Wow, 7 times!? My kids beg to go there; it's such a great place. This time my friend, Sarah, wanted to go and so we showed them our playground out in the middle of nowhere. :) We took Miles' friend Michael along with us (while Ben stayed back home on-call.). We had another really great time!!!
Michael had never been to this area. So I gave him my phone on Saturday to take pictures of Goblin Valley State Park . . . 150+ pictures later . . . :) I'm glad he was amazed by it. It really is such an incredible and interesting place!
The kids had a half-day (Jonas actually didn't have any school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) on Thursday and no-school Friday and so we were able to leave on Thursday afternoon. We got there Thursday evening and set up camp, ate dinner, the kids ran around, etc. Friday was spent hiking Bell's Canyon-Little Wild Horse loop and it was awesome, once again. Although we've all decided we need to do a different slot-canyon hike in Goblin Valley the next time we go (because there will definitely be a next time!). Saturday we spent the morning packing up and then headed to the Park. The kids once again enjoyed playing and climbing all around. They even had a pretty great nerf-gun war! Such good times.
Our first night's campfire. The other boys (from left to right) are Alex (7 soon 8), Aiden (13 soon 14), and Evan (3).
At the entrance to Bell's canyon! Here we go . . .
This is the doldrums, at least that is what I call this part. It's between the two canyons and isn't super fun, but is still pretty!
Alex and Lucy hiking right along.
Lunch break on the rock - as always. :)
Weeee!
Yippeeee! Having fun in Little Wild Horse.
Miles went barefoot for most of the hike. His feet look diseased to me. :)
Strong Lucy.
What an awesome group of kids on an awesome hike!
Now to the water part . . . yep, we had water-crossings once again. This year wasn't as bad - but there were some parts that would have been waist-deep+ - especially for my girls!
This was our first big spot and it wasn't too bad!
Ooohhh, it's getting exciting!
This spot had a really deep spot right at the beginning - right at the base of the big rock. I scaled the sides first and then the boys followed . . .
Aiden scaled high! I scaled low. :)
Jay, Sarah's husband, helped his little boys, his wife, and Lucy across. What a guy! :)
Miles had no problem.
Jonas was a little nervous in the beginning . . .
But then calmed down and realized it wasn't too bad.
Michael did great.
Emmy. Oh Emmy. She was last and I told everyone else to go on ahead. She was in tears and just didn't want to do it. She didn't think she could scale it and didn't want to get in to the water (although she had put on her short-shorts for that very reason . . .). I went back to her and I talked and talked to her - trying to coax and convince her she'd be totally fine! If her almost-40 year-old mom, who is also SO inflexible, could to - then a tiny little gymnast like herself would have no problem. She mainly just cried. Finally, she went. Still crying. Telling me I'm so mean and that Dad would have helped her. I calmly told her I knew that she could do this and other hard things and so that's why I didn't help her. She probably just rolled her eyes her something when I said that. (At home, Ben said he wouldn't have helped either. :) )
Fun kids enjoying the cool slot canyon!
Kids in Holes!
Our cool campsite - the same area we had last year. There were actually a lot of people there and so we were glad to find something!
Heating up some water to cook our oatmeal on our last morning there.
Michael and Goblin Valley!
I won't post all of Michael's pictures . . . but I'll do a few.
Such a weird and cool place!
The boys went way out exploring - they visited this cave that they had found with their cousins last spring. The Geocache was still there - but soaked wet. I don't love them going inside this place. . .
The cave's interest. Pretty sure my hips would prevent me from going in!
Aiden and Jonas. (I told Michael to get some pictures with people in it. He did. :) )
Miles. I don't think he'll ever outgrow this place!
Michael's selfie.
Nerf-gun war!
My girls definitely got in to it, too!
Watch out Jonas!
Jonas and Michael.
Miles found a good hiding/shooting spot.
Get 'em girl!
'Til next time! See ya!
P.S. Yes, more pictures! From Sarah's phone (which is awesome):
Our cool camp-site. Sarah and her family stayed in that camper. You can see our girls' tent and our car. The boys (Michael, Miles, and Jonas) slept in a tent they put atop a hill. Let me find that picture . . .
There's the boys' tent!
Alex, Aiden, and Jonas.
Sarah and I (and my hairy-chest, as Ben called it).
This was our last water-spot and pretty much the end of the slots. I had scaled it all until here - the water was warm-ish (as you can see there is some sun on it) and so it wasn't too bad.
Hahahaha! Sarah and I laughed so hard when we saw this picture! Wow, Emmy looks pretty upset about more water-hiking. Don't fret, she was totally fine 2 minutes later. :)
