Capital Reef National Park, Spring Break 2015

Back in February we bought a used pop up camper on Craig's list.  It was a happy day, and we were so excited to take it out on it's inaugural trip.  We love to explore the desert of southern Utah during the kids spring and fall breaks, when the weather is not unbearably hot. but the nights can be chilly, so the camper helps keep things comfortable.  We opted for capital reef national park, a destination we had only spent a few hours in on previous trips.  It was beautiful and a great place to camp with the kids.

We arrived pretty much right as a cold front came through.  It was windy and chilly and we were glad we had enough warm layers after discovering we had left the bin of coats sitting in the garage.  And we were super thankful for the camper that night, as it rained and was windy pretty much all night.  The next day after a lazy morning we hiked to chimney rock.  It was a longer hike, but the kids all did well, and we enjoyed a picnic lunch along way.

We hiked up to these water pits in the red rock they called "the tanks", the next day.  It was a pretty short hike through a canyon, then up onto the rocks.  After finding the tanks we found this arch down below... it was a fun little canyon that with a few ropes we would have climbed all the way down.  It was still pretty chilly with the wind, but the sun was out.

 

Jacob loved finding these little caves to climb and play in.

Patty joined us for the last few days of the trip.  We did a fun bike ride along a dirt road that was down hill through a beautiful red rock canyon.  We saw these sheep, not sure if they are juvenile bighorn sheep or what, but it was fun to see them so close up. We also hiked Cassidy Arch that day, Maren, Patty, and I made it to the arch, while the other petered out before hand.  It was a little steep but probably my favorite hike of the trip.  The views were amazing and we were able to hike out onto the arch.  Some other hikers were seen rappelling down into the arch. 

 Maren and Jacob loved to stop and play with their little toys along the way

Dave kissing a random frog shaped rock along the trail.  The things a dad will do for his kids....

Unfortunately the day before, Amanda had twisted her ankle again, and was relegated to the watch position at the bottom of the hike.

In between hikes the kids rode bikes around the campground, played Frisbee and soccer, and worked on their junior ranger badges.  The campground is in an old Mormon settlement, so there are fruit trees, and an old home that is now a small general store/museum that the kids discovered ice cream at.  There are also a lot of petroglyphs, and an old school house close by too.  Plus there are these cool wild turkeys that roam through camp, along with a herd of mule deer.

 

The last day we hiked from our campground to Hickman bridge and then to the car that Dave had placed for us before our drive home.  

Did you know that the difference between a natural bridge and a natural arch, is that a natural bridge is made from water erosion and an arch from wind erosion.

The kids get two weeks of Spring Break, so after heading home to let Dave work a few days, we took another quick trip to Glenwood Springs.  We stayed in the hot springs motel and took advantage of the pool.  It was very warm and relaxing.

We did a couple of fun bike rides on the paved trails around there, including biking through the very scenic Glenwood canyon.  It was mostly downhill so we squeaked in about 14 miles.  Although Jacob's little legs were very tired when we were done.

I love where I live!