Capitol Reef, Lake Powell, Grand Staircase, etc. back in April

It was a preposterously long time ago, but better late, right? In April we took our second Canyon Country trip. The first was back in 2013, when me, Addison, and Dad took a trip around southern Utah and northern Arizona, and we've been meaning to do another one ever since. We finally set a date in April and tacked a four-day, three-night trip onto the end of our family vacation to Capitol Reef. Besides the original three participants, we added Bryn and Dayson to the mix, and we had a great time.

The first evening we headed up Boulder Mountain, checked out the lookout down into Capitol Reef and the Circle Cliffs and the Burr Trail, where we would be the next day.

We stayed in a great little house in Boulder for the first two nights. It was in the same yard as a family house, with toys and a little playground in the yard.

The next morning (Friday), we headed down the Burr Trail. Spirits were high.

The road heads through Long Canyon first, and we stopped to explore Singing Canyon. It's a little slot-like alcove right of the side of the road.

Long Canyon bursts out into the Circle Cliffs area, and we stopped out in the middle of the valley to get a look around.

Then the road turned to dirt and we were back in Capitol Reef. We tried a side road to Upper Muley Twist, but the road was really bad, so we turned around and soon found ourselves on the famous switchbacks, cutting right through the Waterpocket Fold. I should say, we had the road to ourselves, which was nice.

Once at the bottom, we soon found the trailhead for our first real hike of the day: Headquarters Canyon. Again, we had the trail to ourselves until we started back, and then it had gotten much more crowded. Still, nice and uncrowded for a national park.

Bryn got tired at one point.

The box canyon had a really unique end: a long steep ramp, essentially, which was fun to explore.

The kids climbed a big petrified dune when we were almost back to the trailhead.

After that we continued down the road, following the Waterpocket Fold until the very southern tip of Capitol Reef, where we took another side road to see the Halls Creek Overlook. There's a really cool double arch way down there, and some cool-looking narrows. It would be fun to take a day sometime and come back and hike down there.

From there it was a short drive to Bullfrog Marina at Lake Powell. Addison was a fourth grader at the time so he got a free parks pass, which he was proud to use to get into the recreation area for free.

It looks like fun from the pictures, and it was, but here occurred snafu #1. Everybody got really muddy, and Addison especially was not too careful about keeping his pants clean. When it came time to get back in the car, Grandpa insisted he'd have to take off his pants to get in. I told Add he could wrap up in my sweatshirt, but he was mortified and basically had a meltdown. We finally came to a compromise that he would sit ON the sweatshirt until he dried off, but it was out of control for awhile. Good times.

All smiles before the meltdown.

The meltdown, documented.

From there it was a long drive back around the Henry Mountains, through Hanksville, Caineville, and Torrey and back to Boulder. We stopped for a few minutes at "Little Egypt" off Highway 95. It was a lot like Goblin Valley, and the kids loved it, but it was getting late and we needed to get back, so we had to leave long before they were done exploring. Another place I'd love to go back to.

When we got back to Boulder, I pushed to go to Hell's Backbone Grill, which I've always wanted to try. It was a yummy place, but a little pricey and little too fancy for the likes of us. Dayson was on one and I got awfully grumpy. They did bring me the wrong entree, though, so I got to eat two.

Michael Pollan-endorsed, so it has to be good.

Addison showing off his shiny new parks pass before bed.

The next morning we headed over the Hogsback and down into Escalante. 

At the river, we went on a shortish hike to explore some petroglyphs. We didn't find them all, but the ones we did find were really cool.

Bryn showing how upset she was that vandals had tried to cut out and remove the rock art.

The "hundred hands" panel

From there we headed down the Hole in the Rock Road to the trailhead to Zebra and Tunnel slots. I will say here that I grossly underestimated this hike. We didn't bring lunch, and it ended up being over 11 miles total. The kids were troopers, but it was a slog. And Zebra was incredibly photogenic, but very crowded and very short. Tunnel added a few miles, but it was more fun because we had it to ourselves, and we got to get wet.

Entrance to Zebra

Dayson climbed up above the slot.

Dayson in Tunnel Slot trying to keep his feet dry, before we just decided to get wet.

I ended up carrying the kids back and forth through the slot (about 100 feet, water up to my waist, very cold). It was fun.

Addison and Bryn got really tired on the hike back. Finally we promised them lunch/dinner at the Circle D Eatery, a family favorite since last summer's trip to Escalante. That got them up to the rim and the car.

The promised reward. "Mac 'n' cheese please!"

After that early dinner, we over to Cannonville and down Cottonwood Canyon Road. A quick detour took us to Grosvenor Arch.

It was starting to get dark and looked like rain, but we made another quick stop to explore the Cottonwood Narrows, then high-tailed it back to the car.

So now we were on this long dirt road trying to get to Highway 89, which would take us to Page. It got darker and darker and stormier and stormier, and then started raining for real. Dad's Explorer struggled a little on the hills, but we made it OK to the blacktop, and during the 45-minute drive from there to Page, it let loose. By the time we got into the malt shop in Page, the sheets of rain were blowing sideways in the wind. It was nuts. We were fortunate to time it as well as we did.

Sunday morning after spending a crowded night in a fairly nice Super 8, we went to Denny's for breakfast and headed over to Lower Antelope Canyon. Say what you will about this massively expensive, completely Disney-fied experience, there is not a canyon on earth as beautiful as Antelope. It is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and I'm glad my kids got to see it.

This is what it's actually like in the canyon. Pristine wilderness experience it is not.

The best pictures of the were taken by our Navajo tour guide

From there we stopped for a minute at the dam, and headed toward St. George.

We stopped for a hike to the Toadstools and had snafu #2 (though I'd call Hell's Backbone snafu 1.5, seeing as how I nearly strangled my nephew there). Bryn wasn't really in the mood to hike (having logged 13+ miles the day before), so I went ahead exploring with Addison and Dayson. Turns out Bryn got really whiney because she was thirsty and Grandpa understandably told her he wouldn't go back for water. She said she was going to drink water out of a pothole and he said, "Go for it." So she did. Really nice. Then she hid and Grandpa couldn't find her for like 20 minutes. He was pretty grumpy by the time we found them. But I had a great time with the boys!

From there, it was 1.5 miles back to St. George, driving past where I broke down last year in my Honda after doing Buckskin and had to abandon my car on the reservation.

What an epic time! I'm glad to share a love of this land with my dad, and I sure hope to instill that same love in my kids. Thanks also to Michelle for agreeing taking the little guys to St. George for a few days so we could take this trip.