The accessibility of Utah hikes to major metropolitan areas is unparalleled. Going from the hustle and bustle of city life to the cool, relaxing clime of the mountains, in less than a half hour, is invigorating. And many of the hikes are extremely accessible and family friendly. One of these is the hike to Cecret Lake up Albion Basin. We hiked it in June of ’09, right after Snowbird closed for the season. Had I brought my skis, I could have skied in the morning and wakeboarded in the afternoon! Pretty awesome.

The hike was a blast. At the time, it was just Brenda, Ashton and I and Ashton was less than a year old. My sister Alisha came along with my sister Janelle and her husband, Bryan and my brother Dallin and his wife Shannon.

The dirt road exiting from the Albion Basin parking lot quickly turned to snow. I had always wanted to be up in Albion Basin at this time of year. While we were too early for the flowers, which are famous up there, we did catch the bright greens of foliage meet the bright white of the snow, something I had always wanted to see for myself. It wasn’t quite like the contrast of New Zealand or the Alps, but it as still spectacular.

It was a carefree day. My family is very talkative, and we were all just engrossed in conversation, moving from the surroundings to the politics to business to future plans to homes and who knows what else. Over every ridge, the conversation would be interrupted by me exclaiming how beautiful everything was. Brenda would roll her eyes as it was still the same as last time!

We ended the hike at the top of Sunnyside. What a difference a simple 800 vertical feet makes in the weather! We had only brought light clothing and the 9400′ crest was exposed to the wind rushing up the canyon. It’s crazy- as we descended, it seemed like the temperature rose with every step. We didn’t get to finish our lunch up top as we were all huddled up trying to block the wind, so we ate and talked and sometimes yelled excitedly as we descended.

Ashton kept a smile on pretty much the whole time. I think he was the star of the show. He was so happy. He was born to love the outdoors. He was surrounded by awesome vistas, had his favorite toy, a free ride and most of his favorite people in his world with him, so why wouldn’t he be?!