Captiol Reef: The Epic Conclusion

Sunday morning we woke up and tried to clean ourselves up as much as possible. Very difficult to do when camping in desert land, sand and dirt everywhere one shouldn't have any. Anyways, we somewhat succeeded at looking clean at headed off to church. It was a very patriotic sacrament meeting since the next day was Memorial day; there is something very powerful about 150+ people fervently singing the national anthem. 

After church we drove an hour east to hike the Lower Calf Creek Trail. To clarify, I did bring the camera but neglected to take it out of the trunk so... no pictures sorry. But as you can imagine, it was extremely similar to the other landscapes we previously hiked. Lots of sand, minimal amounts of shrubbery. It was blazing hot but luckily at the trail head the river over runs the road a little bit. Just enough for one to take off their shoes and dip their feet in. It felt amazing after having hiked about 2 hours or so in the noon day sun. The only thing I really wish I could've recorded was Teagan in the water. So adorable. Something I'm super glad I didn't record was the snake that Devin caught in the bushes and brought out for us to see. Never in my life have I moved so quickly across a moss covered road to escape the horror. Teagan was forced to pet the snake, I'm pretty sure therapy will be required in the future. 

Upon returning to the camp site, Ky, Devin and I were on dinner duty and we chose my one-pot chili recipe. Devin made the chili powder himself and I think it turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. So good in fact that most everyone had seconds and there were no leftovers. Success. 

That night a small group of us went on one more hike. I don't really know if it constitutes as a hike, it was a little more than 1/3 of a mile all in all but definitely worth it. We hiked Panorama Point and caught the sun just as it had set.  

We ran over to the adjacent hike called Goosenecks; as you can sort of see, it's called that because of the way the river curves into a goose neck. 

Sunday night we had s'mores. Not just any s'mores; Anjai bought square shaped marshmallows specifically designed for s'mores and they were enormous once you roasted them. I had a full graham cracker s'more. BEST. NIGHT. EVER. 

Monday morning we lazily awoke and got the camp site all packed up. I can't say that I contributed very much; Teagan wanted to walk around and say hi to all of the dogs in the camp and I had the privilege of having Teagan duty. It was cute to watch her wave and say hi to everyone in the camp. 

We were out of there by 11:00am and headed out on the scenic route. 

On our way out of Capitol Reef we stopped by and saw the petroglyphs and pictograms. 

Chimney Rock. 

Twin Rocks. 

Last but not least, on our way out we hit the Capitol Reef national park sign. 

All in all; a trip worth taking. If you're ever in Southern Utah, make sure to stop by Capitol Reef. 

Capitol Reef Part Two

Saturday morning we packed up our "side of the road" camp site and moved on over to our actual living quarters in the Capitol Reef national park. Which was beautiful by the way, as you'll see here in just a minute. 

After setting up camp and applying excessive amounts of sunscreen we embarked on our first hike of the weekend; Cohab Canyon Trail. 

Uncle Ky and Teagan ready to go. 

There were cacti everywhere. Definitely a different type of vegetation then what us Oregonians are used to. 

These little guys were everywhere. 

Devin caught him... 

... and proceeded to show him to Teagan. I think we share the same feelings about lizards. 

Now this is a video of Ky and Devin descending from the canyon they climbed up. It's not an extremely riveting video but if you want you can skip to the end to find out if I'm a widow now. 

After returning from our Cohab Canyon Trail hike we took a short break before going on an evening hike. We hiked the Freemont River Trail behind our camp site towards the small river that was used as an irrigation system for the many fruit orchards they had around the park. It was a light hike if you wanted to make it one; which most of our group did. Anjai, Ky, and Devin finished the entire hike and reached the lookout point. According to Devin, Anjai is a sucker for lookout points. 

We noticed from far away there was something lounging under this tree. 

Can you see him yet? 

Yup, it's Bambi. 

So this next part is when the 3 amigos went off on their own. I made Ky and Devin promise they wouldn't do anything dangerous; to which Ky just laughed and Devin said "we'll try our hardest". Not trusting either one very much of course, I then asked Anjai. She said she'd keep them safe. But what happened during the remainder of their hike?!?!! You'll see. 

Ky and Devin fell of the side of the cliff. 

Devin heroically saves Ky after he is able to pull himself up. 

Uh huh, I believed it as much as you did so Anjai made sure to take a picture of them stepping off onto the ledge to calm my panicked heart. 

Proceed forward to see how our journey to Southern Utah concluded!