This afternoon Angie went to a skating comp in Salt Lake, so I took the kids up around the Alpine Loop road to see the fall colors. I was intending to hike up Timpooneke Trail, but the trailhead parking area was under construction and cars were parked all up and down the road for a couple miles making a horrible traffic jam. It was a lot worse because I got behind a car that was obviously not meant to be on this road, going about 15-20 mph up and over the summit.

We finally got to Aspen Grove about a half hour longer than usual, and parking was a lot easier to deal with. We thought we were going to be behind a busload of tweeners, but they made a wrong turn to Stewart Falls (thank goodness) and we were pretty much alone on the trail.

We went to the two waterfalls along the trail and got to play on the rocks and chase caterpillars. Afterward we continued around past Sundance and into Orem, and it turns out this was the prettiest side with the best colors. I teased Dallin about possibly climbing Stairway with me this Winter, and right now it was just a smudge of shiny liquid on the cliffs.

A pretty fun day out with the kids.

KPICASA_GALLERY(AspenGroveFallHikeSeptember2012)