An Eventful Weekend

The first thing I did when I got to camp this weekend, after settling into my cabin, was to hike Secret Falls with Josh. Secret Falls is one of our favorite hikes and we had been looking forward to it all week.

There was more water in the river than we had seen before, it was impressive and beautiful. The tiger lilies were blooming and we saw many, both large and small.

We also saw a number of crazy spider webs.

You can see why we love this hike.

We had a picnic dinner and while we were eating, Josh asked me to go out with him. Of course, I said yes!

 These last couple pictures are from a hike Sunday morning before church, also beautiful.

Wildflowers at Camp

I was at camp again this weekend, the flowers are blooming like crazy! We also got to go on a hike I hadn't been on before and found the clothespin tree.

Vacation Stats

By Heather

All the Way Home

Our last morning we drove to Zion National Park. After a pretty drive through the east side of the park, we stopped at the visitors center. We had planned to go for a hike, but decided we didn't want to take the shuttle or be around a bunch of people, so instead we found a quiet spot by the river and let the kids play.

We had a picnic by the van, then set out for Visalia.

We had planned to stop in Las Vegas to hang out with Jaime again, but she ended up having to work late and the kids were doing okay so we drove on to Barstow. The last leg of the trip was long, but we finally made it back just after 10pm. Then Dad, Mom, and I drove out to our house and it was good to be home.

Red and Orange Rocks

We said good bye to Capitol Reef this morning.

We took a scenic road toward Bryce and got poured on again as we went over the mountains.

Then we drove along the ridge.

A scenic lunch stop.

We arrived at Bryce National Park in the afternoon and got out to admire the bryceiness.

Dad, Evan, Micah, and I hiked a little ways down amongst the rock. I had only seen Bryce from above, so it was fun to get a different perspective.

We admired Bryce from another overlook, then drove towards Zion. Along the way, we passed through the red mountains.

We camped at a KOA between the two parks. It was very windy while we were setting up the tent and eating dinner, we had to buy rope to tie the tent up so it didn't blow over. Thankfully, the wind died down. The kids had fun playing at the playground before we snuggled up in our sleeping bags to stay warm during the cold night.

Sunset Trail

We packed up and continued southwest after breakfast today. Our lunch stop was at a scenic spot by the side of the road.

We made it to Capitol Reef in the early afternoon, in the midst of another storm. Thankfully, it cleared up as we got to the campsite, but things were wet.

It looked like there were chocolate waterfalls pouring off the sides of the cliffs and the campground was soaked. It made it easier to see where the high ground was though, so we picked out a dry site for our tent.

After setting up, we went to the nature center so the kids could go to the jr. geologist talk. It was raining again, but Heather wanted to pick apricots for jam.

After taking a few pictures, I went out to help her.

Then we went on a scenic drive.

Everything was wet and muddy from all the rain.

After dinner, we went on the Sunset Point trail, a favorite from last time we were here. It didn't disappoint.