Spring Break at Coyote Gulch (QW4)

Well we were probably one of the few that got to do what we had planned for Spring Break. That's the beauty of picking something that is naturally socially-distant, I guess. :)

Of course, we were nervous daily about our trails getting closed, etc. But it lined up nicely and we were able to go on our backpack trip.  We called the ranger station at least three times and were given the green-light to come (even knowing we were from Colorado). I'm so glad - it was such a nice and beautiful break from these crazy times!

The kids were super excited and enjoyed it, too. Except for those last maybe 3 miles . . . Man, those were sooooo tough! We had already hiked about 23 miles and those last miles were in the hot, dry, desert. Our feet hurt. All of us except the boys didn't eat the gross dinner from the night before. We were tired. And the trail kept going and going and going . . . Jonas was a dork and got ahead of us and then didn't wait at a junction - so we weren't sure if he had chosen the right path. Not cool. Luckily he did - but he certainly received a lecture from Ben. Lucy ended up crying for the last 30 minutes. Her feet were hurting her so badly (they had gotten wet and wrinkly and just sore, oh, and 2 blisters, too). She really did amazing - crying at the end and all. I mean, 26 miles in three days is quite a feat for anyone - especially a 9 year-old. Miles and Jonas actually weren't struggling much in the end. But the rest of us were.

But, all those other miles were full of amazing sites and fun adventures! :)

Okay, on to oodles and oodles and pictures:

 The start of our adventure - the Hurricane Wash/Coyote Gulch trailhead. We drove 7 hours on Monday, leaving at 5:15am. We began hiking at 1:15.

 Ha, do you see Ben?! He cut his long hair . . . and then did his beard the next day . . . leaving just his mustache . . . haha. I couldn't help but laugh when I looked at him. He might have been slightly offended. But then he saw pictures of himself and laughed. So there. :) (He shaved it when we got home . . .but now is missing it . . .)

Cute backpacker Lucy.

 Miles loved the "hanging gardens" we saw. This was the first and smallest of many.

 This was still in Hurricane Wash. We hadn't met up with Coyote Gulch. The water was refreshing and cool!

 Cute.

 It was beautiful - to bad pictures don't do it justice at all.

 Girls on a log.

 Look at those massive walls! By now we were in Coyote Gulch and the water was bigger and we had a lot of fun water-crossings.

 We made it to Jacob Hamblin arch - so cool!

 We went a little further up and found a nice campsite. Jonas slept in his hammock.

 The rest of the kids slept here and Ben and I had our own tent.

 What a cool campsite. So in trying to save money, I decided we should eat some of our food-storage food. We had bought these freeze-dried meal packages over 10 years ago . . . They were way cheaper than the backpack meals you buy at the store. But so disgusting! Ha! We managed to force down Monday's "Chicken Alfredo." But Tuesday's version of Beefaroni was awful.

 We played "This is the game of Concentration" in the kids' tent for a while that night. Then we had a lovely night - we all slept pretty great for camping!

 Jonas dug holes and became as tall as Lucy.

 Miles - the climber/Tree Hugger.

 Here we are on Tuesday at Swiss Cheese falls. Awesome.

 Beautiful.

 Cool.

 I was trying to take a selfie because 1. I never do and 2. I suck at them. Miles got in it, so I guess it turned out not to be a selfie. Ha.

 Such a cool spot! (Ben and I ended up swimming through it - it was maybe 4-feet deep - on our way back. Check out the video at the end!)

 Lucy drinking her water through a bamboo grass straw. When in nature, do it naturally . . .

 This was Coyote Bridge - so cool!

 Quick sand was fun - and quick!

 This was a little side-trail to The Black Lagoon. The water was super reflective and it's hard to tell what you're looking at in this picture! Lucy and I, who were in the front, came upon a young man getting out of the water who had no clothes on . . . Ha. We saw his lovely white backside. Then we stayed and chatted with him and his friend.

 The log to The Black Lagoon was creepy to cross because the water was so yucky and black!

 Boys on a log.

 More awesome water, rocks, and girls.

 Another waterfall!

  See what a cool spot we were hiking in?!

 Pretty!

 Neat! I took this picture for Miles - water was dripping from up above and formed this creation down below. Super cool.

 Haha Ben and his mustache. The kids kept calling him "Ranger Ben." He's still super-cute, though, mustache and all!

 This was the "end of the road," so to say. The trail pretty much ended here - 13 miles from the beginning. On Monday we had hiked in about 8+ miles and camped. Then on Tuesday we hiked about 2 1/2 more miles and dropped our packs. We then hike 2 1/2 more miles to this ending point. Then we went back to our campsite. Another 8 miles about. It was long but awesome!

 Miles' feet were so wet and wrinkly and sore - and blistered. But he was a champ about it. Although, on the way back (on Wednesday) he and Jonas stayed out of the water - using their hiking sticks as pole sticks to jump over the water.

 The girls setting up their tent on Tuesday night.

 The campsite on Tuesday was cool! But that night was definitely colder - maybe because we were closer to the water?

 More of the campsite - with the parents' tent and Jonas' hammock to the left.

 Dinner was a bust on Tuesday night, but luckily homemade oatmeal never fails to taste yummy and give us good energy for the day!

 Trekking through the bamboo-forest. The bamboo grass there was crazy!

 Three girls backpacking in the wild.

 BRRRRRRR. I wanted to swim through this and convinced Ben to join me. I have literally never felt colder water in my life! But it was fun . . . :)

 A cute girl in a tree-chair.

 Another cute girl in a tree-chair.

Finally, all done! We hiked out over 10 miles on Wednesday. It was either stop hiking at like 2pm on Wednesday with only 4 miles to go. That would have meant just hanging out at the campsite for hours until bedtime. Plus, in would also mean eating another disgusting food-storage dinner. Or we could just continue to hike the last 4 miles and drive home that night. We all agreed to just finish it all on Wednesday (which was not our original plan). Had I known how hot and long those last 4 miles were, I am not sure I would have done it again. . . But we did and it was a super fantastic adventure!

It was so nice to escape the crazy COVID-times we are living in . . .

Okay, two fun videos: