Coyote Gulch - Day 1

Last week Kev and I and a few of the big kids went on a backpacking trip.

We drove to Escalante, Utah, drove on a dirt road for over 35 miles, and then hiked 2 or 3 miles to Coyote Gulch.

I have been camping, but never backpacking.

I think some people questioned whether or not I was up to it.

I showed them all that I am every woman and I was totally up to it.

We set out with our backpacks and Sluffin It Socks.

See that stack of rocks?  There were lots of smaller stacks of rocks, called cairns, all along the way to mark the trail.

Estabon brought his alien finder.

Right behind them is the canyon we were headed to.

Once you get to the canyon you have to climb down a really steep wall.

It was a little scary.  Maybe a lot scary.  But I am every woman, and so is Aubrey so we slid down on our bums while the men yelled for us to stop and wait for the rope.  We made it to the bottom with no rope and then went and looked for a campsite while we waited for the men to come down with the rope.

Our camping spot was beautiful.  Right by a river and with a view of this amazing arch.

Let me just tell you that my husband planned this entire trip and he did an amazing job of making sure everyone had what they needed and that we'd all be as comfortable as possible.  He had never been here so he researched what there was to see and bought and studied a detailed map so we could navigate our way through the canyon.

He made us delicious freeze dried meals.  We were all shocked at how good they were.  He even brought Aubrey freeze dried ice cream (she loves ice cream almost as much as she loves Jackson).

We only had 3 chairs so Jax made his own.

It was dark by 8.  You can't have fires in the canyon so we all went to bed at 8:30.  Kev had me an awesome air mattress so I slept pretty good for camping.