Cooperstown: The One with the Big Ol' Tree

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The One with the Big Ol' Tree

The weekend after Girls' Camp was our ward Youth Conference. I had actually been released for a while so I didn't participate much in planning it and wasn't planning on going but the girls wanted me to and it was at Bear Lake so I convinced Justin to go with me. We drove up a day late with our friends Kristian and Bonnie. I was pretty excited to finally use my wakeboard that has been collecting dust in the spare closet for 3 years now. Sadly, it was not to be. Literally minutes after we arrived at the lake the boat the youth had been tubing behind all day broke down! I put my wakeboard in the water just to say it got wet but I didn't get to use it :( Bear Lake is still beautiful and a lot cooler than the valley was at the time so it was still a good trip. We played midnight Missionary Tag with the YM and YW on the golf course behind the cabin we were staying in and the youth thought Justin and Kristian were so fast. Apparently they've never seen me run either because I was included in the "fast old people" group. This was a surprising inclusion because my flip flops had broken at the lake and I was wearing Justin's Chaco sandals. Not exactly running shoes.

The real reason I was able to convince Justin to go on a youth trip with me was the opportunity to mountain bike in Logan Canyon. We usually stick to the several, easily accessible canyons near our house so this was a fun new adventure. We decided to do a ~5 mile trail that ended at the Jardine Juniper, the oldest living tree in Utah. The first few miles of the trail were pretty exposed and it was hot so I didn't think we were going to make it. At one point I honestly stopped because I thought I was going to throw up. Physical activity is hard in the sun. Eventually we got under some trees and the trail leveled out which made it much more enjoyable and we made it to the tree.

The Jardine Juniper!