Hiking the Highline Trail at Oak Grove...in January

 

We drove up as far as the gate to Oak Grove Campground and then walked in the rest of the way.  Spent some  time checking it out as a possible place for our Memorial Day picnic this year.  The road into the campground was completely destroyed from some erosion, but they will fix that.  But, you cannot reserve any sites ahead of time, so it probably won't work.  We hiked a tiny little trail to the Bee Tree that we had never seen before.  It's a huge old tree that's completely hollow and full of beehives, but still alive somehow!  After that we decided to take a short hike called the Highline Trail that we've never done before.  We saw some beautiful springs and views along the way as well as a really nice picnic table in the middle of nowhere!  We hiked a total that day of about 6 miles.  After that we drove down to the Children's Garden/Old Charcoal Kiln and ate a nice picnic lunch and walked around some.  Then it was time to head home.  It was a beautiful day for a hike.  It's sad that there was no snow though.  It should have been covered this time of year and too cold and muddy for hiking.  Looks like it's going to be a really dry year again for 2026, but for today, we made the most of it.  

Brandin' Iron dinner and Forsyth Trail walk

 The kids gave us a gift card to the Brandin' Iron steakhouse in Pine Valley.  We tried to go earlier in the summer, but that just happened to be the day that the big fire started up there and they called to say they were closed.  Now they are open again and we had a wonderful meal on Friday night!  Afterwards we drove around some seeing more of the fire destruction and then went over to the Forsyth Trail and took a walk.  We only went up about a mile because it kept threatening to rain (it rained hard while we were eating dinner) and because it was going to get dark.  But in that mile we saw lots of different levels of the fire damage.  It was very burned near the trailhead, but when we got up a mile there was quite a bit of green left, especially along the stream.  And there was a beautiful rainbow glowing across the valley at the first of the walk too.  It was nice and cool because of the rain.  The burned part got kind of creepy feeling as it got dark.  It felt like a Halloween forest of black tree skeletons.  But, the sunset came and made it pretty again.  I'm glad to see that some things weren't as badly damaged as I thought they had.  There are hints of green coming up in many places.  It will be a long time for the trees to come back, but until then there will at least be some green.  

First cookout of the year!!!

Paul and I took our first cookout of the year out to the old quarry at the very end of February.  The weather is unseasonably warm (and dry).  Paul cooked DO potatoes and we had a yummy wedge salad, beans and some brisket and bread to go with them.  All very good!  Afterwards we hiked around and enjoyed seeing the amazing beauty of the rocks and plants and all of the scenery!  We packed it up just before dark and headed home for some root beer floats for dessert.  Such a lovely evening together! We "adopted" some rocks that we brought home for the yard too!  

Last Campout before back to school - Cedar Mountain

 We love our little trailer more all the time!  We decided to do one more campout before I go back to school on Monday.  Cedar Mountain was our destination and we had a wonderful campout.  We left Thursday after getting work done in the morning and getting ready.  We found a great campsite just as it was about to start an afternoon mountain rainstorm.  We were snug and dry in our little trailer!  It was so nice to enjoy the storm without being in a tent in the mud.  We took a nap, played games and cooked a great dinner all inside.  We had pork chops, gravy and potatoes and some salad.  Later we had hot chocolate and donut/cinnamon roll to dunk in it.  It had stopped raining.  I had sort of a hard night with some leftover colposcopy issues to deal with, but thankfully it wasn't raining.

Friday morning we got up to a beautiful morning crisp and cool and the air so clean from the rain. We decided to hike down to Stud Flat along the trail to Ashdown Gorge.  It was so beautiful...and steep.  But we made it the 3.5 miles down and then back up!  We only saw one guy running down on our way back out.  Then we looked at the new Cedar Breaks Visitor's Center that's almost ready to open and visited the temporary one. After that we went over and hiked the short Bristle Cone Pine trail and then drove to the Navajo Lake overlook.  On our way back to our trailer it started to rain.  Another one of those afternoon mountain storms that happen this time of year.  And we were again, snug and dry in our trailer for another nap, games, listening to a book and making another great dinner.  We had clam chowder, grilled cheese sandwiches, cantaloupe and some not good lemon pie.  We didn't eat much of that, so we had toast and hot chocolate later.  We took a drive after dinner and explored some new roads that we could use to get to this spot in a better way.  

Saturday morning we got up and drove over to hike the Twisted Forest Trail.  It is very steep, but so amazing.  We got to the top and enjoyed the beautiful views and then hiked a different way down that wasn't so steep.  We also hiked through a forest of bristlecone pines and then to down a wash to see the end where the water came over the edge from the top.  It was a very beautiful and interesting side hike.  Then it was time to pack up and head out.  We got everything stowed and went down to Cedar City and had a nice lunch with Bean at the Pizza Factory and ran some errands with him.  Then it was time to head home.  Such a great campout and such a great way to camp in the rain and still enjoy you time! 

 

Camping fun in Boulder and the Kaibab!

 What a great camping trip we had...very spur of the moment.  Paul finished a job on Tuesday morning and came home and said we could go camping for a few days if I wanted to.  So, we put it together and went.  We started out over by Boulder Utah.  I had been wanting to check out some campgrounds over that way for a possible Family Camp site and thought we might camp at one, but we got there pretty late and after eating Subway in Escalante we decided to just look for a good camp spot along the way.  We found a dirt road turn off across from the Chriss Lake hike trailhead and found a great spot down that way.  It was among the aspens and you can't beat that.  We took an evening walk further down that road and found a beautiful stream, played some banana grams and then it was time to call it a day.

The next morning we decided to hike to Chriss Lake.  It was a great, pretty uppity hike and rangers had just cleared it of lots of brush, so that made it even better.  It was a very beautiful hike and the lake had funny ducks on it.  It was about 4 miles.  On our way down we saw 2 groups of forest rangers going up to do more work on the trail.  I was crossing a stream that came out of it on the way out and fell off a log that moved, but thankfully I just got bruised a bit, but nothing more.  

After that, we decided to go and check out those campgrounds.  They were nice, but not what we need for Family Camp.  Good to know.  Along the way we stopped in at the Wildcat Visitor's Center.  We talked to the host and he said we were lucky because the "humming bird people were there."  They were a group of college students (I think) that were there studying humming birds.  They had set up feeders with nets over them around the little picnic area.  The birds would go in there to eat and then they would catch them in little net bags.  They would take them out and do all kinds of measurements on the them.  They were banding some and some that they caught that day had been banded as much at 14 years ago!  The bands were so tiny that to see the numbers on them you had to use a jeweler's glass.  They would measure them some and then stick the birds little beaks into a feeder on the table so they could drink and help relieve some of their stress.  When they had finished all their measurement recording, they asked if we wanted to release them.  Paul and I both got to hold one in our hand and then they flew away.  It was so cool and amazing!

After that we drove back over the mountain to the Hole In the Rock road and drove out to see the Devil's Garden rock formations.  We had seen them years ago and I have been wanting to revisit it.  It was really hot this time of year, but we got to see all all of them.  Really outstanding!

Next we made what was probably a bad choice for how late and how hot it was.  We decided to go further down the road to the trailhead for Dry Fork Narrows and Peek-a-boo and Spooky Gulch.  We took the gradual decent into Dry Fork Narrows and hiked through that for about 1.5 miles.  Then we came out into a wash and went over to see if we wanted to go into the loop trail for the other two.  The entrance to Peek-a-boo was more of a climb/scramble than we wanted to do, so we walked down to see if we could go in the other end at Spooky.  It was SO hot and further and we wanted to go, so we headed back to the Dry Fork Narrows to get back to the truck and go.  I probably would have been ok without the part where we walked over to find Spooky Gulch.  I just got so hot and pretty soon I started feeling sick to my stomach.  I was pretty good in the shade, but needed to stop and rest in some shade here and there.  Then we got out of the narrows and into the full sun and my legs just couldn't go.  I rested and finally after a hill we got to where we could see the truck, but I just had to sit down under a tree in the shade after puking up all the water I had been drinking.  Paul went on to the truck and to get cold water and Triscuits for me. I got cooled down in the shade of a tree and then met him halfway back.  I just kind of hit a wall I guess.  Too much sun and not enough food.  We hadn't eaten that day, but had plenty of water.  I started feeling better as soon as I got cooler and had some salty crackers and cold water in me.  We drove back to Escalante and got some cold pop to go with our crackers and then I really felt much better.  I felt dumb being such a wimp, but I really just was out of gas.  After that we drove home via a favorite campsite, Blue Spruce, and over Hell's Backbone.  We made a great dinner of Super Nachos at our little camp.  We both tried the outdoor shower on our little trailer and it felt pretty good after our hot day out.  Then we played some games and hit the sack.  

The next morning we packed up and drove back down to Escalante and went through the visitor's center for the Grand Escalante National Monument.  We watched the movie and saw the displays.  It's a good place.  Then we were going to drive home, but decided that we would camp another night over at the Kaibab Forest near Jacob Lake.  We just enjoyed the drive and when we got to Jacob Lake we got cookies to have for desert that night and drove out into the dirt roads to find a camp spot.  We finally found a great site and got everything set up.  It was beautiful in a different way here, still high, but not so high as by Boulder and lots more Ponderosa than Aspen trees.  We took a walk for 3 miles up the road to see what was past the log that had fallen across it.  It was so nice. We found some really cool rocks with fossils in them along the way. Then we got back to camp and made another dinner of Super Nachos. (That's what we had since we hadn't planned on staying out that long.)  We were hungry, and it tasted great, and we had the cookies too!  Then we went for a drive down the road.  We had found a way around the log on our walk.  When we got back we played games for a while and then went to bed. 

In the morning we decided to drive over to Lee's Ferry to see if there were any peaches ready to pick in the orchard before we headed home.  There weren't any, but we did get to talk to some guys doing restoration stonework on the old house at Lonely Dell Ranch there.  Then we went down to see the Colorado River and then it was time to get back on the road with one more stop for cookies as we went back by Jacob Lake.  We saw some amazing and varied scenery all along the way on our trip and had such a good time getting to know our little camp trailer better and liking it even more.  We had great, out by ourselves, camp spots both times.  It was a wonderful end of school break camping trip!  

 We also saw this interesting place along the way over by Cannonville.  A very expensive way to camp.

Spring Break - last NP in CA and more!

California has nine national parks.  For Spring Break we decided to visit our last one - The Channel Islands.  It's a little more trouble to visit this one because you have to take a ferry ride to get there.  There are actually 5 islands that comprise this park, but we just went to Santa Cruz.  We left on Saturday morning, drove out there, found the church, our motel, the ferry place.  We went to Costco and got Sunday dinner that we could warm up in the microwave and ate at In-and-Out Burger.  Sunday we went to church in a really friendly ward in Ventura.  Afterwards we visited the Channel Island Visitor's Center which is on shore in Ventura.  It was really cool.  The next morning we boarded our ferry to head out there.  It wasn't a really big boat, but it was very full of people.  On the way some whales and dolphins were sighted and I went out on deck to see them.  That was where my trouble began.  I was near the front of the boat where it was bucking up and down a lot!  Pretty soon, the breakfast I didn't eat was still trying to come out.  But, I did see the whales and the dolphins even though they were too fast to get pictures of.  It was worth it! When we arrived at Santa Cruz I was fine and we enjoyed a beautiful day of hiking there seeing lots of what there was to see.  We were lucky to see the Island foxes and bluebird that are only found there.  It was a wonderful day!  It was so green from all of the recent rains.  I got a great tip on where to sit on the ferry on the way back so as to be less likely to barf again...and it worked.  Back of the boat, eyes forward or closed.  It would have been nice to kayak in the ocean at the island, but it would have been so cold, and expensive that we decided against it.  We loved what we saw and did!  Had dinner at Carl's Jr. this night (Monday). We spent 3 nights at a cute little motel in Ventura.  

Tuesday morning we drove on to Long Beach and our next adventure which was a visit to the Queen Mary.  Wow!  What a giant ship!  Now it's been turned into a luxury hotel, tourist attraction, etc.  It was a slice of history/transitioned into today.  We looked around on our own and then went on a tour with a great guide.  We stayed until we had seen it all and then took a pretty long drive to get to the Macaroni Grill for dinner!  Was it ever good!  One thing we found so interesting while driving into the city was all of the port equipment.  Long Beach has a huge port with so much going on.  We walked city and the beach some in the evenings too.  

Wednesday morning we got off early on a ferry to Catalina Island.  We landed at Avalon which is such a different place than the Channel Islands.  It is pure tourist attractions.  It even has a casino.  It is a happening, bustling place.  Our main thing for the day was a little ride on a boat that had windows below the surface so you could look out and see the fish.  There was only one other couple on that time, so it was pretty calm.  I was a little worried that I might get sea sick, so I kind of sat still.  I did well on the ferry ride over because I sat in the middle, in the back and looked forward.  It was a much bigger and less bumpy ride than our ferry to the Channel Islands, thank goodness.  Did fine on both boats this day. Our underwater tour took us out into some ocean reserve area where they then proceeded cause a feeding frenzy and then told you about the fish you were seeing.  It was interesting, but not terribly exciting.  On the way back they let you come up and enjoy the views from the deck.  Nice, but probably not worth the price of the ferry or the tour.  But I'm glad I've seen Catalina, at least the Avalon City part.  We spent the rest of our time there seeing the town sites which was fun. When we got back we had dinner at Panda Express!  Yummy!  

Thursday, the very windy day, we went to the Huntington Library and Museums but not the Gardens.  (They were closed because of the wind unfortunately.)  We did see some of the gardens as we walked by them to different buildings/galleries.  We started by doing a little orientation film where we learned all about how the Huntington came to be.  Then we went to the Library and saw so many historical documents through the ages and LOTS of books.  The most amazing thing there was probably the Gutenberg and Tyndale bibles.  So much work and sacrifice to bring the scriptures to "the people."  After that we went to the Huntington Mansion Gallery and it was beautiful and full of furniture, books, sculptures and European art.  We also saw the Western Art Gallery which was interesting, but not nearly as good the Getty.  They didn't have nearly as much or as beautiful art (my uniquified opinion of course).  Then we took a green break and went to the Botanical Conservatory which was kind of like an indoor garden with all kinds of growing areas:  a rainforest, a bog, a cloudy forest, out door stuff, and all about seeds.  Some was pretty geared to kids since the closed Children's Garden was behind it, but it was a beautiful break from the art overload.  Then we visited a gallery (The Boone) and saw some black artists work.  One of my favorite things of the whole place was seeing Blue Boy!  Unfortunately Pinkie wasn't on display at this  time.  

Friday morning it was time to start home.  We had been driving the Pacific Coast Highway and backroads when we could to see more scenery and get away from the traffic.  We continued doing that on the way home and drove to be able to stop in at Death Valley National Park along the way.  The day turned very cloudy and we could see snow happening in the Sierra Nevada's along the way.  One road we had planned to take ended up being closed, so we had to reroute.  And then another road was closed due to a fatal car accident, so it ended up being a little longer than we planned, but we had a nice, rainy stop in at Death Valley.  We didn't stay too long because it was late and rainy, but it was beautiful in a desert way.  They have a great Visitor's Center that we spent quite a bit of time at too.  Our reroute took us to Pahrump for a delicious dinner at KFC.  We got home about 10 pm.  It was a great trip!!!  Not everything went as planned, but it was still great!  And for the most part, the weather, though cool, was pretty much ideal.