Camping!

For the past five days, I've been with my family, camping in the beautiful Uintahs.  I have always said that camping in the mountains is my favorite type of vacation, and this one was no different.

We arrived at our destination, the Butterfly Lake campsite, on Friday afternoon.  After setting up the camp, the girls stayed in the campsite and relaxed while the boys gathered firewood and had a blast doing it---I think my brothers and father have a little too much testosterone poisoning.  :)  We also spent some time fishing in Butterfly Lake.  It was the first time I'd ever fished from the shore instead of from a boat.  It also was the first time that I'd ever caught a fish on a fly instead of on bait.  Pretty exciting stuff.  :)

Saturday was spent fishing, taking a small hike, and just generally relaxing.  Sunday was spent reading scriptures, relaxing, sight-seeing (including seeing some waterfalls of the Provo River; I had no idea it started that far north!), and enjoying the beauty of God's creations.

Yesterday, I got up early with my dad to go fishing.  The stars really aligned for us, because I caught a fish on nearly every other cast!  That was when I got my first real experience fighting a fish on a fly; the others had been too small to really matter, but this one was definitely a prize!  :)  Then after breakfast, we spent a good part of the day hiking the 3 miles to Clyde Lake and the 3 miles back down, experiencing the beauty of around 15 lakes, the notch in the mountain, and thousands of trees along the way.  It presented a great deal of challenges, and we were all exhausted and footsore afterward, but it was a beautiful trail, well worth the difficulties.

Capping all of the wonderful activities were hours of reading (which I haven't been able to do for months!), fishing, relaxing, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, chopping wood (definitely not my choice of pastime, but my brothers enjoyed it :)), stargazing, and of course sitting around a campfire.  Despite the mosquitoes, the dirt, and the rocks, it was a wonderful trip, and I'm so glad I had the chance to spend time in an atmosphere I love with the people I love.