Zion National Park

Last week we were able to hike in Zion National Park with my family who was visiting from Washington. The trails were wet, but made for a spectacular day at the park. These videos are unedited and are bound to embarrass.

 This video is up at upper emerald pool. We were all trying our hand at bouldering, but the sandstone was pretty slick.

Toadstool Hike

A couple weeks ago we took our dog Nova to the Best Friends Animal Clinic to get her fixed. While she was there it was a perfect opportunity for us to get some hiking in and enjoy the warm weather. Toadstool hike can be found on HWY 89 about 20 miles west of Lake Powell. The first three quarters of the hike are relatively flat with the last quarter is somewhat hilly. The hike was perfect for Atticus to run around and get out his energy.  We enjoy this hike because of the scenery, the ability to take our dogs, and young kids can do it.

Brook and Sophie taking a breather

The toadstools are endless, and makes a great playground.

Missing our Nova.

Do kids these days get enough of this? Take em out to play.

When you want to get out, but you don't want to get out.

This weekend my brother in law Forrest purchased a new 4x4. He bought a built up Geo Tracker and it defiantly proved itself on the drive home from Salt Lake City. We got caught up in a crazy snow storm, lots of accidents and at one point traffic stopped and the snow didn't. One of our goals is to head out to Moab sometime this year together and run some beginner to intermediate trails. Before we can do that we decided that its a must for him to get comfortable with his 4x4 before we head out. Which is perfect cause I'm always looking for excuses to hit the trails. With the weather still being kinda nasty an outing like this is perfect. We get to go out and enjoy the outdoors, but from the comfort and warmth of our vehicles. We decided that we would explore the 2,000 flushes and 3Peaks area out west of Cedar. Bring on the MUD.

Forrest's ride, I think she may be called Big Blue, in memory of Little Blue.

Nova poses in front of 2,000 flushes. I guess back in the day when they were mining here they hit an underground well. They had to evacuate very quickly so all the equipment is still down there, scuba anyone?

Kinda shocking to find water in a hole this size in the middle of nowhere.

A mini wheel stand on the way out. You can get there without 4x4, we just choose to find the hardest route there.

At 3peaks we found a nice little muddy climb.

Atticus waiting at the top of the hill, guess what he's doing? Boys will be boys.

When we are on the trail the dogs run, which means they are nice and tired at home.

Another steep climb, all in practice for Moab.

Sledding

This weeks adventure consisted of going sledding up Cedar mountain. Sometimes it's hard to get a group of adults together to do an activity like this. When you have a two year old that is beyond excited it becomes infectious.

Atticus with Forrest, notice his eyes, priceless

Atticus may look scared but he's all smiles when the ride is over.

Atti with Colin, nothing gets him going like smashing into Dad.

Atti earning his ride down by making the walk up all by himself.

Atticus with Grandma.

Atticus with Grandpa.

No one likes the walk up, except maybe the dogs.

Grandmas face=AWESOME

Marley waiting for the ball to be thrown.

Mariah and Colin.

Kolob Canyon

With the snow hitting Cedar this past week we thought it would be fun to head South to Kolob Canyon. The drive down I-15 was pretty sketchy, but that's what makes little trips like this fun. We drove slow, let the maniacs past us, and arrived there safety. Upon arrival we were greeted by a big sign declaring that the canyon was closed. though we were disappointing that we couldn't go up the canyon, we felt satisfied in knowing that we survived the trip there considering how bad the roads were. Sometimes the drive there can be an adventure in and of itself.

This is Kolob in the spring time when we were last there.

On the way down we saw many rollovers and spin-outs.

Kolob Canyon is located about 23 miles South of Cedar City, UT

The view West of the canyon over-looking New Harmony.

More accidents on the way home, the roads were a mess.

Snow Canyon

Our travels this week takes us down to St. George. It was my first time in Snow Canyon, but Brook had been here before. She had some fond memories as a little girl having Easter egg hunts. To get into the park will cost you 6 dollars but it is well worth the price. Sandstone, sand dunes, and wildlife will await you. There are plenty of hiking trails and we were really bummed we didn't bring our bikes and trailer to take advantage of their paved biking trail. All in all it was a good day, warm (60's), good places to picnic, and lots of fun stuff for Atticus to do.

Brook lizarding on the warm rock

These two kids are going to be hiking pros.

Sophie doing what she does best, sleeping.

Atticus climbed down into a little hole, which he couldn't get out of.

No trails, just go where you want to.

Road leading into the park.

Plenty of places to explore

Almost a month

Sometimes you just need to get out of town.

On Saturday January 22, we decided that we needed to get out of Cedar. So we packed up the truck and decided on Kanab as our destination. We traveled over Cedar mountain on HWY 14 for about 40 miles. At Tod's junction we took a right and travel down US 89 for another 40 miles.

We knew we wanted to go to Kanab, but besides that hadn't planned out what we were going to do once we got there, which was fine with us. We ended up going down Kanab canyon, some know it as Angel canyon and found a nice spot to have  lunch and explore a bit on foot. We ate lunch over looking a slot canyon that had  a lot of water running through it. It provided entertainment for our 2 almost 3 year old son Atticus and our dogs. While Brook and I were able to relax and soak up some of that good southwest sun.

We found a nice spot on the rock to eat.

 Atticus can't resist a sweet ledge to jump off of.

Family pose, baby Sophie two weeks old enjoying some much needed sun.

Our other kids, Marley, a black lab and Nova, an Australian shepard.

Funky rock formation, can anyone tell me why and how this happens?

After having lunch we decided to explore some more of the dirt roads. We always try to be self sufficient in our back road travels, but found comfort in knowing that Best Friends Animal Society was only a few miles away from where we were if we needed help.

It's always a good sign when your GPS doesn't know where you are.

We ended up traveling down a road that took us to an old Native American ruin. Besides a wooden fence there wasn't much information on the site. From past experiences it looked to us like a grainery or a place to store food.

There were about five or six of these structures.

Some pottery we found at the site.

Right above the site was some bat guano.

We ended the trip by traveling a couple of more miles down the road which took us to an underground lake.

Standing in front of the opening to the underground lake

After we got a little dirt in our shoes and warmed our bones we decided it was time to head home. Little trips like this for our family breaks up the monotony of work, school, and everyday life.