White Pine Lake

This summer Eddie, my parents and I decided to hike to White Pine Lake. We have always wanted to hike from Tony's Grove Lake to High Creek and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do so. It was such a beautiful hike up to the lake and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Luckily, my parents had some wonderful people in their ward who were going up at the same time on horses. They agreed to take some of our stuff with them to the lake so we didn't have to carry it. We also were able to eat a lot better than many hikers can. We got to the lake and set up camp. Since it was 24th of July weekend we thought it would be crowded and decided to go on Thursday to Friday. We set up camp and explored around the lake until it was time to go to bed. The next day the actual adventure began.

The day before we bought a book on Cache Trails that made it seem like their was a trail that went from White Pine Lake over Mount Naomi to High Creek Trail. It said it was for experienced hikers, but we thought we could handle it. Part of the trail we were on our hands and knees trying to get up the mountain without falling.

Anyone who has been to White Pine Lake knows that it is surrounded by cliffs on one side and steep hill on another. We decided to tackle the hill and try to make our way to High Creek. It was a hard hike at first and it didn't get any easier until we were on the top of the first mountain.

From there we hiked up and up until we were on the back side of High Creek Lake. We debated whether to attempt to hike down from there, but it was too steep. Looking towards Mt. Naomi we thought we could see a trail. So we hiked across the mountain. It ended up being steeper than we thought and with lots of sliding rocks.

My Mom lost her footing at one point and by the time her slide was over her leg was covered in purple bruises. We finally made it almost to the top of Mt. Naomi and it was then we finally decided to turn back. We could have made it over but the mountain was really steep and we didn't know what we would find out on the other side. There was still time to make it back to Tony's Grove so we decided to finally throw in the towel.

We were high up enough to slide down snow in some parts at the top. It was beautiful to be able to see the valley from the mountain and the backside of Cherry Creek Peak as well. The beautiful views were almost worth the torture we took on our bodies.






The defeated hike back to Tony Grove Lake was not as enjoyable as when we started out, but we were happy they would not be sending out search and rescue for us. We made it back to the lake where we filled our water bottles in a spring (with a filter)and made our way back.

This was the hike that we did a week and a half before my Dad went in for quintuple bypass surgery. I am happy that we were able to hike it with him without any serious consequences. He felt chest pressure several times on the hike and I am so grateful that is all that happened.

I know next summer when he has recovered from the surgery we will take on more trails. My Dad and Mom have always loved hiking and being in the outdoors which he has shared and passed down to his children. I am grateful that we will be able to share more times together.