For Timmy's graduation trip with the Stapletons, I suggested that he should go to Utah. While all of the southern Utah stuff seems pretty standard for me and my family, it's pretty dang exotic for Timmy. So Dan planned out a nice little roadtrip for us. We started out driving through the BYU campus so that he can check it out, even though he won't be going there for a few years.,
We first headed down to Bryce. On the way, we checked out Red Canyon and hiked around a bit
Then we spent a few days at Bryce. We hiked the Fairyland trail, Queen's Garden to Navajo Loop, and drove the entire canyon. It was pretty cold still, which I prefer more than the heat.
We left for Escalante, but stopped at Willis Canyon, Kodachrome State Park, and Petrified Forrest State park.
The next day, we went out on hole-in-the-rock road and hiked Peekaboo Canyon and then hit Spooky. We got a bit turned around and ended up going up Spooky the wrong direction. I was getting a little claustrophobic, and then when we started having to pass people I just couldn't take it so we turned around. Pretty wussy:)
Hoe-in-the-rock roded is a bear by the way. It is so wash-boarded that it is pretty hard to go faster than 15 mph. I did this last year when I went into Coyote Gulch in an old Subaru Forrester. I thought that the truck would be better. It was, but not by much. It was still a bear!
We decided that we wanted to try to pop into Coyote Gulch after Spooky. My dad was awesome enough to drive us all the way out and then wait for us while we popped in. We hiked straight on the direct route, following the Cairns in the open dessert. We found the drop in and approached. We were really haulin', trying the minimize the time my dad had to wait in the truck.
I brought some strapping as a backup and Timmy and I downclimbed to the bottom. It was awesome seeing the contrast of the greenery in the canyon vs the barren wasteland out of the canyon.
We had like 20 minutes to check out the canyon. I have been there a bunch and have a lot of memories there, so it was fun to talk with Timmy about it. One of my favorite places on earth!!!
Tacos in Escalante afterwards!
The next day we went to Capital Reef, stopping at Calf Creek along the way.
Then we headed to Capital Reef, checked out the views
drove around the park and found this cool little canyon
We hiked the Grand Wash, and took the detour to Cassidy Arch, which was also quite a haul. We practically ran up the steep trail and ran back. Here's the arch from the other side of the canyon.
Then we hiked Capital Gorge, and took a small detour to these really cool pools:
On the way back we went through the classic Goblin Valley! It was a great trip, and super thankful for my parents for taking us!
