Dave and Jan were planning to enjoy another “camping trip” the week of May 18, but Jan began to experience foot pain early in the week so a camping trip and the hiking normally enjoyed seemed unrealistic. By Sunday, May 25th, a trip to Insta-Care revealed that Jan had broken a bone in her right foot associated with the toe next to her big toe. Exactly how the toe was broken is not clear, though a fall Jan experienced on a hike in the mountains close to home around two weeks earlier may have been the cause. At the time of the fall a scraped knee and a sore arm were the initial injuries. So Dave suggested a long drive to rest the foot through the Uinta Mountain Range in northern Utah, something he had been looking forward to doing for some time. The Uintas are the highest mountains in the state, and the only mountain range positioned west and east rather than north and south like the other mountain ranges in Utah.

Driving Highway 150 out of Kamas, under cloudy skies, there were numerous forest service camp grounds for campers to enjoy, but Provo River Falls was the first significant scenic pullout. It was well worth seeing.

The falls consist of several drops as the stream makes its way down a steep descent on the mountainside.

Highway 150 crosses the Uinta Range at an elevation of 10,759 feet, passing between several mountain peaks of just under 12,000 feet. King’s Peak, topping out at 13,528 feet in elevation, is the highest peak in the Uinta range, but it is located toward the east end of the range, and Highway 150 is at the west end. After the summit, Highway 150 descends into Evansville, Wyoming, where Dave and Jan enjoyed a great meal and spent the night before returning to Utah through the Uintas the next day.

Friday morning was sunny and clear – making for a beautiful drive back over the mountains toward home.

Toward the end of May the roads were open but the mountains were still covered in winter’s snow.

Highway 150 passes many mountain lakes, the most famous of which provides the name for the Mirror Lake Scenic Highway, but the lakes were still covered with snow, so the reflections of Mirror Lake will have to be enjoyed on some future adventure in the Uintas.

It was an enjoyable trip – providing some respite for Jan’s ailing foot. The podiatrist said that the foot appears to be healing normally, but it will apparently still be another month until Jan is able to take to the trails she enjoys walking. Until then, she is benefiting from the aid of a borrowed knee scooter which keeps her from making too much use of her injured foot. A recent drive from Cedar City to beautiful Cedar Breaks, up highway 14 from Cedar City. provided a brief get-away from home confinement.

The Apostle Paul used the human body to illustrate the importance of every member of the “body of Christ” (the church). He wrote, in I Corinthians 12:27, “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” Who would have thought that one broken toe bone could be so disruptive to family plans? But this has been a good reminder to us that every member of our bodies (our physical bodies, and our church bodies) is very important. So we wait eagerly for Jan’s foot to heal – hoping that we can soon be back to normal activities which we enjoy so much!