For the final day of our trip, we drove through the San Rafael Swell. We had already hike 14 miles with 4 little kids in the previous 3 days, so it was nice to drive to most of our destinations this day. We started off from our hotel in Green River and drove up 1-70 through the southern reef of the swell. We then took the dirt road up north through the swell. First stop was the San Rafael River bridge. We played in the water and the kids enjoyed seeing a fairly large spider that could run across the top of the river water. I’ve never seen anything like that. Then we went to the Buckhorn Wash Pictograph panel. I’ve visited this panel on many occasions, and it was still impressive.

I was even more interested in the soft canyon light, raking across the panel. Maybe I’ve seen too many rock art panels in my day.

Next stop was an unmarked dinosaur footprint for those who know where to look. My mom wasn’t convinced, since it was by itself, even though the Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry is only a few miles away. The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry “contains the densest concentration of Jurassic-aged dinosaur bones ever found.” (Thanks website). We didn’t have time to stop on this trip, but next time we will. My kids love dinosaurs.

The next stop was supposed to be the highlight of the trip, but ended up being the most disappointing. I first visited the government caves in 1998 with Kristin and some friends on an Institute trip. We were going to the College of Eastern Utah at the time. The main cave was originally well over 1000 feet long. It is officially called the MK test tunnels or Morrison-Knudsen test tunnels, named after the contractors that were hired to build the tunnels. Apparently the government used this site to study how underground caves respond to bombing on the surface. The cave was built around the time that the NORAD command center was planned and built. The cave had at least 2 large skylights courtesy of the explosives set off on the surface. There isn’t much written about the project, but there is this article I found that describes the “making safe” project that ruined the area. Anyway, this cave used to be awesome. We were looking forward to spending some time inside, cooling down on a hot day. There is a huge chamber just 20 or 30 feet from this entrance. You could explore the whole cave without a flashlight, because of the holes in the ceiling. I felt like a relative died when I saw that the cave had been closed off. It was the same kind of disheartening feeling experienced when Nutty Putty Cave was shut down. I do understand that the man made hole was a liability for the BLM and since it was man made, there shouldn’t be a problem destroying it, but still, kind of disappointing. When will our society realize that risk is what makes some things fun and exciting, and that we can’t take it all away in the name of safety. As far as I know, no one was ever killed or injured when site seeing at the cave. What ever happened to the “Enter at your own risk” signs? Now we just shut it down and destroy it so that no one can possibly file a lawsuit. Anyway, it’s been a rough year with my 2 favorite caves being shut down.

If you never got to see the killer caves before they were shut down, then don’t worry. There is still an attraction worth visiting the area for. In the photo above you may be able to spot some phallic artwork among the graffiti (Right next to the Pac-Man style head). This area now boasts the largest collection of phallic artwork in the world, some that are easily 20 feet long. Without even trying, I could see more than 7 of the masterpieces from one vantage point as we walked down the earth ramp to the cave entrance. Man, some Emery County kids really destroyed the place with a few cans of spray paint, and they sure hate some girl named “Sunny.” I’ve always loved the San Rafael Swell for its wildness and openess. This was starkly contrasted by the highly regulated Escalante-Staircase national monument that we had just visited. I hate the rules and regulations of the National Parks and Monuments, but I also hate the recklessness of the visitors of the wild and free places. Too many people destroy a place by just visiting it, just as fast as a few people destroy a desolate place that few care about. It seems like the best way to protect a place is just to make it as remote and difficult to enter as possible. At least drunk, high school kids won’t visit very often. Anyway, I’ll quit ranting now before I get started on Nutty Putty Caves.

The last stop of the day was the Wedge Overlook.

This has been called the Little Grand Canyon. It’s an impressive site and a good stop if you are on the driving tour. We would have enjoyed it more but the rain clouds were moving in right as we noticed the front tire on our van was flat. As I put the spare on I realized that it was flat too. I’m glad my parents were there or we would have ruined our spare driving in to town. My dad and I threw the tire in his pathfinder and raced to Castle Dale. We made it to the only tire shop in town, about 5 minutes before they closed on a Friday night. The guys at NAPA just about sent us away, but reluctantly decided to take a look at it. There was just a small hole that could take a plug, so they decided to fix it for us. I am so glad they did, because that saved us a long trip to Price to figure out plan B. Thanks Castle Dale NAPA Auto Parts! 5 bucks later we were on our way back to the overlook to see if any of the kids had gone over the edge yet. We got back in record time thanks to the craziest driving I have ever seen my dad do, and everyone was still safe and sound. That is until we started loading up and Keaton took a spill and split his head open. Don’t forget, Berkley got stitches on the first day of our trip. By this point we were too tired for another hospital visit, so we bandaged him up and gave him the superglue treatment when we got home. Would I do it again? Heck yes. I love spending time with these rugrats as much as I love Southern Utah.

On our 3rd day Grandma and Grandpa Davis joined us for a hike to Upper Calf Creek falls. I hadn’t ever been there, and I’m not sure why. The trail is shorter than the lower falls, but much steeper. The falls are about the same height, and there is a giant pool at the bottom, but there isn’t as much room to spread out. Luckily there are way fewer visitors as well. Another nice feature is that it is only a short side trip to the top of the falls, and is easily done in one trip. On top there are some more pools for swimming and even some cliff jumping. I think this would be a great place to camp and do some exploring.

My hiking buddies, Jaxon and Parker, wait for the rest of the adults to catch up. We had already hiked over 10 miles in the 2 previous days, and my kids just kept going. Even Berkley the 2 year old hiked a lot of this trail. You can see in this photo how steep the drop is in to the upper falls. The trailhead is on the ridge at the top of this photo. This is only 1/3 of the way down. The kicker is that it is downhill on the way there and uphill back to the car. Surprisingly, Keaton (our 4 year old), made it back first. He is so determined and competitive, he wasn’t about to let his older brothers beat him back.

This is about the point where the trail forks and you either go to the top of the falls or the bottom. It’s only another 1/4 of a mile or so either way. I loved the layer of iron deposit or whatever that was that kind of erodes out on top of all the sandstone formations.

The Upper Calf Creek falls are just as spectacular as the lower falls. I’m sure if there was as nice of a beach to play at as the lower falls, these would be just as overrun with people.

Even without the beach, the swimming hole is nice and deep, just not so kid friendly.

There is another awesome swimming hole at the top of the falls, especially if you like some tame cliff jumping. There is a 15-20 foot drop at the top of the pool that you can jump in to 20 feet of water. I did hit bottom once, but it was only a tap, and I was pretty far off to the side where it is much shallower. A group of scouts joined us here and it was fun daring them to jump. There is still no beach here, but there is a shallow end that is only about 3 feet deep. When we visited the water was clear and fairly warm.

Even though the trail is mostly steep slickrock, I think it was almost easier to hike than the sandy trail to the lower falls. The iron deposits make awesome patterns in the rock.

Here’s looking in to the canyon, and Parker giving his mom a heart attack for standing too close to the edge.

This is the view from the ridge near the trailhead. The falls are way down in the canyon where those clouds are casting their shadows. You can just see Kristin and her pregnant belly coming up the trail. Hey, if my 7 month pregnant wife, and 2, 4, 6, and 7 year old boys can hike this one, then it can’t be that bad. The worst part is the rough quarter mile long road off the main highway to the trailhead. Bring a high clearance vehicle or plan on walking a little further than you planned.

From here, we took off through some of the most unpopulated parts of Southern Utah, through Capitol Reef, past Factory Butte and the Henry Mountains, and on to Green River to spend the night in a hotel. The next day we spent in the San Rafael Swell, before heading home.

So for day 2 we made out for Calf Creek Falls. With 4 kids in tow, this is an all day hike. It is about 6 miles round trip, and there are large sections that are very sandy, making difficult to hike. Luckily it’s flat and you can find some shade along the way. We left at about 8:30 am, brought lunches, and didn’t plan on getting back until about 5:00 pm. We probably spent 4 hours at the falls, which was the highlight of the trip. There’s great swimming, an awesome beach, shade, cool mist, and the view. There was also about 100 other people there throughout the 4 hours that we stayed, so we had to share.

Again, this hike is very hot in the summer. We went through quite a bit of water, luckily most of the kids carried their own. Berkley got to ride most of the way in the kid carrier backpack, but he still insisted on hiking over 2 miles of the trail. Pretty good for a 2 year old. In the photo on the left he was pouting and refusing to decide to hike or ride in the backpack. He actually did most of his hiking on the way back, and he wouldn’t let me carry his water bottle either. He’s a funny little kid.

The hike was beautiful this time of year. Everything was green, even in the hot canyon. The cactus was blooming in purple and yellow flowers. This is probably the greenest and most colorful I’ve ever seen this canyon.

Once you finally reach the falls, it’s all about playing in the water. If you read the post about day 1, you know that Berkley got stitches right next to his eye about 36 hours before. His face sure looked dirty, but luckily his stitches healed up nicely with no infection. It probably helped that he didn’t want to swim much. The other kids were all over it though.

A visit to Calf Creek falls would have warranted a trip to Southern Utah for that alone, but luckily we managed to get a few more days in with the kids, and I got to see the upper falls for the first time.

So this year we decided to hurry and get a trip at the beginning of summer, before things get too crazy with the pregnancy (Kristin was 7 months along already in June). We decided to go to one of my favorite places that we used to visit often as a kid, Calf Creek falls. It’s a pretty awesome place, no matter how old you are. The falls are spectacular, and well worth the 3+ mile hike to get in there. That’s probably why the place is so crowded. Escalante is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so I was surprised that the campground was already full when we pulled in a 2:00 pm on a Monday. Luckily someone was just leaving and we were able to sneak in. We set up camp and got situated, and within an hour we were ready to go on a hike. Unfortunately, just as we were getting ready to leave, Berkley took a spill on the campground steps and ended up needing stitches. We are pros at recognizing when a kid needs stitches, it seems like. Luckily the cut (which was right next to his eye) didn’t connect with the eyelid. We would have had to drive to Panguitch if that was the case so that they could sedate him. It was still a battle to hold him still enough to get the 5 or 6 stitches in.

Anyway, we decided to stick around and try to have fun and avoid nasty eye infections. I’m glad we did. So even though that was our real first day, we didn’t get much done except for go to the clinic in Escalante.

So Tuesday morning we decided to go to the Escalante Natural Bridge, instead of Calf Creek, since we wanted to keep Berkley out of the water for a day. I’m glad we did, because we saw a giant group of Young Women heading up to the falls as we left. To get to the bridge, you just start hiking up the Escalante river, starting at the trailhead near the Calf Creek campground. It was only 2 miles, but it is sandy and really hot in June. Luckily, you cross the river a few times along the way, so we just stopped and played in the river to cool down.

When we were there the river was warm and nice for wading. Our kids could have just played in the river the whole time.

As you come up to the natural bridge, it doesn’t look like much. It is kind of hidden in the cliffs. It was nice though that we had the place basically to ourselves. We passed a few people and only saw one couple at the bridge. Anyway, you really have to climb up under the bridge to appreciate how beautiful it is.

This is the view from behind the bridge. While we were there, the couple that we met told us about a place outside of Escalante that sounded cool, so we hiked out and headed there next. 9 miles south of Escalante on Center street is a little place that you wouldn’t expect to find. The scenery up to the trailhead is pretty desolate, but in the little wash is a carved out tunnel that is pretty sweet. It was a good place to hang out on a hot afternoon.

There is a large undercut cliff and it is as as smooth as can be. Here are the rugrats hanging out in the tunnel. It was easily 20 degrees cooler in there. The tunnel makes an arc and is only about 100 feet long, but it’s still a fun side trip, especially since it’s only about .25 miles to get there.

Inside was this important statement: SUWA SUX. Man, whoever wrote that really showed the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance a thing or two. They are probably still feeling the effects of that libelous statement. I mean, I bet there is easily 500 people that visit this place a year, and I’m sure it got each one of them thinking. A message important enough to carve in stone must be true. And just think, now the 100 people that read this blog in a year will see it too, so think about that.

Anyway, just before you get to the tunnel is this sweet little natural bridge.

Day 1 of the trip was awesome, but the best part was waiting for us on Day 2.