Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

July 4, 2013: I am in our tent during a big thunder and lightning storm, mother nature's fire works for us this year. We are bundled up at over 10,000 feet at Cedar Breaks National Monument right now. Here is what we've been up to for the past few days. On July 2nd we woke at Bryce and had a slow morning at the campsite as we ate and packed up. At 10:30 we took the kids to a Ranger program about maps and compass use. The kids had to participate in a ranger program to get their badges so we went for it. One of the park rangers, who is not destined to be a teacher, gave a terrible 10 minute talk on maps, true north vs magnetic north, and compass use. Then our group, about 20 of us headed out to test our new skills and try to find 10 flags around the area using our map and compass. We were eager to get on the road but the kids learned a little something. Casey picked up the most but Julia also could follow a path set out by her heading. Badges secured we headed out to Escalante, a town about an hour East. We went to the visitors center to make a plan and ill out a back country camping permit. This area is not a national park and thus has very few amenities, not even paved roads. Our first stop was the escalante river. A slow, peaceful river the kids swam and played in. We then drove to an amazing plateau and cooked hot dogs for dinner. Then we drove on the "Hole in the rock road" for 26 brain scrambling miles. This is a dirt road that is wash boarded and we bounced for an hour. We were rewarded with a beautiful place to camp at the trailhead to Dry Fork Gulch. Late at night two guys came and camped there too making a big racket at night and again in the morning but karma got them in the end as they came back from the hike with one of them limping with an ankle all wrapped up. Anyways, we were there to explore more slot canyons and this is what the area is known for. We had seen that beautiful one outside of Page, AZ called Antelope canyon but that is highly touristy. These are for the adventurous and we were excited. We hiked for about 4 1/2 hours total and explored two slots. The first was called peekaboo. It is a hanging canyon which meant we had to climb up 12 feet to get into it. But is was so cool and beautiful and exciting all at the same time. It was a tight narrow slot with lots of neat features and beautiful colors. At the end we limbed out and walked above ground to the end of Spooky Canyon. This one was great too. It was so tight in parts we could barely fit you had to slither sideways. The kids loved it and so did we. As we exited Spooky we saw a baby rattlesnake. We were all exhausted and it felt long and hot getting back to the car but it was so worthwhile. We had planned to see more slots but we felt like we couldn't possibly top the two we had just explored, coupled with it getting to be old news for the kids, and James and I both were not feeling 100% and it is so hard on us to carry Molly and Julia when we are exhausted ourselves. So we came out and went to that great river swimming hole again and relaxed for a few hours. Then we drove to a secluded camp site at the Willis Creek tail head. We set up next to a river, ate some dinner and turned in. We've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the kids at night and they love it. I woke this morning to the sound of a humming bird buzzing around our tent. We did a fun easy hike that the kids really enjoyed. Willis Creek is a flowing creek thru a canyon. It's not as exciting and beautiful as the slots the day before but it was still cool. It was 2 miles down and 2 miles back. The kids loved walking thru the stream the whole time. Afterwards we had lunch and debated our next move. The plan had originally been to head towards Zion but it is so hot there apparently that we headed here, to Cedar Breaks. We chose it because it is relatively close and high up to beat the heat. Well, now we are shivering! But it's nice to be chilly. We set up as the rain was catching us and cooked dinner in the tent.  We finally took showers after a long stretch with only swims. We had a campfire, drank hot chocolate and then read more Willy Wonka during another round of thunder and lightning. We'll see what tomorrow brings. 

Bryce Canyon National Park

July 1, 2013: Despite Molly having a fever last night the kids got a good sleep, it was so nice to be cold after so much heat. We made oatmeal for breakfast on our camp stove and got all set to go out on a big hike. We did the Navajo/Peekaboo Combination Loop which was 4.9 miles with 1581 feet of elevation change. It took us just over 4 hours. Casey was a super star again and hiked almost the entire way. James carried Julia on his shoulders most of the way and Molly was in the pack on my back the entire time. It was a unique and beautiful hike up and down and around the Bryce Canyon amphitheater. In and out of the hoodoos, past the wall of windows and thru narrow canyons and tunnels. We saw a long snake on the trail. We had fun but it was a challenge for sure.  We got back to camp and had naps.  The rain and thunder moved in briefly and i had to hurry to get the rain fly on while Julia and Molly napped. James and Casey were at the visitors center. After naps we just goofed around then drove out to the end of the park to Rainbow Point which is a lookout over the amphitheater. The kids were busy picking up litter as part of their junior park ranger program. We had dinner at camp and are just enjoying the nice weather and nice evening around our campsite. The kids are doing timed obstacle courses and finishing up their junior park ranger workbooks. 

Horseshoe Bend then up to Bryce

June 30, 2013: this morning after breakfast we did a short hike to Horseshoe Bend just a few miles south of Page, AZ. It is 3/4 of a mile to a lookout over an amazing section of the Colorado river. Here the river did not continue to carve its way through the sandstone in the typical fashion but rather took a wide turn before continuing on, leaving the rocks cared out and the river running sound it in the shape of a horseshoe. It really is neat to see. It was very hot and we took the kids back to the motel to swim and have lunch then we packed up and hit the road. It actually rained for a few minutes during the drive to Bryce Canyon National Park. The wind blew so strongly, we even saw a few tumble weeds roll across the roads. Everyone had nice long naps as we drove to Bryce and we were greeted with temperatures almost 25-30 degrees lower than what we left in Page. We were surprised to find a tent site still available when we drove in after 5pm. We set up camp, made dinner then went to sunset point to see the sunset, how cliche! This was our first glimpse of what Bryce has to offer and has us excited for tomorrow's hikes. Julia wiped out and got bloody knees, ankles and elbows. And molly is running a fever, but we are all fine. We are so happy to be sleeping in this nice cool weather!

Antelope Canyon

June 29, 2013: this morning we drove out to Lower Antelope Canyon to see a famous slot canyon. These canyons are on Navajo land and all the guides are Native Americans. We were in the first group to go down at 8:20. The time zones are funny here in Page, AZ. They are in MST but they do not observe daylight savings so suddenly you are an hour off. Then if you drive to Lake Powell for a swim you change time zones again. It's all confusing. Anyways, we have seen so many pictures of Antelope canyon before going into it and it did not disappoint. The narrow passage through the beautifully eroded sand stone was so gorgeous. We couldn't stop taking pictures. The tour was about 90 minutes and we came back to our motel, The Page Boy, for a swim and lunch and naps. After naps we drove down to Lake Powell for a swim. It is amazing how quickly a swim can make you forget that it is 107 degrees. We came back for showers and had a birthday party for Molly. Pizza and Minnie Mouse cupcakes ( or cup-capes as Molly calls them). Afterwards James and the girls sat outside in the motel's courtyard area and listened to 4 Germans playing instruments. They sang Happy Birthday to Molly. 

Aches National Park

June 25-28, 2013: the kids had a great sleep by the Colorado river. We woke up early and headed into the park to hike to Delicate Arch, a 3 mile round trip hike. We hit the trail around 7:30am. Caseybhas done an amazing job hiking every step of the way. There was some trail and mostly slick rock hiking which is fun. The arch is really outstanding at the top. We played around at the top checking out the views all around for about an hour and taking in lots of water and snacks. It was in the 70s when we started and getting into the 90s when we got back to our car around 10:45. We went to the visitors center so the kids could get their junior park ranger workbooks and learn a bit about the area. We tried nap time in the tent which was shaded but still very hot. After naps we went swimming in a pool and had dinner in town. We had to keep the kids out of the sun, as it was about 105 degrees. Later on, around 7:30pm we headed back into the park and did another, shorter hike to Windows arches. It is so beautiful in the park in the early mornings and evenings. We had a great sleep and woke up and did it all over again the next day. We got to the trail early and set out for Landscape arch and Double O arch. This was a really cool hike, walking along slick rock and on the tops of "fins", the narrow rock ridges. The kids were exhausted, Molly fell asleep in the back pack on my back and Julia fell asleep with James carrying her. Casey soldiered on and made it all the way. We got back to the car around noon and it was almost 100. We went into Moab for lunch and bought a bunch of life jackets and tubes. We got into the river at our campsite and floated for 3 miles. James and I were nervous about how the rapids would be. There were no real rapids but just some swiftly moving parts. I swam along holding Molly and Julia's tubes and we did just fine. The kids would hop out and swim in the slow parts and ride the tubes in the fast parts. It was a great way to beat the heat as we actually had goosebumps. We saw a mountain goat mom with a brand new baby walking along the rocks. We hitch hiked and all got a ride in the back of a pickup back to our camp site. We had a BBQ dinner of hot dogs and sausages and went to bed. It was much hotter the last night. In the morning on Friday we packed up our campground and drove to Canyonlands National Park. We did a short hike to Mesa Arch which had a spectacular view.  Now we're off to the next stop!