The "Fantastic Four" Climb a Mountain

We arrived at the Catherine Pass trail head and started hiking around 5pm. The sun was shining and it was pretty warm on the trail.

Max and Elijah were the only two that were able to come this time, and we were all excited to hike.

Elijah needed to put on a few pounds to get the waist belt to be tight enough. He even tried using his bag of Cheetos to tighten things up, but that didn't work either.

The trail was wide and well traveled and a steady climb. We could see all over Albion Basin as we climbed towards Catherine Pass.

There was the occasional break to wait for the "photographer" who was taking his time to get lots of pictures. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We worked our way up to the first meadow in good time. We heard from some of the hikers coming down that there may be a moose in the meadow, so we approached quietly.

We were pleased to find a mother and her baby grazing in the meadow.

We enjoyed taking a few photos of the two.

The baby was the closest and we made sure to be cautious around a mother and her baby. Of all the unpredictable situations to be in, a mother moose and her baby rank pretty high. So we made sure to be very careful.

Out of the meadow the trail got a lot steeper, but it wasn't very long until we reached our first goal:

Catherine Pass

Here's the group once again waiting for the "photographer" to reach the pass as well.

Fortunately, Elijah didn't mind hanging back a bit so I wasn't left in the dust.

When we reached the pass we could see our ultimate destination, Lake Catherine.

But we had a goal to reach another destination before dropping down to the lake. That was to reach Sunset Peak before it got too dark.

So we dropped out packs and headed to Sunset Peak without the extra weight.

Ben took the opportunity to challenge Max and Elijah to be very quiet and "drink in the view" from the halfway point up to Sunset Peak.


I think they lasted about 20 seconds before breaking the silence, but at least we tried.

We're just a couple of switchbacks away from the summit. But even from here we could see down the Lake Catherine and the other lakes that eventually reach Brighton.

Here we are on top of Sunset Peak. One of the unique things about this peak is that we are now in 3 counties; Salt Lake, Utah, and Summit counties.







Here's the view from top of Sunset Peak.

Max decided to take the opportunity to call his mother. He said he wanted to brag that he made it to the peak, but we're not so sure. :-)

Down from the peak and getting ready to head down to Lake Catherine.

We found our camp and it looks like Ben is putting on a "how to set up your campsite" clinic for Max and Elijah.

The camp was excellent and we had a great view of the lake. We also appreciated being in the trees as the weather was beginning to change.

In fact at about 8pm it started to rain and rained pretty hard until about 9pm. Then it settled down as the light disappeared and we got the water boiling for dinner.

In our scout meetings we learn the seven "Leave No Trace" principles. At this camp it looked like others could also have used a lesson in Leave No Trace.

After the rain returned and the wind picked up again, we figure it must of rain most of the night.

However, we woke up to clearing skies a beautiful sunrise across Lake Catherine.

For those who missed this camp, you missed out on another awesome sunrise. Add this to the sunrise canoe trip on Bear Lake and I'd say we're doing pretty good with some very memorable moments in our scouting activities.

Getting packed and ready to head back up to Catherine Pass and back to the cars.

It's a pretty steep climb out from Lake Catherine to Catherine Pass. Luckily for the "photographer" it would be all downhill from that point.

We were pleased to see the moose still in the meadow. In fact, this time even closer to the trail. So again we were extra careful to keep them from worrying about us.

The drop from the meadow down to the overlook of Albion Basin gets pretty steep, but going down sure seems a lot easier than going up.

Time to stop for a water break.

Is it just me, or is Elijah's pack just about as big as he is????

Almost there. The cars are in sight, the trail is leveling out, and the sun is shining.

The hike to Lake Catherine is a little over 4 miles round trip, not including the side hike up to Sunset Peak. It's a perfect hike for anyone who doesn't have a lot of experience backpacking. And it's also a  nice hike for those who do have experience.

And it's right in our "backyard"!



Enjoy a few more photos from our hike to Lake Catherine: