The Mrs. is a school teacher, but not in the district where I kids are students. Her school year starts earlier than the kids’ so I have them for a couple of weeks each August. Two years ago we did our first Uintas hike and we went back up again. The kids did great. They did swim team all summer and I can tell their lungs and muscles built up some endurance. We went up the Lofty Lake Loop – counterclockwise. Gorgeous. They had fun scrambling around on the rocks near the pass that drops down to Lofty Lake – spotting and chasing Pikas.

I looked at my watch and we were just shy of 11,000 feet. I convinced them to scramble up the ridge to hit 11k for their first time. We made it to a large cairn, only to find it was a sub-peak and the actual Lofty Peak was a bit further off. No matter, they were champs and excited to have gone so high. They also got a kick out of all the spiders and big spider webs between the boulders and rocks as we picked our way up and down the ridge.

At Lofty Lake I dove in for a quick dip. So cold!

The way back was fine, despite a little tired whining towards the end. All in all, a great adventure.