Bucket List

So I have accomplished something on my Bucket List!!!!!!


Since I was a teenager I have longed to hike over our mountain in Brigham City through to Mantua.(The lovely little town in the canyon with the lake)


I mean who knows just what is back there??? It is so intriguing, beckoning me to come and see.

Of course it also SCARES me, I mean who knows what's back there???? Deep ravines? Cliffs of insanity? Packs of mountain lions (no packs ....I know)

Recently a gas pipeline was installed from Brigham through the mountain to Mantua and beyond, providing me with a path.

I guess in the past I was a little concerned about getting lost and perhaps not ending up on Mantua, but the middle of NOWHERE.

Yet, following this pipeline was a surefire bet, in fact the company provided my parents with a map of exactly where it went and the distances, ahhh MORE comfort. And last, but not least my dear husband Barry, his gun, and his trusty survival bag agreed to come too, ahhh MOST comfort.

I am sure there was an easier way, but we followed the line. Sometimes it seemed to go straight up the mountain, but UP we went.
It was awesome down in the little canyons and valleys. We ended up popping out in Sardine Canyon about two-miles above Mantua, so we walked down the road until we got there. No we didn't walk back. I think we could have but it was getting late.

I will admit from the time we started the hike until the very end, I did have an unsettling fear in the back of my mind of a very tall fence at the end, forcing us to go back the way we came and trapping us on the mountain after dark (biggest fear).
*The power company provided us with a map, but it didn't exactly say "Visitors Welcome."

As we came around the last bend my fear was instantly realized, there WAS a long 10ft tall fence with a gate, padlocked closed.

It would have been very difficult to climb

...but luckily we didn't have to. The kind rains of this season washed the road out so bad that we could just crawl right under the fence.

Fwwww!!

Side note: Barry's trusty survival bag does include wire-cutters of some sort, so we wouldn't have been hiking back either way


I would definitely do the hike again next year. It was great to spend some one on one time with Barry and renew our friendship a bit. He is truly



an amazing person, and I am still as fascinated by him as I was 8 years ago. :D

Thanks for watching the kids Mom and Dad!!

With that said, wanna come next year??? I love group hikes too. Let's go, we'll do lunch or something.

This is a pointless picture to show you how steep the terrain was, but it doesn't look steep, but it was CRAZY steep, so just imagine K?
The bag is my shoes. Shoes hurt my feet, so I prefer to wear flip-flops, so I switched off to flops when I could.

Once we got over the face of the mountain, these were the awesome trees that lined the path.

When we got to what we believed was the top, Barry picked me some flowers to reward me for my efforts. He ran 26 miles in addition to our hike that day, but for me it did take some effort. :P

There was crazy beautiful thistles lining the path, I have never seen such beautiful thistles.
Come with us next year. it's like a nature hike with Barry, he tells you all about the plants along the way. You can learn a lot. I did.

Oh! and in case you missed her, here is beautiful Lauren in her purple dress from Grandma Stuart.

and here is Ellie on her last day of swimming lessons. She passed on her very first time! We are very proud of her.