Stout Canyon Campout!

We left Thursday after school to go camping hoping we could camp close to Mammoth Cave again.  When we got up on Cedar Mountain we saw smoke that looked like it was over that way.  We stopped in at the fire station by Duck Creek and they said they were doing a controlled burn over that way and that we should not camp there.  They suggested going to Stout Canyon.  We started off to go there and stopped in at Harris Flat to look for a closer spot, but it was all a burned out area.  We went on to Stout Canyon and wondered if we would ever find a spot, but then we found the perfect spot!  It was off the road enough to be private and had a small stream running right by it.  Behind it was beautiful forest and above that were Cedar Breaks type rock formations.  We got things set up and had a great dinner. Then after a short walk, we played some games and went to bed.  (Paul got a perfect score in 5 Crowns!)  

In the morning we went for a down canyon road walk and saw lots of beautiful scenery and Heaton ranches.  Then we got in the truck and drove the rest of the canyon to see where it came out!  Then more exploring including driving up Strawberry Ridge road until it mudded out.  We thought we were heading to Strawberry Point.  We did see lots of wonderful campsites along the way.  Next, we did find the road, a better one, to Strawberry Point.  It was beautiful with a view that made the drives worth it.  You could see clear to Zion.  Then we drove some other roads including Unita Flat and found more great campsites!  It was a beautiful day to see beautiful places.  Then we headed back to camp for some lunch and a nap.  After that we took a heinous uphill hike to see those beautiful red rock formations behind our camp.  We ended up finding huge seeping areas covered in heavy grass.  We thought it was just grass until we stepped into the water underneath!  Crazy all of the seeps going on in this area once we knew what to look for.  We did make it up to the red rocks.  It got a little iffy going up very steep games trails, but it was cool to be up there among the rocks.  Then we followed game trails back down the very steep way back to camp.  

At camp we had time for a few games before we made a great dinner.  Then we took an up canyon walk and stopped in at what looked like a cowboy camp.  We had seen them on the way in.  It was all men from young to older and lots of horses/mules.  Turned out to be kind of a male family reunion.  They had taken all their horses/mules and gone riding in the Dive of the Buckskin canyon that day.  We had a good chat and they even invited us for dinner!  It was fun to talk to them.  Then it was back to camp to get ready for bed.  In the morning we packed it up and headed down to take Bean out for breakfast at    I-Hop. Then it was time to head home.  While coming back over Cedar Mountain to Bean we had a tiny hail storm, but the predicted rain didn't really do much more than that. It was such a wonderful camp and fun time of exploring beautiful places!