trail. These colors are unreal 😍 10/21/23

I love Utah in September! It's still really warm, but just starting to cool down a bit. (October in UT is so nice too.) While Scott was gone I was working 2-3x/week, but with the kids back in school, I was able to go on lots of runs and hikes. Enjoy these pretty pics I took while out enjoying nature! 🍃🌻🍁

9/14/23 Davis Creek Trail. Look close to see the waterfall

Scott and I both had Pioneer Day off so we decided to do a little trail run up Adams Canyon. We started in Kaysville and took BST to Adams Canyon. It was a beautiful morning!

Our last night on this trip we spent in Portland with my uncle and aunt. (Thanks so much Mark and Janice!) The next morning we got up early and drove all the way home. We made a quick stop at Multnomah Falls, (So pretty! I remembered stopping here many times growing up when we would go on vacation to the Oregon coast.) and then we pretty much just drove the rest of the day. Such a fun trip, and I can't wait to plan another one! We definitely want to take the girls to the Oregon coast, and I'd love to go on another couples trip with Scott! 

After spending the morning in the Neah Bay area, we drove back to Olympic National Park and spent the afternoon at Lake Crescent. We took a few pics right along the shore of Lake Crescent, and then we hiked Mount Storm King. It was a pretty big, and a very steep hike. We gained 2,200 feet in 2 miles! 🥵 We also did a short hike to Marymere Falls. It was a gorgeous day, and I think Mount Storm King is one of my new favorite hikes. The views were amazing! Towards the end of the hike there is a rope to help with the super steep parts. It was kind of fun, but also a bit scary. It's not nearly as scary as Angels Landing, but I still wouldn't recommend taking kids to the top. Enjoy these beautiful pics!

😍😍

The next day we spent in the Quinault area. We hiked trails and spent the night along the south shore of Lake Quinault, so we were actually in Olympic National Forest, not Olympic National Park this day. It was pretty rainy, but still so beautiful, and I loved staying right next to the lake. I would definitely recommend visiting this area. It was easy to get to and much less crowded than the Hoh Rain Forest area, with the scenery and trails being very similar. Here we hiked Gatton Creek Falls and the Rain Forest Nature Loop, and visited the world's largest Sitka Spruce and Merriman Falls. Before getting to the Quinault area we made a quick stop in Aberdeen and visited the Kurt Cobain Memorial Park. It was a fun day!

Hiking near Quinault. Loved this foxglove on the trail!

Scott and I got to spend about a week together exploring Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park, and a few other spots along the way as well. I'm going to split it up over a few blog posts, but overall we had so much fun on this couples trip. It was so nice to spend time with just the two of us. 👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻 We got to do some bigger hikes that we wouldn't have been able to do with the kids, and it was a little easier to fit more stuff in. Huge thanks to both sets of grandparents who watched our girls. They had so much fun together!

First up is Mount Rainier National Park. This was a bit early in the year to visit, and if we go again I'd definitely want to go later in the summer. We still got to do a few hikes, and we had a fun time, but later in the year would have been a better time to visit. Portions of the park are still closed this time of year due to snow coverage, and I would love to see more of the park. We got rained on pretty much the whole time (it is a rain forest, so that was expected, haha), and unfortunately it was cloudy with poor visibility so we never actually saw the mountain, but that was ok. Mount Rainier NP is beautiful, and I loved all the green and waterfalls! 🌿💧

Silver Falls Trail, 6/18/23

Scott and I had been wanting to travel to the PNW, and with Scott's cousin getting married in Boise in June, we built a trip around that. Our little family first drove to Boise, and we all enjoyed a beautiful wedding with the Hadley family (post coming soon), and then Scott's parents took the girls home with them while Scott and I continued our trip up north to Washington and Oregon. Scott's parents watched the girls for a few days, and then my parents watched them for a few days until Scott and I got back. It was a fun week of travel for everyone and I have so many pictures to share! 

First up, we drove to Boise on Friday afternoon. We met up with Scott's parents and had pizza at the park for dinner, and then stayed in a cute airbnb that night. The next morning Scott and I took the girls to Zoo Boise before the wedding. They had a lot of cool animals that I had never seen before, and they had some fun playground things that Robyn and Noelle really enjoyed. It was a fun morning! 

African Lion

I loved living so close to so many trails while in Farmington, and towards the end of May I went on several different trail runs. These are some of my favorite pics from those mornings!

BST/Davis Creek Trail 5/25/23

On Earth Day our little family did a quick hike up Davis Creek Trail. Everything was still pretty brown, but little hints of green were just starting to pop. Happy that we were able to get outside and enjoy this beautiful Earth! 🌎 

Fall might be my favorite season in Utah, and fall hiking is so beautiful! We went hiking with our friends, the Pulver's (who were our neighbors in AK, and recently moved back to UT!) to Waterfall Canyon. It was a gorgeous day, and we enjoyed great company. Enjoy these pics!

🍁😍🍂

After hiking Hidden Lake in the morning we continued on GTSR and made a quick stop to do another hike near St. Mary, Baring Falls. This hike was less than a mile RT, but right in the heat of the day and most of the trail had recently been in a wildfire so it wasn't super pretty (and no shade cover). This hike wasn't our favorite, but the waterfall was pretty! After hiking,we kept driving GTSR and stopped at a viewpoint for St. Mary Lake. The reflections were unbelievable! So pretty and so amazing! Enjoy! 👐

After a coupe long days of driving we made it to Glacier National Park! We arrived in the afternoon on 7/22, but our reservation to enter through the West Entrance didn't start until the next day. I thought we would be able to just visit the visitor center in Apgar near the West Entrance, but not without a reservation. 

We had a few hours so we decided to drive over to the East Glacier/Two Medicine area. It ended up being one of my favorite areas of the park so I'm so glad we did! We hiked to Running Eagle Falls, which was just a short walk, but so beautiful. This waterfall used to be called Trick Falls because depending on the time of year, the flow changes between the upper fall and lower fall. (Spring has heavy flow from the upper fall, covering the lower fall; and late summer has heavy flow from the lower falls.) 

We wanted to do another hike while we were here, but the trail was closed due to recent bear activity. So after just a short time here we started our way back to West Glacier. (I definitely want to plan on spending more time in Two Medicine on our next trip!) That night we stayed in a nice lodge just outside the west park entrance. On our drive back we stopped at the Goat Lick Overlook. We saw lots of mountain goats, which was so cool! We especially loved seeing all the little baby goats. Enjoy these beautiful pics from our first day in Glacier! 

Glacier National Park has been on our bucket list for a while, and last summer we decided to make it happen! We were able to reserve a camp site for a couple nights right in Glacier, and we kind of just worked around that. With Ruby just finishing 4th grade we were still able to use her family parks pass. It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to share so many beautiful pics! 

It is quite a drive to get to Glacier, so we split it up over two days. On our first day we made a little stop at Mesa Falls. We've made this tiny detour a few times, and it is so worth it! Mesa Falls is beautiful! They also have a little visitor center which is kind of fun to walk through. After Mesa Falls, we continued our drive and then spent the night in Butte, Montana. It was a lot of time in the car the first day, but the girls did great!

Upper Mesa Falls