The Blanch Herd: A Marvelous Day on the Mirror Lake Highway

We've been lucky enough to have quite a few days in the mountains this summer. But we've also found that the more we get, the more we crave. So we planned a day away on one of Gregg's Fridays off (July 17th). After breakfast, we hopped in the car and headed toward Evanston and then beyond into the Uintahs and the Mirror Lake Highway.

We didn't really have a firm plan for the day other than hike and explore and enjoy the fresh air, but as we were driving I googled a few family friendly hikes we could try. The first one I saw was for Bourbon Lake and luckily I read the directions at least somewhat because by the time we got there, we had no cell service (which was kind of the point, but maybe I should have snapped a screen shot or something). We found the trailhead, which wasn't labeled as Bourbon Lake, but Whiskey Creek Trail (so many alcoholic beverages!) or something, which was confusing at first, but as we started up the trail, it matched the description I read in the blog post I randomly found while we were driving, so I knew we were in the right place. (I think, in hindsight, that it's lucky that this trail isn't named the name of the lake, because I think it kept the crowds away. We saw other hikers and lake-enjoyers, but nowhere near the numbers of people we saw at all the other trails and lakes and parking areas along the rest of the route!)

A pretty cascading section of the creek.

The flowers were absolutely spectacular along the trail! Callie
and I were in heaven with all the paintbrush!

More cascades/mini falls on the Whiskey Creek.

It's hard to see them, but there were a bunch of
bright pinky magenta snapdragon looking flowers
here and they were so pretty and so unique!

We arrived!

Let's lunch!

It was SO pretty - a perfect spot to sit in the shade and enjoy a
hoagie sandwich.

It's called Bourbon Lake because the water is brown (like
bourbon) - clear, but brown. So interesting!

Group shot at the lake!

Getting their feet wet.

I just had to document her outfit - love it!

Elephants Heads and Paintbrush!

We found a trail around the lake.

Completely gorgeous!

And then we followed another trail to another smaller lake.

And then we headed back to the car.
(We were hot and thirsty and needed a bathroom
by now.)

These little orange flowers were new to me, too.

They reminded me of zinnias or marigolds.

After a visit to the facilities in the campground across the street (including refills with cold water for all our bottles), we set out on the highway again for a cruise. We thought we'd stop and hike along the way, but, as I mentioned above, everything was so packed with people, we didn't really get out anywhere. But we listened to our audiobook (Moo by Sharon Creech - it was available right then on libby, so we checked it out. I wasn't super impressed with it, but the kids liked it well enough) and enjoyed the scenery. We took a dirt road drive past one of the lakes and ended up at this muddy, but pretty, little pond. It was a good place to stretch our legs (and if you're Cal, get them wet and muddy while attempting to balance on a log across the water).

After we got back on pavement, we headed back on the highway toward Evanston, but stopped at our favorite spot, Christmas Meadows. The campground was full, but we found a parking spot at the trailhead just beyond, and discovered that there are a couple of picnic tables there for day use. Perfect! We relaxed and explored and made tortilla pizza dinner (it was Friday, after all) for a couple of hours. It was delightful! After we ate and packed everything back into the car, we drove back down the road to the meadows area. We parked and then wandered along the banks of the river and looked for moose (but didn't see any) and enjoyed the views. That was a perfect way to end the day. Peaceful, calm (well, the scenery was calm, the kids were wound up for some reason), and beautiful.