Spring Break Day 3

We spent most of the day exploring Snow Canyon.

We woke up early in order to get to Snow Canyon State Park before the crowds arrived. First, we drove all the way out to the north entrance so that we could start with a hike called the White Rocks Amphitheater. It was still surprisingly cold, and we bundled up in jackets and made our way to the end of the trail. It was really pretty in the amphitheater, and it was early enough that we hardly saw any people. 

We enjoyed the White Rocks amphitheater all to ourselves.

The boys had fun running up and down the rocks.

After that hike we explored the Lava Tubes. There are two pretty good tubes in Snow Canyon, and since we had flashlights and phone lights, we climbed deep into both. They weren't very easy to get into, but that didn't stop us from exploring. The boys love this kind of adventure, so they were in heaven! We even saw bats in these small caves.

Mark loves exploring anything in nature.

The lava tubes were definitely the boys favorite.

Mom was impressed with all the different scenery in one spot.

Lava Tubes for the win!

The park was getting a lot busier as we stopped at the Visitor Center for Junior Ranger stuff. It seemed the farther south we went, the more people we ran into, too. By the time we got to the sand dunes, there wasn't really any place to park at all. Dad sat and waited with his signal light on while the kids played with Mom in the sand. Eventually, he got a prime parking spot, and we were able to visit our last hike in the area, which was a short box canyon called Jenny's Canyon. By then, it waw lunchtime, so we had sandwiches in the van. We'd finished everything we wanted to do in Snow Canyon, and we still had half a day.

Dax ran as fast as he could back and forth across the sand.

Seth found out that deep down the sand was cooler!

Dax also dug like a dog.

Jenny's Canyon was another favorite stop.

There were lots of places to climb. Mark is almost too big for this.

Dax LOVES climbing anything he can.

Seth found a fun spot to peek out from.

Mom and Dad prefer selfies to climbing.

Since there were so many people, we were able to get a family picture.

The ranger told Mark that tortoises and gila monsters hang out over in this area.

We didn't find any, but it was a fun walk.

Seth did not want to take any more pictures.

We decided we had plenty of time for the drive over to Zion to try two hikes that not listed on park literature. The first was Pine Creek Waterfall. It is located at the bottom of the switchbacks below the tunnel. Since there wasn't a single parking space, we headed up toward the tunnel to our second choice. Unfortunately, traffic was a dead stop. We had to flip around and head back to Pine Creek. Luckily, we were able to park this time and we had a beautiful, solitary visit to the waterfall. We didn't see another soul!

This is definitely our favorite spot in Zion.

Dad froze his feet, but he walked closer to the waterfall.

The boys loved throwing rocks into the water to see who could get the bigger splash.

It is such a pretty little spot.

Mom and Dad really enjoyed the peace.

Mark was also thrilled to be in Zion.

There was one section you had to squeeze through. Good thing Dax is so skinny.

It was a great hike!

Feeling that we'd already had a great trip to Zion, we drove up through the tunnel to our second choice, the Hobbit Hole. We had to do a little bushwhacking downhill to get to the slot canyon known as the hobbit hole, but again, we were the only hikers on the trail. We felt like we'd found a second secret in Zion National Park.

The slot canyon was so cool.

The hobbit hole was super fun to walk through.

The boys had fun jumping and exploring.

Seth is starting to climb everything just like his big brothers.

We decided to try our third hike, the hidden petroglyphs near the east entrance. This time we weren't quite so lucky, and we headed back to Springdale for dinner without seeing any petroglyphs. We found a really good restaurant that everyone was happy with, which was a small miracle. When we walked away every bite of food was gone, and Dad hadn't helped clear anyone's plate.

After the drive back to the hotel, we did a little swimming at the hotel pool. Mark chose to watch the Red Sox game, but Dax and Seth really enjoyed the water. We had squeezed so much out of this day!

Meme's Cafe was the best stop for food.

There was a fire near the freeway when we arrived back to the hotel. It was very exciting.