Girls' Hiking Trip at Capitol Reef!!

I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend last weekend with these amazing ladies during our hiking trip at Capitol Reef!! It was so refreshing to disconnect from technology for a few days and enjoy God's beautiful creations!! Thank you to everyone who made it happen!! Here is a little breakdown:

Sunrises: 3

Car breaking down: 1

Hikes: 6

Miles hiked: 24

Miles driving: A lot!

Highest step day: 30,757

Friendships: 12

Memories: Countless!!

Zion's National Park

We went to Zion's National Park with Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli. I think the last time I went hiking at Zions was in 2016! A lot has changed since then! It was crowded back then, but now it was insane! As we drove up there were signs saying that there was no available parking in the park and that visitors needed to park in Springdale. In Springdale there are hotels and restaurants with available parking, but each place was charging $25.00 just to park there. There were several kiosks with which to pay. So not only do you need to buy a pass to get into the park, you also need to pay another $25.00 just to park! It is ridiculous! 

After parking you need to ride a huge shuttle bus into the park -- which was crammed with visitors squished in with every seat taken and then everyone else standing with very little room. The driver announces interesting landmarks, but it is so crowded you can't see much of anything. The bus drops you off at the visitor's center and then you catch another bus to get to your desired trailhead. All of this took a long time. Two of the trailheads were closed. There were intercoms making announcements making it feel more like an amusement park rather than a national park. 

We finally got to the trailhead of a very short hike, since we Evan and Eli wouldn't make it very far. It was basically a half mile walk to a picnic area. That is as far as we got into the park! Then we ate some snacks and then rode the long bus back! After we got to our cars we went to a nearby park so that the boys could run around and so that we could eat our picnic. This was the most pleasant part of the journey! It is sad that Zions has gotten so overly crowded! 

We departed ways since we had the 40's dance tonight and Jase and Ellen and their boys went camping at a place they had found a ways outside of the park. Luckily it was a wide open space with nothing but land for the boys to run around! I am sure it was difficult camping with two young boys, but they said that it went well!    

Tukupetsi Trail

Rick and I went on a hike with Jared and Hallie on the Tukupetsi trail. I love hiking and love that this trail is so close to our home! Then we went out to lunch afterwards at Don Pedros! 

Owen's Loop Trail

Today was an active day for me! This morning I went on a 4 mile brisk walk with Allison Williams. It has been a while since we have gone walking together and so it was nice to catch up! The kids were still out of school for a teacher work day and so Jenna invited me to do Pilates with her. Then tonight I did another 3 mile hike with some friends! So I got LOTS of steps today! 

Tonight we met at the Brook's Nature Park to do the Owen's Loop Trail at 5:30 for our hike. (Note to self to google BROOK'S NATURE PARK, not Owen's Loop Trailhead when trying to find the trail!) I have done that hike before, but it has been a while. It is a pretty hike that overlooks the city. The temperature was perfect and it was fun to be active while visiting with friends! It was starting to get near the end of the hike, but we had come prepared with flashlights. It was fun! 

Tukupetsi Bottom Trail

Jenna and I hiked the Tukupetsi trail again this morning -- this time we did the morning one down by the water instead of the trail up by the cliffs. It was more relaxing for me because I wasn't worried about Jenna getting too close to the edges of the cliffs! 

Turtle Wall Hike: Jaiden and Friends

 I asked Jaiden if she wanted to go hiking and she asked if she could bring some friends! 

Tukupetsi Trail

Another beautiful hike less than five minutes from our home! This hike (the Tukupetsi Trailhead) is a little ways west of the Jacob Hamblin home, on the south side of the street. Turn south where the big Santa Clara Power sign is and drive up a dirt road to a parking lot. The hike is above the Santa Clara River Reserve. The temperature was in the mid-50s -- perfect for hiking! 

Turtle Wall Hike

Today was the only day that I didn't have interpreting appointments and so I planned to take the kids on a hike. But Jaiden had a fund-raiser activity for her Exec Council and Josh didn't want to go, so I just took Jenna and her friend, Lindsey. Jenna's friend, Grace, was going to come, but wasn't feeling well. We went on the Turtle Wall loop. It was such a pretty hike with gorgeous views in every direction. I can't believe that this hike is only five minutes from my house and I have never hiked it before! The weather was absolutely perfect too. I look forward to doing this hike again! 

Elephant Arch Trail

Jenna went hiking with her friend, Grace, and their family to Elephant Arch in Washington, Utah! Unfortunately it was hot and Grace got sick from heat exhaustion, which was a little scary! 

Kanarra Falls

A couple of months ago one of my friends sent out a group text to our "Girls' Night Out" friend group (this group is mostly interpreters, but also includes a few deaf and hard of hearing friends). She asked if anyone wanted to hike Kanarra Falls, which are in Kanarraville, just south of Cedar City. She said that we would need to buy a permit for $12.00 and that they sell our really fast. So we all snatched up a permit. Several ended up cancelling, but we still had a good group. It was so beautiful and fun to visit while we hiked. 

This particular hike goes through narrows and so a good portion of the time is wading through very cold creek water! But it wasn't too bad since we were in and out of the water and not waking through it the whole time. We are actually standing in water in the pictures by the falls. Our feet were freezing and so we were trying to hurry and take the picture so that we could get out of the water! In the picture of me standing by the falls you can barely tell that my feet are actually under water! I knew the others would be wearing Chaco type sandals, but I didn't think I could do a whole hike in sandals and so I opted to wear my running shoes even though I knew that they would get wet. It turned out fine though and my feet were happy and comfortable on the hike. I was glad I went!  

 

Temple Quarry Hike

 
My appointments today cancelled at the last minute and so Janelle and I decided to go on a hike. It turned into quite the adventure! Rick and I had been asked to speak (sign) in the ASL Branch this Sunday and I so shared the experiences from our hike for my talk. Here it a portion of my talk!  

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A few days ago, my daughter and I decided to go hiking. It was a beautiful morning, and the planned hike was a simple two mile walk on a gravel path. We walked along the trail and enjoyed the beautiful view as we visited while walking. When we were near the end of the trail my daughter explained that this was a good place to hike to the top so that we could see the full view of the valley. This meant going off the trail and scaling the mountain. I looked up at the boulders and steep sides of the mountain and expressed my nervousness about attempting to climb it. But my daughter was confident and said that she had climbed it before with her friends and that the view would be worth it. I was hesitant but decided to go ahead and try it.  

As we started to climb, I looked down and started to imagine what would happen if we were to accidentally slip or fall. I was very nervous and said that I didn’t know if this was such a good idea. My daughter encouraged me to keep going and we finally arrived at the top. It was indeed a beautiful view!! We walked around and took some pictures and then decided that we had better get back. The sun was out in full force now and I no longer had any water left. I was tired and starting to get hungry and I hadn’t brought any food along.

I saw a dirt road and wondered where it led. Surely that would be better than having to climb down the steep sides of the mountain! We started walking on the dirt road. After walking quite a ways we could see that the road was leading us farther and father away from where we needed to be. So, we turned around and started the long walk back to the place where we were before. Only now we couldn’t find the place we had gone up and wondered how we would get back down. I was getting nervous and started to pray.

I realized that it had been a mistake to leave the trail to climb up the mountain with no one to guide us. But it was too late now and so our only choice was to hike back down. We needed help finding the location to hike down. I prayed and asked my daughter to pray also. We continued to search for a place we could hike down. Finally I looked over and saw a stack of rocks. My daughter had explained that a stack of rocks was called a cairn (KA-REN) and cairns were used to help hikers know where to go. I knew that Heavenly Father had answered our prayers by helping us to find the cairn. I felt happy and relieved. We were able to climb down and make it back to the trail safely, which was such a relief!    

I would like to compare our hiking experience with the Plan of Salvation. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ placed us here on earth to get a body, be tested, learn and grown and become more like them. They want us have joy and so they provided us with a beautiful plan called the plan of salvation.  

We can become disciples of Jesus Christ by following Heavenly Father’s plan. This plan brings us blessings, peace, and joy. His plan also includes commandments. This is similar to the hiking trail. When we walked on the trail, we were safe. We knew where to go. We were on the right path. If we went off the trail, we were in danger of becoming lost.  

Hiking up the rocks was stressful and dangerous. Likewise, if we decide to ignore God’s plan and follow our own plan, we can become lost. Some people think that God’s plan is boring, while going off His path may seem enticing and dangerous. Some may think that God’s plan is too limited with no freedom. However, following God’s plan actually gives us more freedom. When people don’t follow God’s plan, they often lose their freedom to choose.   

The good news is that God gives us many opportunities to repent and change even if we have already gone off the path. My daughter and I went off the path and then didn’t know how to get down. We needed to look to God for help to get back to the trail. God knew that His children would sometimes make mistakes and go off the path. So, He allowed His son, Jesus Christ, to atone for us so that we could repent. We can repent and ask for forgiveness and get back on the path. We all can become disciples of Jesus Christ. We might be on the path. We might be off the path. Wherever we are we can start now to move forward in the right direction.   

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know Jesus Christ has a plan for us. He loves us. He was willing to come to earth in humble circumstances. He was willing to give His whole life teaching and serving others. He was willing to suffer for all our sins and He was willing to die for us. I pray that we can all become disciples of Jesus Christ by following His path and His will.

Zions

Rick took the four youngest hiking at Zion's National Park today and they had a great time!  They packed a picnic and hiked to Weeping Rock.  Rick told them a long made up story about how the rock got it's name and had the kids each contribute their version to the latter part of the story.  After coming up with their version, he had them come up with the name of the rock that looked like a castle (which was included in their story.)  The one with the best name and explanation would win their very own Costco "very berry sundae!"  (Usually we share the sundaes).   All of the stories and explanations were terrific, so they ALL got their own "very berry sundae."   It was beautiful weather but it was crowded!

 The rock formation behind them (that looks like a castle) was the rock formation that they named.