Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break in Southern Utah and had been planning it for several months. Each one of the kids took part in planning some part of the week. The first day (Saturday) was consumed with Rick and I riding the Tour de St. George Century while the kids walked to the local fun center and played miniature golf, raced the go-carts, and went to a movie. Later that evening, we all went out to a nice Italian restaurant to celebrate Kendall's 20th birthday. Here's what we did the rest of the week:

Sunday - Zion National Park

Aaron chose this hike -- called the "Hidden Canyon" hike. It was a only a mile each way, but it was about 1,000 ft. ascent in that mile. We had to park about 1.5 miles away from the trailhead, so we had to hike to the trailhead. After we reached the top, there was another mile of the "hidden canyon" that we hiked through, scrambling over and under rocks, and exploring all we could see, until we reached the end of the canyon. As we were hiking along the road back to the RV, we passed a little herd of deer about 15 feet away from us, eating grass, and they didn't run away. We hiked about 6 miles on this hike. This was a four star hike!


Monday - Goblin Valley State Park


The morning here was spent playing "Sardines" and "Hide and Seek" in the hoo doos. After lunch, we took a little hike, following no path, just to see where it would take us. We had fun discovering a little cave with a secret opening that only Tara and Chase could fit through. We also came to the very edge of the park where the cliffs and hoo doos just ended. We felt like we had reached the end of the world. We hiked about fives miles in Goblin. This was a three star hike.
Tuesday - Little Wild Horse Canyon

This is an amazing slot canyon! It serpentines back and forth and up and down. We had a great time scrambling up and over choke stones, dry water falls, and through very narrow parts of the canyon! We took the loop through Bell Canyon, which is a much wider canyon and not as impressive, although it opened up with some beautiful vistas. We hiked a little over 8 miles in Little Wild Horse loop. The first part was a four star hike and the second part was a three star hike. So overall it was a three and a half star hike.



Wednesday - Arches National Park

Double Arch

The weather turned pretty cold and windy on this day so we didn't hike to Delicate Arch because the trail is so exposed. (Unfortunately, this was Whitney's hike that we didn't get to do.) So instead of hiking to Delicate Arch, we went to the Windows area and hiked arounnd. After that, we went to the Fiery Furnace and hiked around. We found a new way in that was much more beautiful and adventurous. Inside the Fiery Furnace, it SNOWED!!! We never felt really cold, though, because we were running around so much. We got lost at one point and luckily found a ranger-led tour and followed them to where the trail was again familiar. Because we got lost, we found a new arch that we had never seen before. We hiked about 7-8 miles here. This was a four star hike!

Fiery Furnace

Skull Arch

Surprise Arch

Thursday - Canyonlands National Park

This was our best weather day, except for Saturday when we rode the century ride. We planned our best and longest hike for this day. The campgroud was full, but we had some incredible luck and found one campsite open. Naturally, we scooped it up immediately. Our hike started from the campground in the Needles District and it went five miles to the edge of Chesler Park. We hiked an additional two miles to the Joint Trail, then hiked around for about a mile on the Joint Trail. The Joint Trail as totally cool -- it was a a crack in the rock that, at some points, was just barely wide enough to squeeze through. There was one section that Rick and I couldn't fit through, but all the kids made it through. We hiked a total of 15 miles here. This was a four star hike!

Chesler Park

Aerial view of Chesler Park

Joint Trail

Friday we left Canyonlands, drove north, and visited my dad in Spanish Fork then drove to Logan to be with Rick's mom. We watched conference with Rick's mom on Saturday then drove home on Sunday. We had a great time and made some great memories!