50/80/50 Trip Day 8 - A Quick Trip to Jail

No miles on the bike.

We headed up to the condo and drove up to the Blood Lake hiking area.  This is a much milder hike than the previous day's and one we could all do.  We started early to avoid the heat and the temperatures were absolutely wonderful when we first got going.  There were already lots of other people hiking.

My youngest nephew also was really interested in finding geologically significant rocks.  Since most of the places to search for geodes and fossils was not in the immediate area, we decided to give him the opportunity to find some rocks on this hike.  So as we got going I went up ahead and put some volcanic rock from my sister on the ground and helped him "find" it.  He seemed pretty excited to find his obsidian.

We continued on the hike.  It was fun, but I was still a bit tired from the previous day.  There were tons more people and the area was marred by lots more human intrusion; power lines ran the main valley of the area as did some well-used two-track trails.

Blood Lake itself was quite pretty.  

There were a few groups of people there, but it wasn't too busy.  I hid a rock with a trilobite in the water and again helped my nephew find it.  He seemed less thrilled with this and suggested it be given to grandma.

We walked around the lake.  On the far side of the lake in a big rocky area there was a large snake at the water's edge.  I didn't get a good enough look at it to guess what it was.  I was a bit surprised to have seen it at the elevation we were at (almost 10,000 feet).

We headed back and the amount of people now on the trail was almost overwhelming.  But it was good to see so many kids, even if one of them was screaming as we approached the parking lot.

I also placed some geodes for nephew to find.  He seemed pretty excited to find them - which made it all worth it.

We headed back to the main street area of Park City and head lunch at a Mexican place.  The pig burrito with extra guac was really good.  While there were still people on the main street, the amount was maybe 25% of what we had seen on the weekend.  We went to the Park City Museum, which was quite small, but very well done for such a small, non-profit museum.  It told lots of the history of the area, as Park City was founded for silver mining - skiing didn't make any appreciable appearance until the 1960's.  It also held the remnants of the town's original jail (aka the dungeon).  

Back at the Condo I struggled to stay awake before heading back to Sister's house and doing at least a little bit to get ready for the trip back home.  "Going Home" mode was looming.