There was a little rock climbing to be done. Fun!
There was an awesome old juniper to climb in. I had this obsession with "bad ass" trees (they're all over Southern Utah), this one was not only old, but it had survived flash floods.
It was a gorgeous canyon. Unfortunately, areas like this had water pots full of old poo-smelling water. I was happy I was slogging through it in my Chacos instead of tennis shoes. But unhappy to be putting my basically bare feet in the poop water.
I had to make this shot happen. When Mom saw it she said "You could have gotten your arm smashed by that!" And I laughed.
We had to haul tail out of the canyon (as fast as you can speed walk through a slot canyon) because it was starting to rain a little. It would have been so awesome to see a flash flood while we were there, but also sort of dangerous.
We spent the night at this awesome primitive campsite on the east side of Capitol Reef called Cedar Mesa. It was really quite beautiful. Plus, the sand was wonderful, I could walk around our camp without my shoes on.
Tuesday morning we set out to do some hiking around the park. One of the first things we saw was this awesome lizard. I don't know what type it was, but it's cool.
This is the Strike Valley. I would like to put a house in here and become a hermit. It was epically gorgeous.
Surprise Canyon was the first hike we took that day. It was very pretty. I was counting on something surprising, but didn't encounter anything. It was still enjoyable though.
It was nice and shady up at the the top of the canyon. Mostly I just like this picture because Lou didn't think he was in it.
We took a really pretty drive down the Burr Trail Road, re-entered the park, and hiked up to some tanks. Usually these hold water, but it seemed like it hadn't rained there in a while (though there were also rain clouds there that afternoon). 
We also hiked to the Golden Dome. Well, tried to hike to the Golden Dome. It was a pretty walk, with some great views of Capitol Reef. 
I think that there in the back is the Golden Throne, but I suppose I won't know until I get back there again (and yes, I am going back). 
There weren't any camp spots open in the park, but we found this Forest Service camp ground called Sunglow. It was quite pretty. Unfortunately, the wild blew almost all night long. Wednesday morning we headed home. We ended up hiking about 20 miles in 2 days, which makes me declare that trip a success.
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1 comment:
see, I kept my worrying under control during this adventure because I knew you weren't alone. I am trying to be Zen Mom.
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