Capitol Reef Day 3

Ready to hike Little Wild Horse Canyon again. They were so excited!

We woke up early this morning and drove into Hanksville for over-priced gas. Then we turned north toward Goblin Valley. Mark had planned a hike for his hiking merit badge. It is the first one, and it is supposed to be five miles. He mapped it out and made all the plans, even though we've done Little Wildhorse Canyon before. It was still a bit chilly when we arrived, but the parking lot was almost full. The plan was to walk 2.5 miles into the canyon and then turn around and hike out. We loved this hike last time, and the boys have been looking forward to it for over a month. Unfortunately, the beginning of the hike has changed, and we almost got lost. But Mom found the sign and put us on the correct trail.

I love hiking with my boys!

The boys hopped, skipped, and literally climbed the walls for the first hour. They didn't even slow down or sit. The problem was, we had no idea how far we'd come because Mom's phone wasn't tracking accurately. Still, we enjoyed the narrowness of the canyon and the steep walls. We hardly saw a soul on the way in.

Seth loved being able to climb and walk on walls. 

Dax is the most daring explorer. Sometimes he scares his mother half to death all the time!

I love Seth's face in this picture. 

We love wandering back and forth through this slot canyon.

Little Wild Horse is the best!

We stopped for a quick rest. 

The canyon gets pretty narrow! 

It is awesome how tight it gets. 

Dad had to get in on the straddle pictures, too!

We were plenty dirty after this hike. 

Mom and Dad are still trying to take a picture on our hikes. 

Finally, the canyon flattened out. We'd hiked quite a bit farther than last time, but we still didn't know how far we had to go. Seth and Dad sat for a break in the shade, and Mom, Dax, and Mark walked a little farther. Just then a lady came up and informed us we were 2.65 miles into the canyon. So we ate a few snacks, had some water and began the walk out to the car. It was still just as fun, and it was slightly downhill. We passed over a hundred people in the narrow slots after we turned around! We were glad we'd started early. The hike back wasn't bad, and when Seth started to look tired, Dad began telling Greek myths. Before we knew it, we were back to the van.

The hike was a huge success!

Everyone was worn out. 

The boys really wanted to play in Goblin Valley, too. They'd finished their Junior Rangers, so we got those turned in. Then we drove to the parking lot. Miraculously, there was one spot left. We pulled in and looked for a table for lunch. There was one table left. We had lunch and then ventured down into the valley. Dad played tag with the boys until Dax fell and scraped his side. Then they played hide-and-seek, which was much less running. It was really fun to be with the Goblins again. When Dad pooped out and headed back to the car, Mom took over. She directed a game of Spy, where she was the spy, and the boys tried to sneak past her.

We love eating at the tables at Goblin Valley because there is such a great view! 

The boys love playing with goblins!

Our boys would be happy to go to Goblin Valley every weekend.

Dad is a good sport to play tag. 

It's hard to catch Mark. 

Dax is always climbing!!!

Dad and Seth conquered this huge hill. 

Hide and Seek is fun, too!

We had a ton of fun at Goblin Valley.

We had one more adventure just outside the park. This was an unmarked trail to a grotto and arch called Wildhorse Window. We had directions, and we could see the cave from the road, but it was still a long mile up the slickrock. We started down the trail and then climbed the massive stone waves. They undulated in front of us, causing us to climb up and down or change directions several times. We even passed some really cool petroglyphs. Finally, we made it to the cave. It was amazing! There was a huge grotto with a massive skylight directly above. There were petroglyphs, though we weren't sure how old and original they were. The hike back was much easier, but we were all worn out after the long day.

The trail was a steep climb up the slick rock, but we loved it! 

The boys are such good sports about all these crazy adventures. 

We had our family picture taken at the Wild Horse Window.

The window is above us. You can see how large the grotto is and the arch lets in light. 

We were moving hotels to Green River, so we treated ourselves to a nicer restaurant. It cost quite a bit, but Seth ate almost all his spaghetti, Mom enjoyed her chimichanga, and Dad had a half-rack of ribs. Everyone was really hungry! We'd worked and played hard all day!

This restaurant has a view of the Green River out the windows. 

We devoured our food. It was so good!

Capitol Reef Day 2

We woke up pretty early and found that the day was much colder. We didn't want to do a frigid hike, so we settled on a scenic drive. Just a few blocks from our hotel is the beginning of the Cedar Wash Road. It runs a long the northern border of the park for about 50 miles. We had no intention of going that far, though. We wanted to drive 17 miles out to two features in the park that most people never see: The Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon.

We'd read that a high-clearance vehicle was necessary to make this drive, but we weren't too worried. The road was windy and rocky, but the drive was fine. It was just the washboards that shook the fillings out of our teeth that made it rough. It took almost an hour to get to the junction, but it was only a mile from there to the temples.

We started at a low hill called Glass Mountain. It only stood about twelve or fifteen feet high with a small diameter, but it was shiny and sparkly in the morning light. It looked like thousands of pieces of glass all heaped into one solid pile. We climbed to the top and watched it glitter and gleam as we scaled it.

Glass Mountain was really sparkly, just not in pictures.

The Temple of the Sun is behind us. Temple of the Moon is on Dad's right shoulder.

We couldn't capture the sparkle.

Next we drove over to the Temple of the Moon. It is a huge rock feature that rises into the crystal blue sky. The boys had fun climbing up the lowest part, while Mom and Dad walked back further and further trying to get the entire thing in a photograph. It looks much smaller than it is in the pictures because of the way we were standing.

It was nice to be all by ourselves.

The Temple is really massive. See the boys on the bottom left?

They came skiing down and luckily survived.

The Temple of the Sun is really massive! That didn't stop the boys from trying to scale it, though. They made it up the soft sandy part, but there was no way they were climbing the sheer face of it. Since it rises hundreds of feet into the air, they didn't even try. Instead, they came surfing down on the  seat of their pants. They were dirty, but giggling, when they got to the bottom. Later, they declared this the best part of the day.

We took a bunch of pictures because the day was so crisp and pretty.

The ride back was much better and the washboards didn't seem so bad. It had warmed up a bit, too. We stopped for a hike around ten o'clock called Grand Wash. This is one of the main hikes in Capitol Reef. It is a high-walled canyon, but it is not very narrow. This disappointed the boys, but they still enjoyed climbing in little crevices and scaling the steep walls whenever they could. We walked a little over a mile into the wash before we turned around and headed back.

The Grand Wash hike was nice and easy.

The boys like to hide in cubby holes throughout the park.

Dax found a cool spot.

There are even holes big enough for Dad!

We loved the easy hikes in Capitol Reef.

The boys like to look like they are holding up rocks.

Here they are selling the pose.

Dad's feet are dangling through this small hole.
These nooks were everywhere.

Seth had to climb up everywhere the boys did.
Sometimes getting him down was the hard part.

Next we had lunch at the picnic area just past the Visitor Center. Mom made sandwiches, and we ate on a picnic table. Then we walked over to the bridge to play pooh sticks, but the water wasn't really deep enough. So we stopped at the Visitor Center to turn in the boys Junior Ranger booklets.

The large grassy area has this cool bridge over the river.

The water wasn't deep enough to play pooh sticks, though.

Dax loves the time we spend exploring, and not hiking!

When did Seth start looking like a big kid? This makes me a little sad!

Our big hike of the day was Hickman Bridge. This is the most popular hike in Capitol Reef, and we've never been able to do it before due to a rockfall last time we were here. The hike is only about two miles roundtrip, but it is uphill most of the way. This trail was much more crowded, but we found a neat little arch along the way, and the boys enjoyed scrambling around the rocks. The bridge itself was crowded, but still beautiful.

Mom and her boys on the Hickman Bridge trail.

This cool natural bridge was fun to climb on.

Here's a different view of the same bridge.

It's difficult to see Hickman Bridge over Mom's left shoulder.

We really enjoyed walking through the bridge.

This is the view on the other side of Hickman Bridge.

We have a million pictures of the boys in some sort of hole on every hike in Capitol Reef. 

I love moments like these where Dax and Seth are friends and not enemies. 

We stopped at the petroglyph wall on the way back to the Gifford Farm, where we were hoping to buy some peach pie. We shouldn't have stopped, though, because they sold the last pie as we walked up. So we played a little game of tag, and the boys ate ice-cream.

We spent a few minutes looking at the petroglyphs, but the boys were starting to wear out. 

The boys liked their ice cream cups.

Mom tried to smile when they told us they were sold out of pie.

Dad played tag with the boys.

The boys can't catch Dad in tag. They just wait until he collapses.

We just had one more hike to do before dinner. We drove to Sunset Point and the Goosenecks Overlook. This hike is only a third of a mile, but it proved to be too much. Everyone was tired and surly, and though we made it to the end, we probably should have skipped it. We decided that we'd pushed pretty hard for the day and we were going back to the hotel early after a quick dinner. We ate at Slackers again in Torrey, and the food was even better. This time Mom ordered deep-fried cheesecake with cinnamon ice cream. She even let Dad have a bite or two! It was nice to be back and get the boys in the shower by 7 o'clock, too.

The Goosenecks Overlook has a steep drop!

"Take a picture of me jumping, Mom!"

Dad mastered the art of hovering.

Mom and Dad posed at little Grand Canyon.

We really liked the food at Slacker's.