Hiking Red Pine

This was probably the BEST hike I've been on in a long time! Toward the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon is the trail head for White and Red Pine (the lakes are at the top). My brothers and I normally hike up to White Pine lake, because it is a longer hike. I haven't hiked to Red Pine Lake before (well I did as a kid, but don't remember). When you begin this hike, you hike about 3/4's of a mile up to a stream and then the trail splits, one going up to White Pine Lake and one up to Red Pine Lake. Dan has wanted to go on a hike almost all summer, but with being pregnant hiking has become pretty dang hard for me! I normally can hike these trails without a hitch but of course carrying a little one makes me feel like I've never exercised a day in my life...it's depressing! I took the kids on this hike last year and they hiked about half way in, so this year I wanted to take them and see if we could make it to the top.

My Dad decided to come, which made it so nice! He sang songs on the way up and helped us keep the kids going. This hike is GORGEOUS! It's sort of deceiving in that the trail is a nice steady climb until you get half way up ( about the point the kids turned around last year) and then it's a straight up climb, boulder on boulder. The kids did so well! Abby thought she was going to die toward the end, and it just made me laugh. I tried to take some pictures of that. A few of these pics the kid are sitting down. It was funny because they would hike along and then just sit down right in the middle of the trail...lol. I can't even tell you how excited we all were when we reached the lake. What a beautiful lake! It had a great little beach on one side and the kids had fun shooting Dan's sling-shot. It was quite chilly at the top, so we ate a quick lunch and basked in the sun and then started down. The kids couldn't believe how steep it was and that they had just gotten through climbing it. Toward the last couple of miles, all of our feet were aching. We are all feeling it today, but it was a great hike! Below: the road up Little Cottonwood Canyon with the valley in the distance.

Below: Where the trail splits.

The Valley View...the trail has a drop off and it has a part in the tree's and this is an awesome view!

Just past the Stream/River where the trail split. This bridge crosses right over it.

Below: the Mountains are gorgeous with this red stripe along the top.

Rachel was ahead most of the hike :)

Below: I took this of just Abby to show her she actually made it to the top and didn't die...lol.