Picnic at Horseshoe Falls

Are you in denial? Have you found yourself climbing into the car wearing iconic summer gear such as capri pants and flip flops (or manpri pants for you he-man types)? Sure it has been below 40-degrees at night and we’ve already had snow slide off the roof and fall on our heads as we slammed the door on the way out. But, for a few more weeks we can still pretend the tomatoes will turn red on the vine and there might be a warming spell from that delicious golden-Utah sun. To better illustrate my melancholy I turn to a picnic in the mountains, which fortuitously snuck in four days before autumn hit with a freezing hammer.

Horseshoe Falls sits halfway up the rugged convergence of two Alpine mountains. Little more than a natural spring rolling over logs in the waning days of August, it is a roaring thunderous waterfall in springtime. With a vigorous hour-long ascent through pine and granite, it feels tremendously gratifying to pass a natural meadow, take the bend and finally crest at the falls. With my treasured sister and dear friend (in the truest sense of the word—this friend is the one who stayed up all night to tend my baby when I was ill) we spread our checkered blanket next to the gurgling brook, took out our cache of goodies and picnicked like summer was a never-ending massage.

Note the San Pellegrino in plastic goblets, buttery Wisconsin Blue Cheese, crusty artisan bread, strawberries, and an outrageously good Lindt milk chocolate bar infused with orange essence and studded with roasted pistachio chunks. I would be hard-pressed to conjure a meal that would be more of an indulgence than this was to our sweaty bodies in that breathtaking setting. We took off our shoes and wiggled our tired feet in the warm air. All this while filling our expanded lungs with blue sky mountain air and watching the last day of snow run-off splash over rocks into the valley below. I raised my plastic cup to summer—and not a moment too soon. With my electric heating pad, extra down comforter, fuzzy purple robe, and slippers at the ready I can ease into freezing temperatures, but only if this memory cushions the blow.