Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Donut Falls + Camping with Kids

On Saturday I woke up with a headache, it was already hot in our tiny house in the city, my kids were anxious, whining, and fighting. So I basically rolled over, kicked off my sheets and yelled, "Today we are going on an adventure!" We needed to get out of our house and up in to the mountains! And judging by the overflowing parking lot at our chosen trailhead, and the bazillion people we passed on our way to the falls- everyone else in Salt Lake seemed to have woken up and said the same.  
I love that we live so close to so many amazing places to climb, hike, and explore. We live right in Salt Lake and are about half an hour from the hike we went on this weekend. Not too shabby!




I was so proud of the boys! It was probably a mile and half total hiking time, but it was pretty tough going for four year olds. There were rocks to scramble over, a river to cross, and an extra mile to and from where we parked the car before we even started (or finished!)
But Grey and Micah walked the whole time, running ahead and racing back to us, occasionally taking off their cloaks or shoes to cool down, and picking out places for us to rest and divvy out more raisins and water. The only time they complained was when we said we were going to turn around and walk back, and when we had to walk along the road in the hot sun towards our car- but their whining paid off. Remembering a scene from their favorite movie Kiki's Delivery Service, the boys stuck out their thumbs and managed to flag down a car that was willing to pick us up and drop us off at our car down the road! Haha, good! Teaching them hitchhiking early. Next comes pot smoking. All life's most important skills of survival and being classy.



Last year in the fall, we were able to visit the Grand Canyon, and Travis bought a National Parks Pass- hoping that doing so would encourage us to actually visit more National Parks. 
But guess how many we've been to since then? That's right. None!
But we went camping at Goblin Valley a few months ago and I learned an important lesson. If I book a campsite and spend money on it ahead of time, then when my husband tries to cancel last minute for work reasons- he feels too guilty! He comes camping out of obligation instead of canceling on us. 
I have decided that this is the only way to actually get him into a tent with us, and am now in the process of planning several camping trips and spending non-refundable money ahead of time.
Hopefully one trip each in July, August, and September!  We are hoping to visit The Grand Teton National Park, Zions National Park, and one more... maybe Redwoods? Maybe The Grand Canyon or somewhere else in Arizona or Nevada?
But we've never been at all, let alone with kids! So if any of you have made trips to "local" National Parks and have tips on good activities or campsites, please, please, PLEASE leave them in the comments. 
I'm making plans and forcing my husband to participate, so they better be good!

6 comments:

Mary said...

Mike wants to go to some cowboy place in Arizona that's supposedly he has good memories of going to as a kid. But you should definitely come here and if you do Arizona do it in September when it's less hot so you can have fun and potentially visit me at my new house ;)

Courtney said...

I think the best hike to do at Zion is the temple of Sinewava/ the riverside hike. There are a lot of deer and chipmunks and you can get in the river at a few places. The trail also leads to the narrows which is probably the funnest "trail" to hike in Zion. You walk through the river of a slot canyon. It pretty probably isn't good for kids though, depending on how high the water is. I've seen people do it carrying little kids though.

Cyd said...

Capitol reef in southern Utah is such a nice park, and great for kids!

Lana said...

Don't miss out on Zion. You feel like you are walking through the Jurassic Park movie. The theme song was stuck in my head the entire day. Though it is seriously intense hiking -at least the part we did. I'm sure there are more family friendly hikes around that park though.

Sonja B. Photography said...

We are doing Zion this July. Can't wait... This will be the first time we will be flying and camping. And yes we know it will be hot... :( just can't find enough of time any other time of the year.
I heard a good rule about hiking with kids that for every year of age they should be able to hike one mile. So far this has been true for us. My 5 year old hikes 5 miles all the time.

amberly said...

Zions is my favorite place in the whole entire world. I've never done it with kids though so I have no suggestions and I'm not helpful. It's just soooooo neat there!