Our camping trip to Capitol Reef

We hiked a place called the Grand Wash. It was dry when we went through, but is a place that all the water washes down in a flash flood when it rains. The bottom had lots of cracks all through it as the clay dried. The kids thought it was pretty neat to carry the cracked clay pieces around and sometimes smash them on the side of the cliff. Hazel and Nathan collected a bunch of mud, which they turned into two mud balls. They brought it home to try and make something. The clay looks like the type of clay used for making pottery.


We found a few fun caves to go inside.



Next, a fun series of pictures of the kids figuring out how to climb this rock wall. Nathan went up first, then Hazel tried to figure out how he got up there. Finally, Claire had to have her turn. They were all eventually triumphant!





These are some of the ancient petroglyphs on the side of a cliff. An informational sign said these were ancient Indian religious symbols.


I thought this shot was pretty neat with the odd-shaped dead tree. Kimball and Nathan are standing on a different ledge way off in the distance.


Claire wanted so much for me to take a picture of her "ugly face" while she sat in the big "bum chair".


This was a time when it would have been nice to have a remote controlled camera, or a take-along photographer. At least with two shots, we were able to get everyone's picture taken.



The kids had their turns jumping into the water, where Kimball caught them. The look on Nathan's face is hilarious. Claire and Lahela, of course, were too afraid to jump, so I helped them slide into the water.






The water wasn't as cold as we expected it to be. Even Lahela enjoyed playing in it.


Nathan caught a small lizard at the swimming hole. A guy showed us how to hypnotize it so it would lie completely still. The trick is to turn it over so it is laying on its back, and stroke it from the chin down the belly. It was pretty neat to hold a perfectly still lizard.



There were a lot of deer in Capitol Reef, especially in the campground. They weren't even afraid of people. The kids really enjoyed seeing the baby ones too. Plus, on our way home, we just about hit a deer. That was pretty scary.