Labor Day Memories - MOON LAKE

The one thing we love doing most in the summer but don't get enough of is CAMPING. This year we only got 3 trips in....Memorial Day to Yuba Lake, the Lava Tubes, and Hot Springs. July 4th up Spanish Fork canyon to one of our favorite places "Tucker" and this past weekend for Labor Day we went to Moon Lake above Duchesne. We had never been there before and found it a beautiful place. It was disappointing that the lake was very low and that made for bad fishing. Saturday we decided to take a hike to the North East side of the lake to where the river comes in. We had read that the fishing is better there. It was a beautiful hike, but the end result was not what we had anticipated. All those that had their licenses carried their fishing poles and gear with them, but when we could see the edge of the lake, due to it being so low, it would still be quite a hike to the river and then another mile or more back down to the lake and it looked muddy and not deep enough to fish in. That was disappointing, so we sat down, took a snack break, then turned around and headed back out. You could see that if the lake was at it's normal high depth, the fishing would be better and the view would be spectacular. Truly a lake among the forest. Anyway, I loved the hike...the trail wound through the woods, over muddy spots with glimpses of the lake along the way, and the best part of all is I was doing it with my family. Even if the 4 year old had a major melt down and his 3 year old sister traded places with him in the carrier and all this made the going slow, it was still absolutely wonderful.

Our family prefers to camp outside of paid campgrounds. That means no running water, electricity nor picnic tables. We provide all our own via trailers with bathrooms (which we share with those that are tenting it), water storage in the trailers plus 4 or 5 - 5 gallon water containers, and generators. We love it this way, we can be as loud and obnoxious as we want and can run our generators way into the night.

Alisha and Randy found this beautiful, secluded spot

Hiking around Moon Lake

The North East end of the lake which was supposed to have the best fishing

What would camping be without one of Dennis' dutch oven cobblers

Oh, how the kids played and had so much fun.

Playing card games

Nightly trailer baths

The best part of camping....SITTING AROUND THE CAMPFIRE!

It is always sad when we have to clean up and say goodbye to another great weekend outdoors. The trip home was an adventurous one as not quite half way, Steve and Amanda's truck had a serpentine belt break and they were stranded on the side of the road for over 4 hours while we drove home, dropped off the kids, picked up a new belt and took it back to them. I am so glad we carpooled together and were there to help them out. But after the little delay we all made it home safe and sound. I'm afraid our camping trips for the year are over and that makes me more than a little sad.