During the recent fall-break for school we took the family down to Escalante, UT.  Nothing fancy, actually, it was bare-bones camping in the wilderness.  I’ve done that many times with the scouts but haven’t done it with the family and especially haven’t done it with female counterparts of our family.  It’s definitely harder on them than it is on the boys.  You know what I mean.

We left Thursday morning, Oct 14th and drove through Torrey, then on to highway 12 over the Boulder Pass.  On the way we saw this beautiful field of cut & bailed hay… with a dead cow on the side of the road to complete the scene!! It was bloated and looked like it would pop if you poked it with a stick. We stopped and Davis got his picture taken with the dead cow — very funny. (see picture link at the bottom to see it)

We were a little late to see the full golden sea of quakies changing but did see several beautiful areas where the leaves hadn’t all come down.  We had our fingers crossed that Calf Creek would have camping spots available — not.  So, we headed on over to Escalante and went to the Visitors Center.  They have a very nice facility there and the staff were extremely helpful in pointing us to an area where we could camp.  After a short break in town and picking up a few more supplies (we needed more water storage if we were going to primitive camp) we loaded back in the car and headed out on Hold In The Rock road.  We headed south for about 15 miles and then found a small road/trail that headed up over a small bluff where we made camp.  This severed as our base-station for the next several days.

A large field of prairie grass adjoined our camp area so Thane fashioned a make-shift “bat” from a large tree branch and the boys all had fun playing their own version of baseball.  Part of the reward of family trips is seeing the kids all interact and have fun with each other; Thane pitched while Porter practiced his swig – he actually hit a few too!

Day 1 was all driving and setting up camp – not too fun.  The next day we got up and drove another 15 miles south.  If you keep on driving you’ll end-up at Lake Powell where the pioneers crossed the canyon with their wagons!  We stopped to hike some of the popular slot canyons called Peek-a-boo, Spooky, and Dry Canyon.  These slot canyons are simply amazing — VERY narrow in sections and at mid-day they were so dark that many of my pictures without the flash didn’t turn out.  It’s a good thing I’ve lost a few pounds as we had been warned that if you’re over 200 lbs you may get stuck in the narrow sections.  They weren’t kidding!  You literally had to suck in your stomach to squeeze through several parts.  And, you find out really quickly if your claustrophobic; Natalie got just a little nervous in one section where we had to just stand and wait while other hikers heading out of the canyon tried to pass.  We just stood there, staring at a sheer slab of rock 2″ in front of your face.  Weird.

After leaving the slot canyon area we stopped at an area called “Devils Garden” that takes about 15-20 minutes to walk around.  The sun was low in the sky and it was just a cool area to watch the shadows stretch.

That night we enjoyed yummy dutch oven dinner and hanging out around the campfire.  As I laid in the tent that night I could hear the coyotes on the prowl; and they were very close by.  Dang, I should have taken my gun!

Day 3, Saturday, we packed up camp and drove back to Calf Creek campground.  We spent 3 or 4 hours doing the leisurely hike to Calf Creek Falls (lower); the hike was hot with the sun on our backs but the water at the falls was so incredibly icy cold that were were soon shivering and wishing we had some coats!  It was a great family hike and the falls are a nice reward at the end — highly recommend this one to anybody looking for a hike that 5-6 yr olds can do!

Here are some pictures… I’m not a great photographer but some of these start to capture the amazing things we saw; enjoy!  Link below will take you to the full picasa web album…

10-14-2010 Escalante, Fall Break UEA

Actually, it turned out to be the perfect get-away and we had a lot of fun doing a few hikes and then taking in some relaxing dining and movies in the evenings.  Here are a bunch of pictures if you’ve got time to kill. 

Below is a track log of our hike to Angel’s Landing with a link to some interesting GPS analysis of the hike. One little tidbit… 2,500 vertical feet from base to summit! Both Natalie and I were a little apprehensive before the hike; we’d read about how many people have died from falling over the edge on the hike. So… if it’s 2,500 feet down… assuming free-fall terminal velocity is about 120 mi/hr, then you’d have approximately 14 seconds of time to contemplate meeting your maker… that’s something to think about!  However, it appears you could pull in your arms and legs, achieving 200 mph, and make the trip in a quick 8.5 seconds!

 

 

Saturday morning we broke camp early and headed into the park.  We had a great hike through the goblins and made a nice loop through the main park area.  After a few hours in the park we had some lunch and then 1/2 of the scout group headed home.  Those of us who could stay a little longer drove over to Little Wild Horse trail head and did a shortened hike through the slot canyon.  That was a great hike!  Would liked to have had a few more hours so we could have done the full loop of Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyon… maybe next time.

Several years ago we started a tradition of going shooting the morning of Thanksgiving Day.  A long time ago I got together with friends and played football on Thanksgiving… I thought about reviving that tradition but there are too many injuries and, frankly, its too stinkin’ much work!  So, we started to go shooting.  My brother, Mark, coined the phrase “Redneck Thanksgiving” — probably because it is just so… well, “redneck.”

The basic premis is first, bring some food to eat and hot cocoa to keep you warm, second, bring as many guns as you can with plenty of ammo, and third, bring cool things to shoot at (boring old targets are fine but think about how much more fun it is to shoot at “stuff”).

This year my Dad was out of town so the only immediate family in attendance was Mark, my brother, and Ron, Nathan and Spencer Smith, my brother-in-law and his two boys.  We met in Cedar Hills to start our trek to the “west desert” where are traditional shooting place is located.  It was raining hard but we decided that we’d make the trip and hope for the best.  To our pleasant surprise the rain quit before we arrived at the destination and the weather was calm and mild for us.  It made for a perfect shooting day!

We setup two shooting stations, one for rifles/handguns and one for shotguns and clay-target shooting.  Here are some of our pictures… click the link to see the original images — enjoy!!!

This year we enjoyed wonderful weather and the company of good friends in Moab, UT. We stayed at an awesome place called the Moab Wilderness House. It is an eco-friendly home located in a remote canyon about 10 miles southwest of Moab. Reaching the home requires an SUV as you travel moderately rough dirt roads and cross two streams.  The setting was spectacular and the remote location provided a real getaway.

During our trip we rode ATVs (thank you Olpins and Tolds), went mountain biking and did some hikes. The kids also enjoyed the brisk water in the pool and alternated between the pool and the hot tub to stay warm.

For me, the best part of the trip was just getting away to a remote location that was peaceful and so scenic. Each evening the sun would set the canyon ablaze with brilliant orange, red and yellow colors. The changing aspens were a nice contrast to the beautiful red cliffs. From the patio we had a spectacular view of the entire canyon.

One funny part of the trip was when the kids were playing music from their iPods and Porter decided he would show us his dance moves — can’t really describe it, you just need to watch.  Pretty good for a 4-year-old!

 

Reflecting on the week we realized just how little we’ve been together as a family and how worn out we were (mostly Natalie).  We decided our family needed a low-key outing so we could reconnect a little bit.  So, we headed up American Fork Canyon for a picnic dinner and then we made s’mores over a fire.  The canyon was beautiful with the autum leaves changing and a few fallen leaves swirling across the road.  The temperature was just perfect too; just a hint of crisp, cool air letting us know that Fall has begun and Summer is definitely over.  We were the only people in the camping/picnic area and it was good for everybody to forget about scool, work, church, etc. and just relax.  I’m just thankful for wonderful kids and the good memories we made today.

Here is a link to my GPS track — batteries went dead for a portion of the hike but you get the general idea.  To see a detailed breakdown of the GPS log click the image below.