Hike Down Memory Lane

One of the things we did on Labor Day was to take a hike as a family. My mom had invited our family up for a barbecue in the afternoon, and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take my kids up Big Cottonwood Canyon and hike to Doughnut Falls.

I’ve hiked there several times as a teen, and it had been a long time since I had hike it. I remembered a few things about the trail, but what I didn’t remember was the crazy crowds. Let’s just say that the trail was well traversed that day. Very well traversed.

We took the trail kind of slowly, as Jared and Timothy had gone on a bike ride earlier in the morning as well, plus I wanted Ryan to hike as much of the path as he could. He did great.

My three little ducks.

When I was a kid, there were two “doughnuts,” one in a cave that you could climb inside if you wanted (I never did; it was really wet in there). But several years ago (which I’d forgotten), the cave portion collapsed. For a while, they wouldn’t let people hike the trail. And while the trail is open now, they have a sign that clearly states if you go beyond a certain point they aren’t liable for your safety any longer. Yes, all the people who were up there by the falls were on their own.

This was Timothy’s face when I told him he couldn’t hike up where everyone else was on the fall. Sorry, son. I don’t need a trip to the ER today.

It was fun to go up there. It was a cool day, which made the hike very pleasant. It was fun to go on that hike again.

Once we got to the falls, I put Ryan in our hiking backpack. He was quite the happy camper and was my happy buddy. I enjoyed his songs on the hike back. He sang and chatted to me the entire time back to the van.

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