Dead and Porcupine Lakes

Where we live in Southern Utah it can get quite warm in the summer, but we can quickly escape to the high country and cool off.  Saturday, we decided to go exploring for two lakes, Dead & Porcupine, that we recently discovered on a Game & Fish map.  They are both located off a road that has no signage that would alert anyone to their existence - which meant, of course, that we needed to go find them!  When we arrived it was a cloudy 65 degrees, but soon the sun came out making for a perfect day.   

Colorful wild flowers along HWY 143

Dead Lake ... what a name for such a pretty place!

Nice & cool .... just the perfect temperature for us.

Wild geranium

Fungi from the recent rains

Dead Lake certainly isn't dead ... it's alive with Rainbow trout

We hope to come back in the Fall when the aspens are changing

Porcupine Lake 

Kent was excited to catch this Brook trout at Porcupine Lake

We had the whole place to ourselves on a Saturday!

One more to go and he'll reach his limit for the day

Sunday dinner, three brookies and a rainbow

Another view of the lake from the other side

Here we are ... enjoying the great outdoors!

This creek flows into Porcupine Lake

This butterfly was enjoying the flowers 

I can almost hear the song, "The Fishin' Hole" from the Andy Griffith Show

The road we traveled had very little "mooving" traffic on it 

Brian Head Peak, you can drive to the top 

We had to stop and check out the interesting formations in Parowan Canyon

Looks like a tunnel up ahead

We passed through to the other side

Iron oxide streaks in the sandstone

We spotted this horny toad at the end of our journey

Pine Park

Pine Park is located Southwest of Enterprise, Utah on a good dirt road; it's a beautiful spot surrounded by Ponderosa pines in the Dixie National Forest. We are always looking for fun and unique places to explore; away from the hustle and bustle.  Pine Park is a little out of the way, but totally worth the drive.  Saturday we had the whole place to ourselves!

Hebron Cemetery was our first stop

Hebron was inhabited from 1862 to 1902 

In 1902 an earthquake leveled the town

Cute house at Terry Springs Ranch  

Colorful stonework on the old barn

The sky was so pretty 

We are headed to Pine Park

The beginning of the Pine Park Bench 

Our first view of Pine Park .... wow!

 Pine Park Spring at the campground and trailhead

This is where we are headed

It's always fun to find water on our adventures

Be sure to wear sunglasses,
 the sunlight reflecting off the formations was bright!

It was neat to walk around on the compacted volcanic ash

Out in the middle of a pine forest ... amazing!

Valley of hoodoos

Some of the formations had streaks of color

This one had lots of holes

The rock Kent is standing on looks like a skull

This is an interesting one

Different shapes and sizes

This one is embedded with lava rock

Kent uses his walking stick to alert any snakes that we are coming ... HA!

Just a perfect day to be out exploring

We discovered this little slot 

View from inside the slot

We are about to leave Pine Park ... what a sight! 

Ready or not, Summer is here!

The middle of May we picked Van & Rainier cherries, the harvest lasted for a couple of weeks, we shared them with everyone. The garden really took off and we've had to keep an eye on Tahoe; he has a nose for veggies ... no kidding!  We managed to get in one fishing trip; we caught about 20 trout and released all of them ... it was a great day!  We seem to have an ongoing squirrel problem all of a sudden; we don't know where they came from and we're doing our best to catch them. We'll keep you posted on our progress.  

May was Cherry month, we had an excellent crop

We picked so many bowls of Rainier Cherries, we lost count

It's amazing how things can grow in this desert environment ... all you need is water!

 

Tomatoes are finally starting to ripen ... yum!

The raised beds have been a good addition to our garden

We really have to keep an eye on Tahoe, he loves his veggies

Don't ask me ... I have no idea where this came from!

Our second crop of strawberries are starting to ripen

I've been watching this watermelon very carefully ... Tahoe hasn't seen it yet!

We practically had Anderson Meadow Reservoir to ourselves last Saturday 

A perfect June day

The trout are not huge, but they are fun to catch

We enjoy getting up in the cool country on hot summer days

Kent will use any excuse to get his feet wet, like freeing my line that was stuck on a rock 

South Fork of the Beaver River flows out of Anderson Meadow

YES!  It is finally ready!

He may be cute, but he isn't the only one .... 

This is squirrel number 4 

We set them free in a nearby canyon

Our Red Haven Peaches are ripening now and they are really good

I prefer to cook on the grill in the heat of summer, pizza is fast & easy