So, Dirk had a day off over the 4th so we headed up to the Crest trail. Since it was an odd numbered day, we avoided Mill Creek and went down to the Mill D trailhead. This was my first time on this somewhat technical downhill trail, but that didn’t keep me from trying to bomb it the whole way. I had 3 pretty gnarly crashes, one in to a substantial aspen tree. My ribs are feeling good enough now that I think they are just bruised, hopefully not cracked. Dirk put this video together from his GoPro Hero helmet cam. Good job Dirk. I’ll be ready for another in 2-3 weeks.

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.

So, for my May mountain bike ride I went for an early morning excursion with Dirk, Casey, and Cam up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We got off early and had enough cars to shuttle it twice for extra downhill goodness. The small uphill we did up to the ruins actually was nice. I used to look for any way I could to shuttle a ride, but now that I ride daily to work, I don’t mind some nice climbs now and again. The video is Cam jumping over Dirk on one of the side trails. Not quite Nitro Circus level, but still awesome in it’s own lame kind of way.

So, it’s been way too long since I’ve been mountain biking. My GT got pretty trashed from the year round commuting that I did on it before I got the trike, so I haven’t even really had anything to go out on for the last few years. This winter I picked up and old Cannondale Super-V and decided it was time to get back on the trail. The weather has been pretty warm, so the nearby ride on Stansbury Island seemed like a good idea. Some years, with a mild winter, you can ride this trail year round. The weather was great all week, but there was a storm that was supposed to move in Saturday afternoon. When I woke up this morning and checked the weather, there was definitely a big storm heading straight for Salt Lake, ahead of schedule, but we decided to go for it anyway. Needless to say, we got snowed on big time.

Here is the trailhead, looking up at the canyon where the trail starts. It was about 40 degrees, cows were grazing, and it looked like the start of a great ride.

Here is the same spot, after we finished. It only took about 2 hours to ride the 10 mile loop.

This is the climb at the start of the ride. It’s about a mile, steep and rocky. It almost killed me. I ride a recumbent to work every day, but there was a whole new muscle group at work here. This made the rest of the ride, including the snow, seem easy. When we reached the saddle, a light sprinkle started to fall, it was actually kind of refreshing.

Then the heavy clouds and snow rolled in. It just got worse from here. I can’t believe how narrow the trail is. It is only about a foot wide and you don’t ever dare get up too much speed since there are quite a few rocks embedded in the trail. It’s a pretty technical ride, just because there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver and the rocks surprise you along the way. It would have actually been a lot of fun to hang out and enjoy the views of the Great Salt Lake if we weren’t in a hurry to get back to a dry car.

You might think we had a bad case of explosive diarrhea, but that was just the mud.

The super-v was properly inaugurated on it’s first ride. My GT was a hardtail, and I can say I definitely liked the full suspension. It did well for a 10 year old bike. Hopefully this is the first of many rides we go on together. Oh, and thanks Sam for not calling it off, even though we knew we were in for nasty weather.