Last week our family took a fun little vacation together. Our kids weren't super excited about it because, as one of them said, "We don't need to spend more time together as a family." But they were wrong! What we did need was to spend more time as a family, but in a new location. We chose the Escalante Grand Staircase because we had never been there, and it is rumored to be the most scenic highway in the United States. Plus, my 4th great grandparents helped settle that area, so I was excited to see what it was like down there. I feel like we should be celebrities in Escalante, but the reality is that probably 90% of the town has great grandparents that settled the area. We decided to go camping on the Monday of Memorial Day weekend (so, the actual Memorial Day...) and we were encouraged in finding a campsite as we passed around 100 big trucks pulling trailers who were leaving the area we were heading towards.
We helped pass the time on the drive down by torturing ourselves with crybaby bubble gum.
It was a very scenic drive.
This was a very narrow stretch of road, with cliffs on either side. Dustin called it the Angel's Landing of roads. You may not know this about me, but I am TERRIFIED of heights. So, sometimes these kinds of drives are less beautiful for me, and more stressful.
Because it was Memorial Day, and we had never been to Escalante, we thought it would be fun to go find some of our relatives graves. Luckily it wasn't a huge cemetery and so we wandered until we found Don Carlos Shurtz and his wife Elizabeth (no, we are not Spanish. When he was born, he was given a name and blessing by Joseph Smith, and Joseph named him after his own brother, who had died, Don Carlos Smith). Elizabeth's mother was there and some Spencer grandparents and other relatives. It was a family reunion!
"She was a kind and affectionate wife, a fond mother and a friend to all."
"An honest man's the noblest work of God."
Dustin and I decided we might want these epitaphs on our graves someday.
We also found a fun hike and a lake nearby. The hike was to the Escalante Petrified Forest. All along the trail were petrified logs with beautiful colors. It was nearing sunset when we started out, so we were able to watch a beautiful sunset while we finished, and no one was eaten by any cougars (maybe some mosquitos though), which I felt like was mark of a successful evening. The complaining that occurred during our hike might have been what deterred the cougars...
We got back to our campsite and had dinner in the dark. We tend to do that when we are camping. I think it is because we are always packing too much in our days when we vacation, and camping is no exception. But after that night of eating in the dark and cold, I was determined to make dinner at a normal time and enjoy our campsite a little. And after that, we did!
After a cold night, the sun rose and hit our tent and raised the temperature by about 30 degrees, and it got us out of bed better than any alarm clock we could have brought. That day we planned to do the hike that was in our campground called Calf Creek Waterfall. It was a hot day, and after hiking for 3 miles, the waterfall felt so nice!
Even though we were warm, the area is really so beautiful.
If there is a sign telling you not to use this area for going to the bathroom, it must have been a problem in the past. Gross.
After our long hot hike back, we all cooled off in the creek that was right next to our campsite, and Ryan did a little fishing.
Later that day we visited the Anasazi Museum and saw some ruins that they had uncovered. While we were standing around reading the signs, we were dive bombed by a Falcon! Pretty crazy!
Look at us eating dinner in the daylight! Goals accomplished.
The next morning we headed back toward Escalante for another hike. We stopped on the way to learn a little about the Hole in the Rock Pioneers. The spot where they took their wagons down the canyon is near this area and it was amazing to see pictures of what it looked like! They were very brave.
After an hour long drive on a washboard gravel road, we finally arrived at our hike: Peek-a-boo and Spooky slot canyons. Here is a little backstory for these slot canyons. The first day at our campsite, we talked to some people next to us who were leaving and they had done these two slot canyons the day before. The man was about the same build as Dustin and he told us that he almost got stuck in the Spooky slot canyon--that his son actually had to pull on him from the other side to get him through! That was pretty much the end of discussion for me as I don't want to raise my children alone, but I was willing to allow my family to do the Peek-a-boo slot canyon. It was another hot day and the hike to get to the slot canyons is about 2 miles. We passed 5 or 6 groups of people on their way out, and each time we did, Dustin got their opinions on the Spooky slot canyon: Is it worth it? Is it really only 10 inches wide at times? Did you have any problems? Do you think I (Dustin) will get stuck? They all said it was amazing and that Dustin wouldn't have any problems (some of the men were slightly bigger than Dustin, which eased my mind a little). Once we got down there, we realized that we really almost had to do the second canyon because otherwise we would have to come back through the first one (Peek-a-boo), which would have been pretty hard because it started out with a climb up a 12 foot ledge to get into the canyon (a 12 foot drop seemed hard with all our kids). So, we said a prayer, and committed ourselves by entering Peek-a-boo canyon!
Of course, it was beautiful and amazing and so much fun!
After coming out of Peek-a-boo canyon, we hiked for about a mile over to Spooky canyon. The entrance to Spooky involved going down a 7 or 8 foot drop. Luckily someone had put a rope there to help us get down it, plus our dad/husband is really strong. The kids were all really brave in both of these canyons! Avery had a moment of claustrophobia at one point, but she pushed through and handled it well. And, I don't blame her! There really were spots that were about 10 inches wide!
Luckily Dustin is a contortionist!
The hikes through the canyons were nice and cool, but it was blazing hot once we got out. Thankfully, we had rationed our water a little, and we also had a blessing in the form of cloud cover for a big chunk of our 2 mile hike out. And, we made it!
We passed a cattle drive on the drive back, which was awesome.
We made a quick stop at Devil's Garden along the route, but we could only convince two our children to get out of the car. They missed out because it was really cool!
We stopped at the lake again on our way home so that the boys could try to catch a fish. The water was refreshing and those of us not fishing had fun skipping rocks and wading in the cool water.
And somehow, Grant caught this little fish! He said it grabbed his bait while he was reeling in, and he was able to get it off the hook and release it (and, since I am the fish gutter in this family, it meant that I didn't have to gut a fish! Woohoo!)
We made it back for another dinner in daylight (that sounds like it could be a Magic Treehouse book title) and then our new friends who camped next to us invited us to watch the sunset from the ridge above our campsite. It was beautiful and fun to get to know them better. The next morning we packed up and headed home to shower and see our dog!
So, in the end, our kids did need more family time and just some new scenery to go with it. It is so fun to discover amazing new places, in our own Utah backyard. I love where we live! I think Utah is one of the most beautiful states. And, I was really proud of my kids! They did multiple 6+ mile hikes, in the heat and with some added excitement and challenges, and they did it well!
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