Our trip to Zion National Park was later in the year than usual due to work constraints. We went in October over Provo School District's "Fall Break". This is a ridiculous holiday created for people to go hunting. I mean, who needs a break from school when it only just began? Well, I guess we did. We had some interesting adventures on this trip. When we arrived and were setting up camp and trying to get dinner going before the dark and the rain settled in, Little D went to the bathroom without a buddy (Raycito). He became disoriented and took a wrong turn. He ended up in a different loop at Watchman Campground. When we realized he was gone and couldn't find him we got the rangers and neighbor campers involved. It had become very dark and Dave and I were extremely worried. Just as the police were on their way to start a search, Little D sauntered on over to our campsite. He had wandered for a while, not terribly scared or anything, looking for a ranger when he found his way. Dave and I were extremely relieved.
Our next adventure was the rain. Lightning and thunder and heavy rains came in that night which put us on edge. The next day, I woke up early and jogged the 7 mile canyon during a brief moment when the rain ceased but by the time I was ready to make eggs and bacon, the rain was back. I ended up cooking our breakfast in the tent. It continued to rain all day on and off. The kids and I were fairly warm and dry, but Dave wasn't so lucky. His pants had been tossed off and thrown against the side of the tent so they became soaked through the night. His sleeping bag and his only sweatshirt were also a bit damp. Dave was chilled throughout the whole day. Luckily, the sun came out for the remaining 2 days of our trip.
We hiked to Hidden Canyon after mildly threatening Raycito that his computer time was in jeopardy if he sabotaged our hike. He must have took that to heart because he was a trooper. He didn't complain at all. This hike has some sketchy parts with chains and cliffs. I think it was a great challenge for our kids, but I would have been nervous had we tried this a few years back. All was well on the hike until the last little bit when Raycito felt a bit tired and decided he needed a break. He plopped down on some stones that built up the side of the trail not noticing that there was a pile of gooey brown sludge on them. When he stood up it looked like he had had a big accident in his pants. We weren't for sure, but we think it was guano. This triggered something in me and I couldn't stop laughing. We all started laughing. Except Rainer. I should have stopped laughing! Soon Raycito was feeling very bad and like we were laughing at him. His feelings were hurt and my big 11 year old boy started crying and then yelling. Yelling about how he was never ever going to go on another hike no matter what and there was no way that we could take away his computer time for not hiking and that this was all our fault. He was embarrassed and the poop felt very uncomfortable. We found a river where I could scrub his shorts while he stood in the bushes. We felt bad for our boy. The next day he was able to joke about it though.
On our last day, the warmest and most beautiful of the weekend, we biked with the kids along the Pa'Rus trail. I once again felt bad for Raycito because he has grown out of his bike and had a hard time. But he survived. We then found our secluded swimming hole before we headed back home the long way. Dave and I always take a long way home. This time we were mapping out a beautiful scooter ride that would start us in Cedar City, along Scenic Hwy 14 to the east entrance of Zion. We would love to ride our scooters through the Mt. Carmel tunnel and along the switchbacks.
Although this trip included losing a child, pouring rain, cooking in a tent, sitting in poop, and a bit of complaining, it was fun to get away to my favorite place. I was able to do some my favorite things while we were there- jog, bike, and hike the canyon.
No comments:
Post a Comment