We were off for another fun filled Goblin Valley adventure. We were supposed to be joined by Cammy and Kelly, but they got stuck behind a horrible accident, and decided to go home. 40 MILE away from our hotel! It was just such a bummer. In the end it was just my parents and our little family.
We stayed in a CRAPPY little hotel in Green River, and I would no stay there again. BUT lets forget the freezing cold indoor pool, and the clogged toilet, and the blood on our sheets. RATHER, I will focus on the day.
Saturday dawned bright and early, and we headed the 45 minute drive into the park. The kids ran right to it and got busy exploring and getting dirty.
Mom and dad got silly.
And we set off doing so hiking.
Mom and Dad were in their element, and Luna was having a ball!
The weather was PERFECT! Last time we went it was SO hot we couldn’t really enjoy it much.
Mirah and her grandma.
It is funny, even though we were here last year, we saw totally different things. What was interesting and caught someone’s eye the first time didn’t get mentioned this second visit.
It was so nice to see mom and dad really smiling and laughing together.
Did I mention Luna was LOVING IT!?
Lucas was our little Debby Downer. He tires easily, and would love motivation. So I got lots of good grumpy pictures of him.
Mom on the other hand couldn’t get enough!
I was there too! Thankfully there were other photographers this trip.
Mom and Dad disappeared at this point, only to pop up again, having found a new area of the park we had never explored.
Family Photo!
We were so happy with how Luna was doing.
The kids loved running around and finding “caves” they could climb into.
Karl was always fussing over Luna. He made sure she had water and even gave her some peanut butter while mom and dad and the kids climbed around.
Like I said, these two were in their element.
The new area we found was a lot like Brice Canyon, except WAY fewer people and WAY less vertical hiking.
Cave.
Grandma and Grandpa and the kids.
We were shocked to realize we had been hiking for nearly 3 hours, so we headed back to the car and had a picnic lunch. We chatted and enjoyed the view of the park from our picnic table.
After lunch we decided that we would go and check out the slot canyons right outside of the park. Luna was happy to sit with her grandma.
We started up the Canyon pre trail, and Lucas was already dragging his feet. It was a bad beginning.
We had just been here last year, so the kids were anxious to climb around since they were already familiar with things.
In no time the trail gets trippy. We headed up the Wild Horse Canyon side, still unsure about how far we would go.
MIrah making way.
Karl looking cute.
Dad and me having a good time.
As we went on there were more and more climbs up the canyon. The further we went in, the more we were determinded to finish the loop. 8 mile isn’t that far, right?
We had gone so far, nothing could stop us! Dad kept saying, “I won’t let this beat me.”
Then more climbing.
We were all having such a good time, and the canyons were so beautiful, and the kids were so happy, lets just do this.
It was here we met another group. They told us we had only come 2 of the 8 miles. That was pretty shocking, we had been going more than an hour and a half…but we pushed on.
Lucas started to get tired first. Then me…
We stopped for a break. Since we hadn’t really planned for this hike all we had were cheese its and water.
We hit the half way point…and I thought I was going to die. I had to stop. Dad, who had left us at the first break, was nowhere to be found. He couldn’t stop, for fear his muscles would cease up and he would get stuck out there! So we pressed on. Lucas started crying and I started getting grumpy.
Once we were in the wash, out the canyon, we found dad.
I didn’t have any more pictures until the end of the hike. BUT Karl carried Luna in his back pack for a mile or two, then he carried Lucas on his shoulders down hill another mile.
He had gotten back to the car HOURS ahead of us. While we were out, it looked like rain, and as he waited at the bench by the car, there was this little plaque that got him worried:
We were all relieved to be done. We were all so tired, and dad was so happy we weren’t swept away this happened:
We ordered pizza on the way home, and got the hotel, had dinner, showered, and went to bed.
Mom and dad left first thing the next morning.
We had thought we would spend more time hiking around, but we were so beat from Saturday, we didn’t do much on Sunday. We checked out a local geyser. It was not great, and not worth the off road drive to get there. Lucas’s face says it all.
The back side was pretty cool.
Then to our horror, Luna stepped in a bunch of stinky mud, and then for me the trip was over. The ride home was muddy and I was grumpy and man, I was glad to be home.
oh, here is something to give you an idea of how much walking we did on Saturday:
