Spring break in Moab Utah has been a tradition in our family for years. Sometimes it involves all the brothers and sisters with their children other years just a few. This year, Gavin brought down his two children and my father came along. We left Orem at 6:20 AM (we were on schedule for 6 but a light left on in the Van derailed that), arriving in Moab around 9:30.
The first thing the children wanted to do was hike Cable arch (or funnel as some know it). It is a short hike, with a very steep section, that leads to a neat arch including an opportunity to climb a steep pitch with a cable hand line to the top of the arch.
This is what the climb to the top of the arch looks like from the bottom. I was very surprised when the entire family, including the youngest and mom wanted to go to the top.
For safety purposes I roped the two youngest to me and we ascended and descended together.
Climbing to the top, as seen from above. This is our 8 year old daughter climbing. After reaching the top we explored the area a little then returned to the car.
By the time we got back to camp Gavin and Grandpa had arrived so we decided to climb in the back of the truck and drive up Kane Creek road past Hurrah pass to the Moab wind caves. The caves are located in a cool rock formation that stands separately from the surrounding area. We spent hours exploring the caves, climbing over rocks and trying to link caves together.
After exploring in the caves, we climbed to the top of the formation which provided great views of the surrounding area. It is always a little unnerving being close to cliff edges with children who fear nothing, but they love it.
Friday we woke up and decided to explore a new area in arches which is upstream of courthouse wash. We searched for a place called the tunnel, which is a natural tunnel that goes 53 feet through the mountain, but could not find it, so we found ring arch instead.
The kids of course wanted to get as close as they could so we created a hand line enabling them to get closer to the arch. I love this picture of our 8 year old climbing and our 7 year old waiting his turn. After hiking about 9 miles exploring and finding these new places, we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in 50 degree weather (kids idea). We all swam, minus mom who sat in the hot tub.
That night, around 8:30 the kids decided they wanted to hike delicate arch. So off we went, in windy, semi-cold weather we reached the top in 45 minutes. They were a little nervous at first, especially after passing the "creepy" cabin, but relaxed as we hiked on. All of them hiked the entire way.
It was pitch black with no moon or stars. We were the only ones on the trail and just stayed long enough to see the arch (via flashlight) snap a few pictures and head back down. We made it down in 30 minutes, not bad for kids that young, in the dark and wind. They loved it and those who went said it was thier favorite part of the trip.
Saturday morning we headed into the Onion Creek area, which is near fisher towers, to do some exploring. The canyon was beautiful and provided hours of fun for the children to explore, climb, jump and just mess around, and for the adults because it is a gorgeous area. We stopped briefly for a quick family photo, no pre-fab photos for us.
It is as steep as it looks, we have good insurance...
Waiting thier turn to climb an obstacle.
We ended our weekend of hiking with a traditional trip to corona arch, one of our favorites. It is pretty, short at 3 miles round trip, and the kids love it.
Saturday night we hit up the Moab Diner and spent the evening perusing the shops where the kids spent some of their well earned and saved money.
It was a fantastic trip and on the way home the kids were talking about what they loved the most, and what they want to do next year.
You may be thinking, what no biking???
Well that is correct...my brother and I are going next Saturday, to Moab, on a biking trip. That's right two weeks in a row...I could get used to that.
It's funny, while in Moab we ran into a family from Australia - yes, that was Australia - who were there for their second trip because they loved it so much and a few weeks before that my brother and I ran into a husband and wife from back east who visited once and decided to retire there. It is an amazing little town that was essentially created by Uranium mining and has now become the adventure capital of the world.
We will never tire of it...
