It's only natural

I am so far behind, but I have a great excuse. I was out of town over the weekend. I wish I could write a big long description about my past weekend. I spent Thursday through Sunday at Capitol Reef National Park. It’s one of my favorite places to go. We visit at least once a year. Unfortunately, I don’t want to ramble on forever and a lot of the stuff I found interesting, no one else will care about. I’ll just give a brief summary of some of the things we did.

On Friday we hiked Cassidy Arch. I have hiked Cassidy Arch several times before. The way to the arch is a 1.75 mile hike with a 950 foot climb. It’s a fairly strenuous hike, but the reward is absolutely magnificent. Cassidy Arch is, I think, the most breathtaking arch in Utah. Instead of walking under it or looking up at it, you walk on it and look down through it. The cliffs fall away steeply from the arch and if you fall, you fall to the canyon floor. Standing up there at the top, I kind of freak out, but I love it.




On Saturday, we hiked Sulphur Creek. It starts near Chimney Rock on the west entrance of the park. The hike follows the creek for about 6 miles to the visitor’s center. We had a group of 30 people. We scrambled over rocks, helped each other down cliffs, and watched most of the kids fall into the water and soak their clothes. It was funny and a lot of fun. I would definitely classify it in my top ten hikes. The hike took us nearly 4 hours as we were working with children and trying to walk through water. The creek has three waterfalls that we had to find a way around and that took time. We passed children along and held tightly to their hands. It was a lot of fun. The views were breathtaking. At one point you pass underneath the Goosenecks overlook. Staring up those rock faces is amazing. The cliffs rise so high on either side, it’s crazy.

Otherwise we just did our normal camping thing. We played cards and board games. We pulled out the soccer ball and the football. The kids ran around while the adults sat and talked. There was an infestation of gnats and they all seemed to be grouped around me. I smashed as many as I could. There were also a lot of caterpillars that the kids collected. There were so many, you would just be sitting and you’d find one crawling up your leg. There are going to be a lot of moths in Capitol Reef this summer.

We also did one of my other favorite camping things. The Fremont River runs through the Fruita campground. There is an excellent point right by where we camped where you can just step right into the water. I love to skip rocks and skipping rocks on a river is the best. The flowing water smoothes the rocks down and you can find loads of great skipping rocks. Tip for everyone: skipping rocks works the best when you are closer to the water’s surface. I find the best way to do it is to be in water about to your knees. I am a champion skipper.

I think my favorite part of the camping is the being away from work. I cannot be reached by cell phone or e-mail there. So for four days I had no work. That’s the best.
I hope to visit Capitol Reef again this year, but next time I’m a drag Pepper along.