We had kind of a lazy day. The kids completed their Jr. Ranger booklets and were sworn in as Rangers. Afterwards, we went down to Sulfur Creek and the kids made plaster casts of some deer prints they found. After it was dry the boy gave his to Emily, the Ranger intern we have become friendly with. She told him she will come and visit us this fall when she will be in our area. The boy has a crush on her.
The kids ended the day in the pool.
We drove the Burr Trail. It starts in Capital Reef and goes into Escalante. It is mostly a dirt road, so hubby was happy. You gain a few thousand feet in elevation. It was a beautiful drive and we made it back to the camp right before the storm hit.
At the summit of the Burr Trail it drops you off in Boulder. A very pretty town. We took the kids to see the Anasazi pueblo and pit house ruins.
We took a hike over hills to get to a natural bridge. It was quite a site. It was a 2 mile hike with a 400 foot ascent. Here the kids are taking a water and shade break, so they decide to climb up a mini slot canyon. Obviously, they don't know what a break is.
I thought I sent this post yesterday, but only one picture went through. Outside the park there are some hills full of oyster fossils. The hills looked like they were covered in pebbles, that were actually oysters. Imagine, an ocean used to be in southern Utah.
We went to Goblin Valley and walked around the valley floor. The kids climbed the rock formations. They were pretty cool.
The kids went on a morning 3 mile hike through a slot canyon with their Dad. I had the job of dropping them off at the trailhead and picking them up at the other end. At the end the girl told me it was her favorite hike.
After fording the river and donatiing blood to the biting flies, we went fossil hunting.
There are some hills just outside the park that are full of oyster fossils from when Southern Utah was ocean. The hills are covered.with them. When we first drove up we thought it was covered in small rocks, turns out they were oysters. The kids had a lot of fun finding good ones.
The problem with being in such a remote location is there is no cell service. My last two days posts never made it to the blog. Here's hoping the third times a charm.
Today we drove on a 60 mile dirt road through a place called Cathedral Valley filled with interesting geological wonders. The drive took us 8 hours. Unfortunately, all of the interesting geological pictures we took were with our actual camera and we aren't able to post at this time.
The landscape is very harsh and hot. We took a ton of water. We found this old tow truck by an abandoned cattle station.
We had a fun day in Fruta. It is an old Mormon pioneer settlement full of orchards that you are allowed to pick from. Right now mulberries are in season. We also visited the most kid friendly, interactive visitor center to date. The girl is participating in a day in the life of a pioneer kid exhibit.
We took a drive on a dirt road (hubby was disappointed he never had to put the truck in four wheel drive) through the capital gorge area of the park. Of course the boy promptly fell asleep on the scenic drive.
The kids ended the day swimming at the campground and soundly beating their parents at Old Maid and Uno after dinner.
We had to stop at this convenient store that was built into the side of the mountain. We have been traveling for 12 hours and the boy is in the truck sound asleep. Don't worry Mom, his Dad is with him.
We took a detour on our jont to Capital Reef to Natural Bridges Monument. They have a Jr Ranger program that can be done in a day. Of course the kids wanted to do it
We reached 1,000 miles on this trip as we started driving through monument valley. What a beautiful ride. We are headed to Natural Bridges National Monument.
Here is the view we woke up to at our campsite outside of Capitol Reef park in the town of Torrey, UT.
Sometime later I will post the video, but here they are posing on a mountain lion statue outside the visitor center right after their swearing in.
This morning we went on the fossil hike. One of the kids was whining about the heat and the hike, until they started finding fossils. Then they were super excited about being out in nature.
