Therese Marie

See that there? That’s why they call it the Great Salt Lake.

I spent a week in Salt Lake City with some people I love and we spent a lot of time outside! Do you keep in touch with the people you love? It can feel complicated, but it doesn’t have to be in practice. People are happy to spend any time they can with you. More on that later.

The most striking thing about the city is that SLC is like cereal in a bowl of mountains.

I didn’t realize the mountains came so close to the city?!? I follow my friend’s photos and videos on Instagram, and one in particular bikes a lot. She’ll leave from her house in one clip, and then in the same bike ride end up in this AMAZING, scenic wilderness less than an hour later. I thought she was just doing some fake-social-media-magic to give the appearance of this.

But no, turns out that is easy to achieve in Salt Lake. You get on your bike in the city, travel 3 miles and you’re in a freaking idyllic canyon.

We couldn’t stop talking about the mountains, being in awe of them. Everything is different out there.

Something I thought a lot about was water. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts discussing SLC’s water usage. But when I visited, it was astoundingly green. I think this year in particular they got a lot of rain plus all that snow (Brighton Resort got 850 INCHES of snow. That’s 70 feet. For comparison, in Connecticut on the coastline, we only got about 5 inches this year.) So it was lush and gushing.

Still, the air was very dry. This might sound insignificant, but my friend and I got our sneakers absolutely soaked on a hike so that night we left them on the porch to dry. I’ve done that in CT before. The sneakers stay wet for days unless they’re in the sun. Here? 12 hours overnight and they’re bone dry. We freaked out. You’re telling me you can just have dry shoes here?!

Ok, this is an adventure blog, so I will tell you about all our adventures:

Adam’s Canyon – Layton

A nice little 3ish mile out-and-back that has a good bit of elevation gain and a stunning waterfall at the end. I honestly can’t find it on All Trails? But it exists, and it’s great.

We parked in an unassuming lot in a neighborhood. God, it blows my mind. We parked in a neighborhood. It looked lame. We started the hike climbing a sandy switchback, and sure e-freaking-nough, within a quarter mile we were engulfed in STUNNING, UNBELIEVABLE MOUNTAINS.

Because of the snowmelt, all the rivers are GUSHING in the Uinta-Wasatch. So once we reached tree cover, a beautiful, clear blue river rushed its way through the woods next to us. Most of the hike was alongside this guy, and the water was COLD. This was a welcomed cold though, because it was also pretty dang hot outside.

We scooted along, stopping often to say, “Holy CRAP, what?!?!” and admire the beauty of nature.

The hike brought us to a rock outcropping. You couldn’t see the falls yet, but you could hear them. The water was exploding over the trail. We plunged our feet into icy water (it was almost up to my knees!) and around the corner, we were greeted by a massive, raging waterfall.

The waterfall was putting off a lot of cool air. It was kinda wild how it would be so hot in the sun, then cooler in the shade, then an actual cold breeze would come off of the water. You can FEEL so much in the West!

Anyway, without stopping to think about it at all, we dropped our packs, took our shirts off, ran over and stood underneath the waterfall. It was cold.

We hollered into the canyon.

A guttural yell. We were alive.

East Canyon Reservoir

So, May is still Spring. It gets quite hot in the valley, and you think you might fancy a swim, but it’s still quite cool in the mountains. We headed up to a reservoir in East Canyon ready for a day on the water.

Alas, it was 50 degrees F and a thunderstorm was skirting around us. If you know me, I am terrified of lighting. I hid in the car while my friends remained outside, untouched by anxiety or sky-electricity.

It was fine.

We managed to have a fun time regardless, because that’s what you do when you have good friends. It doesn’t ACTUALLY matter WHAT you’re doing, so long as you’re together.

Donut Falls

Why is it called Donut Falls? Because the water falls through a nature donut!

This is definitely a super popular hike. We encountered friendly chipmunks and chunky squirrels with stubby tails on the way. These little critters are well fed by humans, so they walk right up to you if you just pretend that you have food. But, beware if you don’t – they’ll still try to munch on something. And thanks to Ben, they now have a taste for human flesh.

There was snowpack on the trail still, which was wild because it was sunburn weather in the valley. But we were up in the mountains by the ski resort and, here I am saying it again, it snowed a BUTT-ton this year. So it was all packed down and still there.

I had left my sneakers at my friends house. Brooks said it wasn’t a crazy hike though, so I was wearing jeans and Chacos in the snow. Ben wore crocs. It was fine, due to some of my past experiences I now have a pretty high tolerance for cold. But I looked comically unprepared.

A stranger (who took our picture) asked if we’d been out here before, but from his tone it sounded more like he was asking, “…have you been hiking before? Do you know how to wear clothes and shoes that are appropriate for the woods?”

Or he was just being nice.

Hot Springs

Although this is far more popular in the winter, we still made our way to some hot springs nestled in a roaring river with an idyllic waterfall in the background. Don’t ask me where it is, I just got in the car and marveled at the world from the back seat.

Hot take: Utah just kinda looks like Europe. (this gave off countryside-in-Italy vibes in my opinion)

The hot springs were (perhaps unsurprisingly) hot. Blue, sulfuric water flows from the rocks and fills these pools and you can sit in them and admire nature.

Nature’s hot tub!

Plus you can then take a very cold plunge in the river. All in a 6 mile out-and-back hike (well, I think it’s shorter when the road is open, but we had to park at the gate since a good chunk of the road was closed).

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the food.

Apparently every food establishment in SCL hires only five star chefs because I had some of the most amazing food while in the city. Some highlights include:

Alpha Coffee.

Just…unique, and conveniently located at the foot of the canyon housing Brighton and Solitude ski resorts. I HIGHLY recommend the Honey Badger iced. I’ve never been graced with such deliciously smooth, beautiful, invigorating coffee. Natalie guided me to this choice. She is never wrong.

Over the Counter

This is the diner experience you need at the price you want. Plus, it’s a staple of the community, so.

Normal Ice Cream

A place that is also unique AND located on an OUTDOOR ROLLER RINK! HOW FUN. My taste buds sang. Vanilla and mango swirled with miso mango caramel? Where are we? What are we doing here? Not to mention I could get freaking FRUITY PEBBLES on it!!! Amazing. The world we live in is amazing.

And I got to partake in the exotic beverage experience that is Swig.

If you didn’t know about dirty-sodas, they’re a non-alcoholic masterpiece made by the Mormons to elevate your drinking experience. I was super skeptical at first. Why would you bother mixing things with soda? Also…coconut cream, no less? Half and Half? Why? That CAN’T be good.

Lord, how wrong was I.

If you go to SLC, you need to get yourself a Swig. I can recommend the Hula Girl, Guava Have It, or Spring Fling because those are the ones we got, but they all looked great. Just…trust me on this one.

The week ended too soon.

My Great Aunt is almost 100 years old and she invites everyone over her house, all of the time.

In light of the recent passing of my grandfather, I’ve been thinking a lot about traits passed down through my family. My grandfather’s older sister is still alive, and she invites everyone over. She says, “What’s the phrase? You can’t come over too much. No. You can’t…stay too long? Help me out here!”

You can’t overstay your welcome.

My cousin jokes that she’ll invite anyone over – she invited the nurses to her birthday party during her most recent hospital visit.

I feel so grateful to have inherited that trait. Because it’s my dedication to seeing the people I love that brought me to Salt Lake City.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like it’s really easy to come up with a lot of excuses NOT to do something.

But life tends to feel a lot better when you just ALLOW yourself to love, ALLOW yourself to go do those things you want to do. When you just buy that plane ticket without thinking twice – the price doesn’t matter when it’s a means to seeing someone you love.

I get that times are hard…I’ve been eating rice and beans and cutting out frilly expenses to make up for the money I spent on the this trip. But I save my money for adventures, and this was definitely worth it.

You built this life, and it’s freaking amazing what you’ve done. Even if it doesn’t look picture perfect.

I keep reminding myself that there’s no need to go by the book. Who even HAS the book? Forget the book! Do what works for you and your people.

You have to figure it out on your own.

Until next time, Fly on!

Lil