Ben Lomond Peak, Pine View Dam E.C.T

Hello all.

Well, my big trip to America is sadly drawing to an end. I'll only have a few more post before I leave to go bac

k home.

My time here has been absolutely amazing, but I'll leave the final speech till the end shall I? Haha.

The last few days have been very exciting and fun.

On Tuesday we climbed Ben Lomond Peak. This is a

mountain that is Just north of Ogden. It is 2,960 meters high, and is the mountain used for the mountain on the Paramount Pictures logo.

Early Scottish Settlers came here and like the mountain, so they named it after the the mountain "Ben Lomond" in Scotland. (Which I hope I can climb when I go to Scotland in October, as I would Like to Climb both).

Anyway, back to the story, we parked at the North Ogden Divide to get to the trailhead. The trail to get to The peak was 8.2 miles long, so we were in for a 16.4 mile hike. We started along the trail. The trail was a nice one. It was full of wildflowers and many different types of wildlife. Half way up we found a cockroach/beetle thing and we picked it up to have a look at it. I dared Nathan to eat it and I told

Him that if he did I would buy him a Liverpool shirt. He almost did, but didnt because he didnt know if it was edible or not.

So we carried on walking up the trail, until we passd through a big large area of wild flowers. It was very pretty and we hadn't had a resrt for a while so we sat down for a rest. I ate an apple to give me a little more energy. Apples are so much better than cereal bars energy and taste wise. So we were just stadning there (well, Britney was sitting) and I was talking to nathan. He had his back to the next part of the trail that was towards the peak, and I was talking to him so I had my back towards the part of the trail we had just come from, so we had just come uphill. As I was talking to Nathan, I heard this lound engine-like humming noise. I looked above and behind him and I saw THE MOST ENOURMOUS SWARM OF BEES I CAN IMAGINE (I wont say 'that I have ever seen as I have never seen a swarm before this) It - Was - HUGE!. And it was coming straight for us. I looked with wide eyes and just said "Oh my goodness" and then turned and bolted. Britneyh didn't even look at the bees she just ran, and Nathan turned, took one look at the bees and then scarpered as well. As he ran he could hear the bees following us. We ran about 1/3 of a mile back down the trail before we dared to stop and see if the bees were still chasing us. but for some reason, they had stopped. We were luckly. If those bees had really wanted us, we would have been dead. I would rather face a bear than be attacked by a huge swarm or bee's like that as at least with a bear you can attampt to run or fight or climb a tree or shoot it. With bee's you can do nothing. So yeah...that was scary..but it was still fun and a cool experience!

We reached the top of the peak in fairly good time. The view was amazing! We could see the Whole of Salt Lake and the surrounding area, we could see The Great Salt Lake, Willard Bay, Antelope Island and loads more. There was a metal box on top wth a book where we could write our names and sign it.

So that was nice. We went back down the trail really quickly so that we could go to Maddox. Maddox is an AMAZING steakhouse. It served me the best steak I have ever had. It was a 32oz...yes thats right 32oz porterhouse!!!! SO SO SO GOOD! haha. That was cool.

The next day was a more relaxing day. We got up around 11am and went to The Oaks just below Pine View Dam. Its a nice riverside, outdoor restaurant that sells nice sandwiches and things. I had this pulled pork sandwich. But..more imporantly I found a snake there. It was so cool, in fact I found 2 snakes, but I only picked up one of the because the other one (the smaller one) was too fast to catch. I did get a photo of both of them though.

Next we hit Pine view Reservoir. It was nice. The weather was really hot so we swam in the lake (which is better than the sea as its freshwater, except there are no waves which isnt as good), and we lay on the beach in the hot sun. It was a nice relaxing day after the Ben Lomond Hike.

Yesterday I didnt really do that much exept go on a 5k run and then do 60 push up which was hard. 5k at this altitude kills me too. Hopefully when I get back I suddenly find that I am fitter and a lower altitude.

Tommorow we are going to lagoon and to see Real Salt Lake play Houston Dynamo. :D

Ill keep you updated.