With the success of our Shakespearean trip in 2021, my family decided to give the Utah Shakespeare Festival another whirl in 2022. Jason and I opted to go a little early and get out of the summer heat at nearly 10,000 feet in Brian Head, which is only about half an hour from Cedar City. We sure did get out of the heat and then some. Here’s how our vacation turned into a deluge of water, culture, and conduits.

Per our typical M.O., we arrived in Brian Head just in time. On this occasion, just in time to hike 2.5 miles on the Manzanita Trail… or, more specifically, just in time to hike half that distance before dark and the other half not before dark. The Manzanita Trail is a mild path that runs along Parowan Canyon’s hillsides above State Route 143. While the highway can be heard and seen in sections, the trail feels removed from the road for the most part. If you want a quick introduction to Brian Head, this is a good track to take. You can access it from the Town Trail just where SR-143 intersects Aspen Drive.

The next day, we were uncertain if the weather would allow us to do another hike, but as the threat of rain and thunderstorms decreased and shifted to later in the afternoon, we felt reasonably comfortable attempting the trek to Sidney Peaks. Sidney Peaks are a trio of small mountains that range in elevation from just under 11,000 feet to just over 11,000 feet. The Sidney Peaks Trail, which is a section of the Bunker Creek Trail, crosses a saddle between the South and Middle Peaks. While there are no official paths that lead to the tops of any of the peaks, Middle’s apex is easy to reach. You can carefully avoid stepping on delicate mountain foliage by sticking to rocks and gravel as you climb a final incline to its 11,060-foot summit.

From its zenith, we could survey all our surroundings. We observed a sky stuffed with unsettled clouds and rain off in the distance. Although the storm seemed a considerable space away, we still set about the task of heading down with a little urgency. The first claps of thunder ripped through the alpine serenity before we had even returned to the main trail. That’s when the sprinkles started too. Soon after, as the cliché saying goes, all hell broke loose.

The storm kept worsening at a rapid pace as it struggled to chug up the ridgeline the Sidney Peaks Trail runs along. We were concerned about the hunk of metal Jason had on his back in the form of a tripod becoming a lightning beacon, so we ran the sections where tree cover was nonexistent, or the thunder seemed particularly wrathful. Out of the 2.3 miles of main trail we had to traverse to get back to the trailhead, we sprinted at least half with backpacks jostling and sopping pants clinging to tired legs.

The downpour escalated until we could barely see, and our shoes were so wet we didn’t even bother trying to avoid the large puddles and streams covering the path. Fortunately, the lightning wasn’t as plentiful as the thunder, and it never struck anything near us. The last part of the route, a downhill portion, looked more like a stream than a path as we sped through it. I felt certain floods were flashing in some of the surrounding hillsides. Sidney Peaks’ 5.25 miles would have been a mild and satisfying trek if it hadn’t been for all the effort required to avoid becoming lightning kabobs.

After the rain ceased later in the afternoon, we rallied enough energy to drive to the top of Brian Head Peak, which tops out at 11,307 feet, and enjoy its 360-degree scenery while dodging yellow-bellied marmot droppings. We also drove a few extra minutes to the North View Overlook at Cedar Breaks. We did not feel inclined to do any more hikes since we were suffering from post-traumatic storm disorder.

As we were heading out of town the next day, we discovered SR-143 had been closed since the previous afternoon due to a blockage of water, mud, and trees caused by a flash flood, an occurrence I had predicted. Fortunately, the debris had been cleared enough to allow one lane of traffic through the canyon, and we were able to continue with minimal delay.

I wish I could say we were done dealing with cloudbursts at this point in our outing, but that would be an inaccuracy. Next time, I will cover the rest of the trip and the rest of the deluge.

While I’m habitually behind on posts, my website maintains chronological consistency, except in this case. This should have been posted prior to my birthday ramblings, but here it is regardless.

For many years now, Jason and I have believed experiences matter more than things. That’s why we decided to give my family members a long weekend getaway as all their birthday presents for the year instead of wrapped gifts. I did some research and came up with a few location options, and we put them to a vote. In the end, my family picked Bear Lake.

Although Bear Lake is a major tourist destination in the summer, Garden City, the main town on the Utah side of the lake, isn’t usually too crowded in early June, which was the timeframe for our visit. The tourists were trickling in, but most restaurants had reasonable waits, and the water wasn’t cluttered with boats.

Jason and I rented an enormous house that could comfortably fit my mob of relatives with an indoor trampoline, indoor basketball court, indoor swing set, poker table, pool table, ping-pong table, movie theater room, nine bedrooms, and six bathrooms. Each time a new batch of kids arrived, they would instantly disappear to explore the mysterious and captivating features of the home.

Sadly, one of my sisters caught COVID through a coworker who came into work sick with a “cold” right before our trip, so she couldn’t join us. Miraculously, with how much COVID was circulating at the time, she and her husband were the only ones absent due to it.

With so many activity options, including the ones inside our rental, what was first on our agenda? Hit the lake. Jason and I had reserved a two-hour boat tour with a guide in a brand-new pontoon for that morning. While we were envisioning this as a low-key lake wander with some informative discussions on history and ecology, the kids got too distracted by the towable tube, and our tour turned into a watersport montage.

As the water in Bear Lake was currently just shy of 50 degrees, most of us were not enthusiastic about accumulating wetness acquired from it, particularly the adults. I was the first grownup to volunteer for the tube. Since I was dealing with a case of prepatellar bursitis at the time and knocking my knee against the tube was repeatedly painful, I didn’t last long. However, my distinguished valor convinced, or shamed, other adults to brave a ride. Our driver skillfully kept all but one of the group from sliding into the water while tubing, but then the kids decided to all jump in anyway.

We had seen the Bridgerland Adventure Center on a hill as we were traveling into town. Its complex jumble of crisscrossing lines and bright orbs intrigued us, so we spent a chunk of the afternoon climbing through this four-story rope course. As each increasing level at Bridgerland gets progressively harder, most of the party focused on levels two and three for more robust challenges. I made it through level one in its entirety and a small fraction of level two before closing time. I may not have slid upside down across a duo of rope strings, but I conquered the course in my own lame phobic way.

That evening, we entertained ourselves with some epic games of dodgeball, poker, and “monster” along with a screening of Avatar in the movie theater room. Boredom did not occur even amongst the grumbly teenagers.

The next morning, we headed out for 90 minutes on four legs at Beaver Creek Lodge. Some members of our group had never ridden horseback, so there was a mix of excitement and fear amid them. Beaver Creek Lodge was able to accommodate our large troop, but as it was early in the season, the horses were flabby from winter inactivity. They huffed and puffed as we climbed rolling hills and grasslands. My steed, Smokey, was mellow and only seemed worried about getting left behind. In contrast, Jason got the second alpha of the herd, Tough, and he liked to ensure his status by staying in the front and biting other horses… and occasionally Jason.

After our ride, we lounged around the cabin and napped until one of the kids who had arrived too late for our tubing escapades mentioned they didn’t want to visit Bear Lake without actually visiting the lake. So, the entire clan headed to Rendezvous Beach, which is typically packed in the summer but was nearly deserted in its current nippy form. That nippiness didn’t inhibit our sandy endeavors though. One of the kids found a shovel and started digging while others immediately set to fishing. The adults thought there was zero chance anything would be caught, but a sizeable trout was hooked briefly before it dramatically wiggled away.

That evening, our giant group went to dinner at the Campfire Grill. The setting was fantastic and the food decent. However, indigestion still kicked in when we were woken up at 1:58 in the morning by a flashing red light and an earsplitting “beeep, beeep, beeep.” My first reaction was to ask Jason, “What are those boys doing?” It stopped after a couple minutes, and we later ascertained that it was probably the carbon monoxide detector malfunctioning. Ironically, the accused boys weren’t even stirred from their slumber by the shrill alarm even though they had chosen to sleep in a closet instead of on a bed.

Our outing may have concluded in alarm, but the rest was anything but alarming. Relationships were renewed, limbs numbed, balls dodged, and memories cemented. As you may have ascertained from the contents of this post, Bear Lake makes for an excellent group gathering spot with various distinct activity possibilities in its vicinity.

On a related note, the Bear Lake area is known for its raspberry shakes, so we decided to undertake a comparison of all the raspberry shakes in town. Despite our diligent efforts, we only made it through shakes at three places. Of the three, the winner was Zipz, but the best burger went to LeBeau’s, and Merlin’s Drive-In triumphed in the fries category. There are a lot of cute burger joints in Garden City. If visiting, be ready for plenty of nostalgia and grease.