What an adventure!

Have you ever had one of those days that is so packed with pure bodacity that there are simply not enough words to convey it to others? We were lucky enough to have one of those days yesterday.

We had started out Friday night, toward the San Rafael Swell area. We'd intended to camp, then hike and explore on Saturday. All of the campsites were full by the time we got there, so we ended up in a stuffy, overpriced motel. Saturday started early. We headed out to Black dragon Canyon to see some petroglyphs. There were some cool caves created by the fallen rocks (my little family pictured in one of our favorites above.) We drove most of the way to the petroglyphs then explored the canyon for a while. It was spectacular, with walls towering hundreds of feet up.
Here is a picture of some petroglyphs. I don't know much about them, but they were really cool to see....Then it was off to Goblin Valley...

They have actually used this place to film sci-fi movies. It really does feel like you've stepped off the planet Earth. They call those mounds "goblins". The panoramic at the start of the blog is from here, so you can get an idea of how vast this place was. We explored here for several hours and had a blast doing it.

Katie rode in the pack most of the day, so she was thrilled everytime we were able to let her down to explore. Here she is in a wash at Goblin Valley.

Driving in to Goblin Valley State Park we'd noticed a sign for Little Wild Horse Canyon. Chris had seen pictures of that hike and said it had looked cool, so we headed there to check it out.
This hike wound though a massively deep canyon, that is filled with water part of the year. One of the singularly most awe-inspiring places I have ever visited, and even these amazing pictures (thank you Grady!) don't begin to express its amazingness.

In this picture Betty is scolding Chris because she is afraid he will fall and die. lol
Can you see Aimee in this picture....really gives you a sense of scale, hu?



As Katie wasn't able to walk and explore much, she would explore in any way she could. She would reach out to touch the rock as much as possible, and luckily for her it was possible a lot, as the walls were often no wider then shoulder width. It was very interesting to look at the walls and see what kind of power water has over rock like that. Katie loved these holes that we'd come across and could be happy sticking her hands in them all day.

This tree interested me as we came in, but after we came out of the dried riverbed, and saw the force the water had though the canyon, this tree really caught my attention. This tree has obviously seen a hard life, between being in desert dryness part of the year and in a torrent of water another part of the year. The cracks in the bark are 3 inched deep, and it is the most gnarled looking thing I've ever seen....but then it is covered in all these amazing, new, green leaves. Kindof gives me a sense of hope looking at the thing.

We then drove home though the San Rafael Swell...The vista's were incredible. So much so, that by the time we were coming out of it, Chris said that he'd been so overwhelmed by coolness that day, that his brain could no longer process it all. And Betty said "It's too pretty to see!" I feel like it was so much coolness that it must have taken DAYS to experience it all...when we were really only gone for a little over 24 hours.

I think I've learned to love Utah!

Most pictures here were taken by my talented brother, Grady. You can see more on his flickr account. Photos by my amazing husband on his talented cell phone can be seen here.