Random Ramblings: Capital Reef

Fall Break!

All the boys including Jaxon had the same days off of school. So we swung by Ephraim, grabbed Jaxon and went right down to Capital Reef.

Seriously. Capital Reef is the best.

we went in 2012. I was so amazed by it and loved it. I swore I would go here more often.

Well, 6 years later, we went again.

Here is a picture of those baby kids. Jaxon was 11, Tanner 8, Alex 6, Chase 4.

There first thing we did was set up a tripod and get a family picture for our Christmas Cards/ Picture in our livingroom. Here is an outtake from that.

Then we went on a hike to Hickman Bridge. Look at those giant kids compared to 6 years ago.

It is called Capital Reef because this land feature reminded someone of the Capital building.

On the way, there were mini bridges.

Then we saw the amazing natural arch.

Three kids in a round rock/cave...

Reminds me of 6 years ago.

I love this picture of Andre hiking back.

Petroglyphs

Usually in our hotels we do nothing, but since this is our time with Jaxon, I wanted to have games to play. Five Crowns! I totally won. I am awesome.

the next day we went to a fun place that we loved 6 years ago. I had forgotten that the boys named it Elephant Rock. It does not look like an elephant by the way.

2018

2012

Here are just a few pictures of us exploring

Here is Alex on the same rock formation...

...as Tanner was 6 years ago.

My boys could spend hours here.

But we left and went to a really cool hike. It was called Cottonwood Wash.

We walked up a dry stream bed. We walked up for about 2 hours. Coming back was about 1 hour.

It was gorgeous. When the trail looked like this...

I stopped. I enjoyed finding this frog for a minute. Then I headed back to the car. I am the slow one of the family.

The boys kept going up the rocks.

And really saw some beautiful things.

They finally got to the narrows.

When it got to this spot- Tanner went up on his own for a bit

Until he got to this... Then he headed back.

I got back to the car and only had to wait about 10 minutes. Then they came round the mountain.

We were tired. Like really tired. We estimate about a 7 mile hike.

Then we headed south on the dirt roads to the Waterpocket Fold area. They were some sketchy roads. But our van made it! We made it to these really cool switchbacks. Here is a view of our view while going up the switchbacks.

View looking back at the reef.

Then we started driving towards Boulder, Utah (yep, I'd never heard of it either.) We drove through a really cool canyon with these cliffs and rock features...

Then we started up a mountain road and we saw the canyon that we had just driven through. That was a really cool site.

We kept going up and up and up until we were near 9700 feet above sea level. That is high. It was freezing cold and yes, you can see snow at the kids feet. They could not open their eyes because of the wind and brightness.

Snow.

We hurried home so we could get to Sunset point in time for the sunset. We missed it by like 5 minutes. So here is Alex in the dusk.

Here is the Sunset in 2012- for your viewing pleasure.

Here are a few pictures of the boys running around and hiking after that super long drive. The pictures are not very clear because it was dark.

Then we went to get dinner. Yum.

Then we went back to near that sunset point. So we could look at the stars. This is the middle of nowhere so it would be dark. BUT it was close to a full moon. So the moon was too bright. We did see a lot more stars then normally. But I know there are a lot more to see.

Then we went back to the hotel. It became veg out time.

Then we played a game- Goat Lord. I must not have won- because I don't remember who won.

Next day we went to Goosenecks viewpoint. It started off pretty blue sky. As evidenced by this picture.

We saw the view and then took off exploring.

The boys went almost to the end of this scary cliff. I did not. I could barely stand the thought of them out there. They were on the edge. I did not do well.