Dog Lake and Ice Box Cake

(July 7th, 2022)

This was our last hike before Girls Camp. Our goal was to go to Donut Falls. We drove out to Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was so beautiful. I've never been there before. We followed GPS and found the parking lot. And then we promptly took the wrong trail. Donut Falls was across the street and the trailhead was a bit farther away, so we missed it by a long shot. Instead, we started up toward Dog Lake or Desolation Lake (if you want a little longer hike). 

Ivory noticed that the trailhead sign didn't say anything about Donut Falls, but I wasn't paying attention. I was looking at my phone. Next time I'll let her lead.

The trail was still gorgeous. The trees were awesome and there were some great rocks. We even saw some flowers we haven't seen before.

It was somewhere on this trail that a nice guy told us that we were not on the right trail. (This was news to me, not Ivory.) He told us that the trail would fork up ahead and we could chose to go to Dog Lake or Desolation Lake. We chose simply by length. Dog Lake was closer. Here we are on a bridge. I tried to get a picture, but we stepped into a patch of sun.

There were a couple areas where the trees looked deadish and scary. We liked it. It was like walking through a haunted wood.

We had a good time chatting on this hike. We played the category game, but I really liked our categories this time around. On the way up, we did 'Things we want to do before we die.' On the way back we did 'Things we'd rather die than do.' We had lots of laughs and much contemplation.

We made it to the lake just fine, but it definitely looked like a dog lake. There were already several dogs playing and the water wasn't as clear or clean as other places. So we sat by the edge and rested for a few minutes before heading back.

On the way back, we passed a stream that had little butterflies flitting all along the waterline. It was kind of magical. It felt a little like a fairytale. Both the girls caught one. Now I'm trying to decide how to release butterflies at the girls' weddings.

It wasn't a crazy strenuous hike, but we rewarded ourselves with ice cream. (Plus, I still owed the girls from Goblin Valley)

In the afternoon, we made our treat, which was an Ice Box Cake. It's all about the layers. Fresh lemon zest and juice whipped into cream, fresh raspberries, graham crackers, and shaved white chocolate.

Layer those up a few times and it suddenly looks epic and fancy.

Love the little photo bomber.

Hikes and treats...so simple and so nice for a day in the summer.